US troops using Russian WWII guns?

I wouldn't get to excited... That kinda stuff happens quite often. As alot of other members stated, those weapons were probably siezed during a raid . I seriously doubt those photos are a hoax,photoshoped, or whatever you want to call it.
The first photo looks alot like the inside of an armory ,due to the ammo containers in the picture. But that is probably more of a guess than fact.

I spent quite a bit of time in the Navy Seabees over there in the dust bowl, and any time we had the chance to fire something other than a m-16/203, we welcomed the chance!

It looks like our guys are just having a little fun that's probably well needed.

Originally posted by Orwells Ghost
Relax Bitdust, bullets are bullets man! Not everything Russian is garbage.

CORRECTION, MOST OF RUSSIAN WEAPONS ARE NOT GARBAGE, Bitdust is just a lomg line of Americans thats goning to have a heart attack once he see Russia defeat NATO in WW3

[edit on 30-6-2007 by YASKY]

Originally posted by YASKY

Originally posted by Orwells Ghost
Relax Bitdust, bullets are bullets man! Not everything Russian is garbage.

CORRECTION, MOST OF RUSSIAN WEAPONS ARE NOT GARBAGE, Bitdust is just a lomg line of Americans thats goning to have a heart attack once he see Russia defeat NATO in WW3

[edit on 30-6-2007 by YASKY]

If by winning, you mean slowly dying of radiation poisoning, by all means let the Russians win. I hope that if comes down to WWIII and a nuke exchange, that I will be one of the lucky ones to die when the warheads first detonate.

%$#* wishful thinking LOL

--------------


Tjhanks all for detail

Whoever said they are using these weapons in combat? The answer is NO! These are just trophies captured from the insurgents. The guy in the second pic is just trying his hand at the antique piece of equipment.

So relax! There's nothing to be alarmed about.

Cheers!

...yeah and for that sole reason he mounted aiming unit just for fun..You know, spent hours of his talent and imagination, and shove the gun aside first combat episode!

I'm not a nag but I sense truble with this pics. Wrong you say..yeah, overreacting but have a careful look..Make your own assumption - I stick to mine.

Pentagon should never allow this propaganda! WTF? BS stories of entertaining combat personal out of 'nothing else to do ..and saldomly using guns' I say BS..Almost 4000 dead. I don't buy this crap. It's more serious. Shortage, faulty equipment...I'm lost as to what to f$#@ to say!

some one I know very well is in Iraq right %$#^ now.

As stated the PPSh SMG is one of, if not the greatest SMG's ever created, Its amazing and fine how some people, who clearly know nothing of firearms what so ever, blow there lids thinking its the end of the world because some guy might be using this in combat, New doesn't always equal better, hell in most cases it seems new equals bad....

This gun can throw leaded like no other in its class, it may be old but its time proven and battle tested, I see no problem at all if this soldier feels comfortable using this weapon so be it, TBH if my life was at stake in a situation, like Iraq, id be trying to find an AK over the M4/M16, thats not to say they aren't good rifles, they are very accurate, well made guns, but they weren't made for war, especially a war that involves the greatest enemy of the m16 series of weapons, Sand, id rather not get a situation, wondering rather or not my guns gonna go click when I pull the trigger, you don't gotta worry about this with the AK.


Betcha anything, has this gun had a black poly set on it rather then wood, it wouldnt have even raised and eyebrow...


[edit on 30-6-2007 by C0le]

They're probably just souvenirs, I'd want some myself

However I found this interesting news article:

"Huge caches of weapons remained with the people from the Soviet Union period. These are now being smuggled to the south of Afghanistan. These weapons are bought in the north of Afghanistan and smuggled to the south to be used against government and foreign forces," Arifi said.

Source


Recently they've been smuggling the weapons around and I guess they use Soviet Era weaponry, and those American soldiers must have intercepted a smuggle or something.

And the AK47 is a more reliable gun than the M16, as far as desert-warfare goes. Jams a lot less

[edit on 30-6-2007 by Vinci]

The question remains -- how come PPsh was modified with optical, I'd guess, aiming unit if not intended to be used as prime stagger?

Fairbain and Sykes called the 7.62x25mm Russian, a fearsome round with the best penetration of any the military pistol used in WW2. The Box of Truth site did an impromptu test with this round in comparison to both the 9mm Parabellum and the .45 ACP and the old Russian warhorse was the only round to penetrate the US issue Kevlar helmet.

