Monthly Archives: February 2020

Zhukov’s Roar

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Yesterday was “Defender of the Fatherland Day” (Den Zaschitnika Otechestva) in Russia. The date celebrates the founding of the Red Army in 1918 and used to be known as Red Army Day. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation posted several interesting images of the salute division of the Western Military District firing volleys on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow.

The guns are towed 76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3) on 2A85 salute mounts, notable for their lack of muzzle brakes.

Sometimes described as the most effective Allied anti-armor gun of the war, at least against Panzer IVs and below, especially when used in massed batteries, a staggering 100,000 ZiS-3s were produced, most likely making it the most prolific field artillery piece in modern history.

Very light for a 3-inch high-velocity gun, at just over 2,500-pounds (the comparable U.S. M5 weighed twice as much), a ZiS-3 could be pulled by a Lend-Lease Ford truck, a scrawny Russian horse or two, or even man-hauled by a squad if needed.

Red Army soldiers with a ZiS-3 cannon near a wrecked Panther, East Prussia, late 1944

Battery commander of the 163rd separate guards anti-tank artillery regiment of the Kalinin front, guard senior lieutenant Viktor Tikhonovich Baranok (1922 – 03/01/1944) next to the 76-mm divisional gun mod. 1939 (F-22-USV). October 1943

When Marshall Zhukov’s legions closed in on Berlin in April 1945, he had some 41,000 pieces of artillery, including an estimated 25,000 ZIS-3s or similar 76mm pieces.

Soviet artillery bombarding German positions during the battle of the Seelow Heights.

They proved useful in house-by-house streetfighting.

It is still in use in Africa and Asia and saw combat in Europe as late as the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia.

ZiS stands for the factory the guns were produced at, Zavod imeni Stalina, named for Stalin.

Serial Numbers, Serial Numbers, Serial Numbers or how Gun Day Needs to Happen

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A deer rifle swiped from underneath a blanket on the bed of a pickup truck during hunting season 47 years ago recently surfaced some 500 miles away from where it vanished from. Police were able to recover the gun when detectives ran the serial against the federal database— but only because its previous owner had known and reported the serial.

Even though the hunter died in 1998, police are now contacting his children, who have an opportunity to claim their lost father’s rifle.

The problem

According to a recent U.S. Department of Justice study, there is an average of at least 135,000 unrecovered guns stolen in residential burglaries nationwide each year. The main reason for guns not being recovered is that the owners did not record and keep up with their serial numbers.

In Nevada recently, law enforcement has been inundated with calls for stolen guns. Guns that when they are recovered, no one can come reclaim.

“When they are taken, more often than not the owner can’t ID them — they can’t name the make or caliber or serial number,” said Washoe County Sheriff Michael Haley told the Reno Gazette-Journal

“So, in reality, when a weapon is stolen, it can’t be traced or returned because we don’t know who it belongs to,” he said.

To help fix this, Haley said he would ask two things: “Take personal responsibility if you own a gun, secure it in your home. And two, keep the serial number in a secure place separate from the gun.”

Monthly ritual

Me and the crew on Gun Day…almost

One thing I like to do in my home is the simple ceremony I refer to as “Gun Day.”

On the third Saturday of the month (you have to set a specific day to do this or you will forget, I promise), I like to spend a couple hours in my mancave going through my personal collection. Now of course, like most gun guys, it varies from year to year, sometimes from month to month as I buy, sell, trade, swap and rearrange my collection.

However, no matter whether you have one old rusty shotgun or a half dozen bulging gun safes, Gun Day needs to happen.

If I’m out of town or something comes up, it GD can be rescheduled but it still happens.

At least once a month.

For me it’s simple. I sit, put on my gloves (I hate to leave excess fingerprints on my guns as the oils and salts left behind can lead to surface rust), and go through my collection. I have a simple Field Note Book that I write down my collection in with the date I acquired the gun, the make, model, caliber, my estimated value at the time, and serial number. The six things fit on one line.

Each month I go back over the book, remove any old guns that have been traded away (or note guns loaned out to friends, trust me, this can help figure out missing guns months later!) and add any new pieces.

While going through my guns I have a chance to notice any issues that may have come up in storage such as rust, dust, and the like, keeping the band going strong.

New guns even get a photoshoot for reference just in case something ever happens to them. Lightboxes are cheaper than you think, and if you don’t have a lightbox, just take a photo on your back porch in natural light.

Speaking of photos, I take a picture every month of that notebook entry and email it to myself, just in case something ever happens to it.

Then it’s back into the safe and cabinet, closet, holster, and nightstand for the collection.

Until the next Gun Day.

