So, Kristen says that I need to finally be a contributor to our ow blog stuff, and I finally have something worth sharing. I spent the week after Thanksgiving in Las Vegas for US Standard Weapons Training. It was absolutely awesome! Because I work to make ammo for standard US Military Small Caliber weapons, they figured I better know in detail how the weapons work. I had a great time, but...I forgot my own camera, so I bought a little disposable digital camera at Walmart when I arrived. Then, the last day of the trip, I dropped the camera and the batteries popped out, and the camera's memory was wiped clean. So, the pictures that I am sharing are what I was able to mooch off coworkers. I think there are some better pictures and some videos of me behind some pretty awesome weapons, but I'll have to do a little more soliciting to get my hands on those. Here is what I can share for now:
Above I am sporting the very trendy "Tavor" which fires 900 rounds per minute (that's 15 ever second). Kind of a future weapon, but it doesn't seem to be as popular as the M4A1 (the modernized version of the classic M16 Rifle). I like the M4A1 better, but most of my coworkers liked the Tavor better. If you enlarge the picture, you should be able to count 4 empty shells in the air, that have been ejected from the weapon. You'll see in a video below how fast this thing actually fires.
Table with 4 M4A1 rifles waiting for us to get crazy at the firing range
This table has 2 versions of the Tavor (on the outside) and the Thompson sub-machine gun (or Tommy gun) in the middle. I shot the Thompson and Tavor on the right. In case your wondering, the Thompson might be the easiest gun to shoot out of all the automatic weapons, and it fires the cheaper ammo than the other rifles (it fires a regular .45 Cal Pistol round). Those gangster folks seemed to have it all figured out.
First day of class, they instructors introduced themselves, and placed an M4A1 on the table in front of each of us. We stripped this and several other weapons down to see all the working parts and learn "how it works." All together we stripped down the M4A1 rifle (.223 Caliber), M249 (.223 Caliber machine gun...AKA the "Saw"), M240 (.308 Caliber machine gun), MiniGun (.308 Caliber Gatling Gun, fires 6000 rds per minute!...do the math...that's 100 rounds every second!), M2 (.50 Caliber Machine Gun), the M9 and 1911 Pistols. At the range we fired all these, along with the MP-5, Mk-19, .22LR with silencer (quieter than a pellet gun!), and an AR-10 (a wicked awesome sniper rifle). This was by far the coolest thing I've done in a very long time! Completely Awesome!
Above, this is truly the tip of the iceberg. They must have had at least 1 of every weapon ever made. Literally, thousands of weapons, including mortars, bazookas, RPGs, Anti-Aircraft, about 50 M16's, 50 AK-47's, and tons of antique weapons. They even own the guns that were used in several films (Pirates of the Caribean, Red Dawn, Swiss Family Robinson, Terminator 2, etc.) They even had the Sword that Governor Schwartzenegar used in "Conan the Barbarian." I'll say it again...AWESOME!
You see above that this isn't a typical classroom. That is the M2 machine gun on the table. Notice the weapons lining the walls...multiply that by all 4 walls and you'll have an idea of what the room was like (and it wasn't even where they stored most of the weapons).
The video above is a Coworker firing the Tavor. He is an experienced shooter. A lot of people who fired the automatic rifles would nearly fall over backwards. It's fun to try, but without a lot of practice, firing a weapon in full automatic is nearly impossible to hit your target more than the first shot.
Here is a coworker firing the M2 Machine gun of the Humvee. The dirt pile he is shooting at is over 150 yards away, so those dust clouds are much bigger than they look. The video doesn't do justice to the incredible noise. Even standing 20 ft back you can feel every one of those blasts in your chest.
The barrett sniper rifle is the reason I was so excited to go to the training. This weapon is incredible. Our instructor (standing in the video) told us that the barrett is so powerful that the shock-wave can detach your retina. He sounded serious when he said it, but that's kind of weird to tell a class of people ready to shoot the thing. Maybe he meant that if you put your face on the scope, then the recoil will bash the scope into your face, and then you could do some damage. The weapon can be used with High Explosive Armor Piercing ammunition to disable vehicles, fighter jet engines, buildings, etc. Basically any target that you can imagine. It is just an awesome amount of power. When we watched others fire this gun, the blast would almost make your knees buckle. The video doesn't do it justice at all.
Well, hopefully you all didn't get too bored from my rambling, but Kristen is probably tired of me talking about the trip, so I am unloading on you all. Have a great day.
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