The M9 9mm Beretta sidearm is fine for personal defense but a lousy choice for urban combat as secondary weapon. The PPSH-42-43 has 30 or 50 round magazine, extremely reliable and with only some minor ergonomic updates would be every bit effective as the M4 in CQB.

Originally posted by Bitdust
Is this a hoax?

this

or

this

I mean, shown on photos are WWII Russian PPSha machine gun in hands of US brave solders in Iraq. Probably confiscated during raids on the streets of Baghdad. But...what the @#%$ are these doing in hands of the braviest and the best? Some kind of a joke?

The Russian army fought in Afghanistan for many years. The American army are now in Afghanistan. Go figure.

crgintx, thanks for your input. very informative.

peace

My unit confiscated numerous weapons in Iraq including WW2 era weapons. Some of them we used. The reason we used non issued weapons in addition to issued weapons was due to the fact that an M1 Abrams crew only has two M-4s isued. Technically there are two M240 machine guns that can be dismounted but they have to have a dismount kit attached and the dismount process itself can be a pain. Instead we augmented with captured weapons and ammo.

In Afghanistan my platoon augmented our arsenal with a few Ak 47s. If a weapon works and you have room for it might as well use it.

Please BitDust, calm down.

There is nothing wrong with the pics. Its some soldiers posingwith and trying out confiscated guns. It also doesnt take "hours and hours" to mount the accessories in the second pic. You can see how the lower rail is fixed with some wire within the cooling slits of the barrel mantle.

The top rail might just have been a broken rail and was welded to the top, because both the rails and the guns may get thrown away anyway. Whatever happened, in short:

This is just for fun!

When you are not a special-purpose soldier, a good part of your time on many deployments is wasted on sitting around doing nothing. Thats when you get funny ideas like adding high-speed gear to a 60 year old weapon. Especially since you get to fire away full auto wasting ownerless ammunition you don´t need to hand a receipt in for.

I get it. sitting in this apartment os mine and thinking what it would be like to join..
I wanna sleep. Thanks for your postings all.

LOL LOL LOL!!!

Sorry but I find this thread intresting as well as amusing.

Iraq to my limited knowlege has become a dumping ground for many different olde weapons from previous conflicts.


I was quite surprised to learn of several of the olde Lee Enfield long barreled type rifles discovered in house to house searchs. If Paddy Inf is correct this may even be the Lee Metford type rifles used in the service of the Empire before todays Lee Enfields bolt actions came on the scene to eclipse the older models.

What really astonished me was to learn of the capturing of several crates of the olde MP 44 Sturmgewehr or STG 44 type assault rifles in 7.92mm Kurtz. This early assault rifle from WW2 looks strikingly similar to the AK 47 found all over the globe today.

These types of photos are not at all unusual for military men considering the dumping ground nature of Iraq and weapons. Anyone with a grasp of historical details knows what these weapons are and folks will be lining up in such an enviornmet to get their images taken with such a piece of history.

Others as evidenced by photos will not hesitate to see how such a piece of history functions and then of course can it be improved with the addition of current technology. Hence the Eotech sight and the foreward vertical hand grip. These are simple effecient adaptations for those curioius about this piece of history.

I , myself, own two WW1/WW2 Springfield bolt action rifles and enjoy shooting them very much as well as my Garand. I also own a WW2 Japanese 7.7MM Arisaka bolt action and manufacture my own ammuniton for this rifle from 30.06 brass casings. My Colt Government .45 ACP is sill soldiering on in a home protection capacity..still standing watch so to speak. These pieces I purshased in consideration for thier qualities and my appreciation of history.

Many military peoples are also history buffs. A photo op like is evidenced in these images is a natural extension of the elation and appreciation of history by these folks.

Bon Appetit

Orangetom

This fella probably had this as his pet project out there. Could be an armourer having a bit of fun in his spare time (we do get some!) by sticking some accessories to an old bit of kit. Nothing wrong with that.

As for using captured weapons, it does happen. Usually it's near the end of a tour and you want to 'give it a go'. I've got a pic somewhere of one of the lads in Cimic house in Afghanistan getting some rounds down with a Romanian AK47 with the front grip sawn off during a positional defence. Nice to have a change sometimes. Didn't do anyone any harm (probably because he's a sh1t shot, but that's another story).