Some Great War helmets may not have been that bad

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From ScienceTechDaily:

Biomedical engineers from Duke University have demonstrated that, despite significant advancements in protection from ballistics and blunt impacts, modern military helmets are no better at protecting the brain from shock waves created by nearby blasts than their World War I counterparts. And one model in particular, the French Adrian helmet, actually performed better than modern designs in protecting from overhead blasts.

The research could help improve the blast protection of future helmets through choosing different materials, layering multiple materials of different acoustic impedance, or altering their geometry.

A high-speed video of a French helmet from World War I being bombarded by a shock wave designed to imitate a blast from German artillery shells a few meters away. Credit: Joost Op ‘t Eynde, Duke University

The results were published online on February 13, 2020, in the journal PLOS ONE.

“While we found that all helmets provided a substantial amount of protection against blast, we were surprised to find that the 100-year-old helmets performed just as well as modern ones,” said Joost Op ‘t Eynde, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student at Duke and first author of the study. “Indeed, some historical helmets performed better in some respects.”

More here.

Battlewagon in the anti-ship missile age, 29 years ago today

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While primitive guided bombs and missiles were fielded in WWII (see = the U.S. Navy’s SWOD-9 Bat and the sinking of the Italian battleship Roma in 1943 by an air-launched Fritz X) it wasn’t until the P-15 Termit (NATO: SS-N-2 Styx) was developed by the Soviets in 1958 that a reliable surfaced-launched anti-ship missile was fielded. Soon answered in the West by the Swedish Saab Rb 08 and Israeli Gabriel in the 1960s, then by more advanced platforms such as Exocet and Harpoon, such weapons replaced coastal artillery batteries as well as surfaced-launched torpedos as the principal means for asymmetric forces to effect a “kill” on a capital ship.

Likewise, the age of the dreadnought and large all-gun-armed cruiser was fading at the same time.

The four Iowa-class fast battleships were mothballed in 1958 (but, of course, New Jersey would be brought back for a tour in Vietnam while all four would be returned to service in the 1980s for the Cold War– more on that later) while the British retired HMS Vanguard in 1960 while the Soviets had gotten out of the battlewagon biz in the late 1950s after their Italian trophy ship Novorossiysk (ex-Giulio Cesare) blew up and their circa 1911 Gangut-class “school battleships” finally gave up the ghost. The French held on to Jean Bart until 1970, although she had been in reserve since after the Suez affair in 1956.

With that, it was no surprise that when the quartet of Iowas was reactivated in the 1980s to play a role in Reagan’s 600-ship Navy, they were “modernized” with 32 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from eight funky four-shot armored box launchers as well as 16 Harpoon anti-ship missiles in place of some of their WWII-era retired AAA gun mounts. In a nod to the facts, the missiles all out-ranged the battleships’ gun armament.

Fast forward to the 1st Gulf War and Mighty Mo, USS Missouri (BB-63), chunked 28 Tomahawks and 783 rounds of 16-inch shells at Saddam’s forces while dodging a Persian Gulf filled with naval mines of all flavors– as well as the occasional anti-ship missile counterfire.

16-inch (410 mm) guns fired aboard the battleship USS MISSOURI (BB-63) as night shelling of Iraqi targets takes place along the northern Kuwaiti coast during Operation Desert Storm. Date 6 February 1991. Photo by PH3 Dillon. DN-ST-91-09306

As for Missouri, the Iowas were not able to carry Sea Sparrow point defense launchers as they could not be shock-hardened to deal with the vibration from the battleship’s main guns, so they had an air defense provided by soft kill countermeasures such as chaff, decoys, and ducks; along with a quartet of CIWS 20mm Phalanx guns and five Stinger MANPAD stations– meaning a modern anti-ship missile would have to be killed either by an escort or at very close range. Good thing the Iowas had as much as 19.5-inches of armor plate!

While closing in with the enemy-held coastline to let her 16s reach out and touch someone on 23 February 1991, Missouri came in-range of a battery of shore-based Chinese-made CSS-C-2 Silkworm anti-ship missiles. One missed while the second was intercepted by Sea Darts from a nearby screening destroyer, the Type 42-class HMS Gloucester (D96). The intercepted Silkworm splashed down about 700 yards from Missouri.

USS Missouri under Attack by Iraqi Silkworm Painting, Oil on Canvas Board; by John Charles Roach; 1991; Framed Dimensions 28H X 34W Accession #: 92-007-U
Official caption: “While providing gunfire support to harass the Iraqi troops in Kuwait in preparation for a possible amphibious landing, USS Missouri (BB-63) was fired upon by an Iraqi Silkworm anti-ship missile. By the use of infrared flares and chaff, the missile’s guidance was confused. It crossed close astern of Missouri and was engaged and shot down by HMS Gloucester (D-96).”

The AP reported at the time:

Royal Navy Commander John Tighe told reporters two Sea Dart missiles were fired by the Gloucester less than 50 seconds after the ship’s radar detected the incoming Iraqi missiles at about 5 a.m.

