Tag Archives: vietnam sniper

Chuck has hung up his rifle for the final time

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Marine Sgt. Charles “Chuck” Mawhinney in Vietnam, left, and in 2013 while at Marine Corps Logistics Base, Barstow, California. (Photos: USMC)

Charles Benjamin “Chuck” Mawhinney was born in Lakeview, Oregon in February 1949, and, the son of a Marine Corps WWII vet, volunteered for service in October 1967 during the height of the Vietnam War. Assigned as a rifleman in the 5th Marine Regiment in Vietnam, he was later reassigned to the regiment’s scout sniper section and, in 16 months while working with not only his Regiment but also in support of ROK Marines and U.S. Army units, was credited with 103 confirmed NVA-VC kills and 216 “probable.”

This left him with the legacy of being the most successful sniper in the service’s history. 

After rotating back CONUS and serving as a marksmanship instructor at Camp Pendleton, Mawhinney left the Corps in 1970 as a sergeant and returned home to Oregon. There, he worked for the U.S. Forest Service until he retired in the 1990s.

Mawhinney, as reported by local media in Oregon, passed in Baker City on Feb. 12, aged 74.

Ironically, Mawhinney outlived the scout sniper program he was associated with, as Marine Corps brass recently moved to terminate the program, seen as unneeded in an age of drones.

A brief look at the ratchets of Marine snipers through the years

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Over at Guns.com I did a quick geardo rundown of several of the Corp’s modern sniper rigs from the early WWI Rifle, “USMC Telescopic Rifle, Model of 1917” which is basically just a good shooting early M1903 with a fixed Winchester A5 scope through WWII’s updated M1903A-1 model Springfield with a Unertl 8x scope– immediately distinguishable by its long shade on the objective lens– which they designated the M1941 Sniper Rifle, and then the Korean War’s M1C and the various guns of Vietnam.

U.S. Marine firing the “USMC Telescopic Rifle, Model of 1917” which is an M1903 with a Winchester A5 scope. (Photo: National Archives)

“A U.S. Marine Marksman using a telescopic sight and with his Springfield cocked and ready, waits for a troublesome North Korean sniper to pop up so he can pick him off in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea on Sept. 28, 1950. Note the Unertl. (Photo/caption: Max Desfor/AP)

“Pvt. Randall E. Josey, a Marine sniper attached to Co. H, 2nd Bn., 5th Marines, has a bead on a Viet Cong at over 1,000 meters. Using a 3 x 9 power scope, a Remington 700 rifle has accuracy up to 1,100 meters and has been used effectively up to 2,000 meters or more.” June 19, 1967 (Photo/caption: U.S. Marine Corps History Division)

More here.

Calling Camp Pendleton….Calling Camp Pendleton

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The first Marine Corps snipers in Vietnam often found themselves using rifles forwarded from stateside shooting teams, such as this classic Model 70 with it’s huge 14x Unertl Sniper.

While Marine snipers after WWII were stuck with Korean War-vintage M1C Garands with offset mounted 2x optic, competitive rifle teams in the Corps eschewed the M1C for special order target model rifles such as the Winchester Model 70, for use in National Match events.

The example Ian with Forgotten Weapons above has a serial number that places it in the 1956 era and was owned by a retired Marine colonel who was Captain of the Marine Corp rifle team at Camp Pendleton around that time.

One Marine who came from just such a rifle team environment and went to Vietnam, where he used a similar Model 70 (with an 8x Unertl) for a time was Gunnery Sgt. Carlos N. Hathcock II, who won the Wimbledon Cup trophy at the 1965 National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio with a M70.