Tighe said one Sea Dart scored a direct hit, destroying the Iraqi missile. He said a second missile launched by the Iraqis veered into the sea.

The commander said allied airplanes subsequently attacked the Silkworm missile launch site. He said that while he had not received a battle damage assessment, he was ″fairly confident that site will not be used to launch missiles against the ships again.”

Missouri did take some damage that day, from CIWS rounds fired by the escorting frigate USS Jarrett (FFG-33), which had locked on to one of the battleship’s chaff clouds and opened fire. One sailor was wounded by 20mm DU shrapnel.

Today, battleships left the Naval List for the final time in 1995 and all that made it that far are preserved as museums. The missiles, however, endure.

Blooper getting it done, 52 years ago today

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“Bloop!: A Marine grenadier fires an M-79 round into a sniper’s position in Hue as 1st Marine Division Leathernecks advance toward the Citadel.” 22 February 1968

Official USMC photo by Lance Corporal R. J. Smith. From the Jonathan Abel Collection (COLL/3611), Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections.

Oh, Canada…

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The Canadian Navy has been heavy into the submarine biz for generations.

The Canucks got into subs in a weird way when in August 1914, Sir Richard McBride, KCMG, the premier of British Columbia, bought a pair of small (144-foot, 300-ton) coastal submarines from Seattle Construction and Drydock Company, an act that your local government normally doesn’t do. The boats had been ordered by Chile who later refused them as not up to snuff.

Sailing for Vancouver in the dark of night as they were technically acquired in violation of a ton of international agreements (and bought for twice the annual budget for the entire Royal Canadian Navy!) they were commissioned as HMCS CC-1 and CC-2. The Dominion Government of Canada later ratified the sale while a subsequent investigation was conducted into how they were acquired.

CC-class

Nonetheless, the two tiny CC boats were the first submarines of the Maple Leaf and continued in service until after the Great War when they were laid up and replaced by a pair of American-made 435-ton H-class submarines from the Royal Navy, HMS H14 and H15, which remained in the Canadian fleet as HMCS CH-14 and CH-15 until broken up in 1927.

H-class

After this, Canada went out of the submarine business for a while until 1945. Then, Ottawa inherited two newly surplus German Type IXC/40 U-boats, sisters U-190 and U-889, both in working condition and constructed in the same builder’s yard. After transferring them on paper to the Royal Navy, they were transferred back (apparently the same day) and both became vessels of the RCN, dubbed HCMS U-190 and U-889, which they kept as working souvenirs for a couple years.

Canadian war artist Tom Wood's watercolor depicts German sailors being transferred from U-190 on 14 May 1945. Wood, assigned to paint subjects in eastern Canada and Newfoundland, was present when Canadian ships escorted U-190 to Bay Bulls, south of St. John's. There, Canadians removed the last of the U-Boat's crew, who had been operating the vessel under guard. The majority of U-190's crew had been taken onto Canadian ships at the time of the submarine's surrender. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art. CWM 19710261-4870

Canadian war artist Tom Wood’s watercolor depicts German sailors being transferred from U-190 on 14 May 1945. Wood, assigned to paint subjects in eastern Canada and Newfoundland, was present when Canadian ships escorted U-190 to Bay Bulls, south of St. John’s. There, Canadians removed the last of the U-Boat’s crew, who had been operating the vessel under guard. The majority of U-190’s crew had been taken onto Canadian ships at the time of the submarine’s surrender. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art. CWM 19710261-4870

Fast forward a bit and the Canadians began using two U.S. boats, —USS Burrfish (SS-312) and USS Argonaut (SS-475), as HMCS Grilse (SS 71) and Rainbow (SS 75), respectively– from 1961 to 1974.

Then they bought their first new subs since CC-1 & CC-2, a trio of British Oberon-class diesel boats– HMCS Ojibwa (S72), Onondaga (S73) and Okanagan (S74), which served from 1965 to 2000.

Three O-boats (Oberon-class) submarines of the Royal Canadian Navy in Bedford Basin, Halifax, 1995. RCNavy Image 95-0804 10 by Corp CH Roy

Since then, they have been using the quartet of second-hand RN Upholder-class subs, HMCS Victoria (SSK-876), Windsor (SSK-877), Corner Brook (SSK-878) and Chicoutimi (SSK-879) which are expected to remain in service in some form until the 2030s.

HMCS Submarine Chicoutimi.

The thing is, the Canadian Navy managed exactly zero (-0-) days underway with their subs last year– but not without cause.

As reported by CBC:

“The boats were docked last year after an intense sailing schedule for two of the four submarines over 2017 and 2018. HMCS Chicoutimi spent 197 days at sea helping to monitor sanctions enforcement off North Korea and visiting Japan as part of a wider engagement in the western Pacific. HMCS Windsor spent 115 days in the water during the same time period, mostly participating in NATO operations in the Atlantic.”

It is hoped that three of the four may return to sea at some point this year.

Yikes.

A Plinker from the days where aesthetics– and commonality– mattered

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Winchester’s Model 1903 was introduced while Teddy Roosevelt was President. Chambered in then-newly-introduced .22 Win Auto, the “03” was designed by noted firearm engineer T.C. Johnson and was fed by a 10-shot tubular magazine inserted through the buttstock. A simple blow-back action, the rifle could be quickly taken down into two parts for storage.

Although it remained in production through 1932, the .22 Win Auto cartridge never caught on and wasn’t used by any other firearms on the market, thus handicapping the rifle’s popularity. With that, Winchester redesigned the rifle to accept the common UMC-designed .22LR, which has been around in one form or another since 1884. Further, the walnut stock was restyled from a typical straight stock found on the Model 1903 to one with a pistol grip.

With that, the Model 63 was born:

Entering the market in 1933 at a price of about $34– which adjusts to around $700 in today’s dollars– the new Winchester 63 was billed as, “the easiest handling, cleaning, and handiest shooting .22 caliber automatic,” available. In early marketing material, the new rimfire rifle was dubbed “The Speed King.”

More in my column at Guns.com.

Buck Rogers Men

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One of the more unusual units that hit Green and Red Beaches on Iwo Jima 75 years ago this month were the Marines of the 1st Provisional Rocket Detachment, assigned to the 4th Marine Division, and the 3rd Provisional Rocket Detachment assigned to the 5th Marine Division.

Dubbed the “Buck Rogers Men” by other Marines, the weapon of choice for these rocketeers were seemingly humble one-ton International Harvester M2 4×4 trucks, made dangerous with the addition of racks for M8 4.5-inch HE barrage rockets.

“ROCKET BARRAGE— Hit and run rocket fire was the order when these Marines of the Fifth Division loosed a barrage at the enemy on Iwo Jima. Being mobile, the units used hit-and-run tactics so that the enemy could never get an exact fix on their positions.” USMC Photo.

While the Army used the same 38-pound fin-stabilized rockets in Europe, they did so typically from the 60-tube Calliope launcher mounted on an M4 Sherman tank or massed batteries of the smaller towed 8-tube “xylophone” launcher.

The Marine version used a six-tray slotted rack, each capable of holding six rockets, which was lighter than the Army’s tube system and provided 36 rockets at the ready. Operators would fire the unguided rockets from a control box while dismounted and the vehicle had an M2 .50 caliber Browning for emergencies.

As Col. Joseph Alexander notes in his USMC History Division text, Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima:

A good crew could launch a “ripple” of 36 rockets within a matter of seconds, providing a blanket of high explosives on the target. This the infantry loved—but each launching always drew heavy return fire from the Japanese who feared the “automatic artillery:”

Using early “shoot and scoot” tactics to avoid return fire, the rocket men learned to fire a salvo or two max, then rapidly displace.

“The nearby infantry knew better than to stand around and wave goodbye; this was the time to seek deep shelter from the counterbattery fire sure to follow,” noted Alexander.

“FIRECRACKERS—A Marine rocket truck empties it’s launching rack of projectiles as it lays a barrage on Japanese positions on Iwo Jima. Being mobile, the rocket units used hit-and-run tactics during the operation, so that the enemy could never get an exact fit on their locations.” USMC Photo.

Nonetheless, the two detachments fired more than 30,000 rockets in the six weeks of the Iwo Jima campaign, often launching single rockets to clear suspected enemy positions.

Today, the old Buck Rogers Men are ably represented in the Marine’s new M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which uses an M1140 FMTV truck frame to tote around a half-dozen MLRS M270A1 rockets or one MGM-140 ATACMS missile. As with the Iwo trucks, the system weighs a good bit less than the Army’s comparable MLRS system. Further, it can be used while aboard a ship, such as an MSC vessel or even a merchant taken up from trade, and in conjunction with over-the-horizon targeting such as provided by an F-35.

HIMARS, still a truck with some rockets on the back, ready to land at a beach near you

Frozen Mosin!

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If you are anywhere near the Pleasant River Fish & Game Conservation Association in Columbia, Maine, they have their annual Frozen Mosin shoot coming up this weekend, promising that it is the “most unusual shooting event in the Northeast.”

If you have a Nugget and want to get it icy, head on over!

When you want to cram an M4 into an ejection seat

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The U.S. Air Force has released some more details about their very neat GAU-5A Aircrew Self Defense Weapon. Fundamentally, it is an M4 with a folding pistol grip and quick-detach barrel/handguard that takes down and stows, with four mags, into a 16 x 14 x 3.5-inch ejection seat compartment.

Thus

More in my column at Guns.com.

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