Category: This great Nation & Its People
The M40 rifle might be the most recognizable of all American sniper rifles. Its birth coincided with a need for a precision instrument in the steamy jungles of Vietnam, and its legacy was built by those who relied on its performance. Its accuracy, reliability, and endurance have given rise to a generation of precision rifles that ultimately pay homage to its design.
While a whole book could be dedicated to studying the rifle’s impact and history, this article seeks to provide context and understanding of the M40 rifle’s origin in Vietnam.
Cold War Heats Up
The United States entered Vietnam to preserve democracy and fend off a growing communist threat — a common theme of the Cold War-era. However, this was a new kind of war for the United States, fought against an unconventional enemy.
Unlike the Korean War, which was largely fought against a conventional force, the war in Vietnam was unconventional. New military stratagems, including a rapidly growing intelligence and special operations apparatus, were emerging. Among these were expanded use of specially trained hunters: snipers.
This certainly wasn’t the first time in United States history that snipers were used. Marksmen of various kinds have been used since the Revolutionary War. However, they were never a permanent peacetime unit like those we see today. They were temporary, which meant that a consistent curriculum and armaments were not properly maintained. But as warfare changed, so did the role of the sniper, or rather, the need for one.
That brings us to the M40 sniper rifle and its place in history. Early in the Vietnam War, military leaders and strategists quickly realized the need for snipers. The dense jungles and the unconventional opponent proved difficult for a standard military. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) knew this and, early in the war, exploited it. The NVA benefited from using the Soviet Union’s WWII sniper training doctrine and rifles to engage American troops from a distance.
American military brass soon realized they needed a counter to the NVA threat with specially trained soldiers to carry out very specific missions. These missions involved gathering intelligence, disrupting supply chains, protecting military units, and, in some cases, eliminating high-value targets.
While sniper-specific training at this time was rudimentary and ad hoc, the rifle situation was worse. Early sniper units relied on rifles and training developed during World War II. A new rifle and training regime were needed.
The training came first — largely due to the efforts of Maj. Jim Land. If that name is familiar, you’ve probably read Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills by Charles Henderson. This book depicts the life and actions of Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock.
Maj. Land was responsible for shifting the Marine Corps’ emphasis on sniping. He established the first organized sniper training school in 1961 in Hawaii. This laid the groundwork for additional in-country sniper schools used by the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions. Ultimately, this was the predecessor to modern-day sniper instruction.
What About a Sniper Rifle?
Leftover rifles from World War II and the Korean War, including the M1C/M1D Garand and modified 1903A4 Springfield rifles, no longer met the United States Marine Corps’ grueling demands. By then, these rifles were practically historic artifacts.
Early in the war, sniper units drew on the inventories of marksmanship units for Model 70 target rifles. While the M70 was an excellent rifle, its .30-06 chambering and inherent engineering changes made it a logistical nightmare. There were three different Model 70 variants were in use, and parts interchangeability was a major issue. However, the rifle had its supporters including the aforementioned Gunnery Sgt. Hathcock.
In 1965, Marine Headquarters instructed the Quantico Marine Schools Weapons Training Battalion to issue verbal orders to the Marksmanship Training Unit to procure a rifle, telescopic sight, and mount suitable for use by snipers.
Soon after the initial order, the officer in charge of the Marksmanship Training Unit responded on February 9, 1966, to the Marine Corps Commandant, stating, “The indicated urgency for an early recommendation dictated that evaluation be limited to presently available commercial items.” A military rifle hadn’t yet been developed in the United States for use as a sniper rifle. Thankfully, the United States has a rich tradition of rifle building.
In the same response, a subsection titled “Self-Imposed Assumptions” listed several rifle requirements. “…the selected sniper system to use the standard 7.62mm NATO ammunition and be simple, sturdy, and explainable with a minimum amount of instruction.” Five rifles were tested, including the Winchester Model 70, the Harrington and Richardson Ultra-Rifle, and three Remington models. In addition, seven telescopic sights were tested.
The Model 70 was quickly disqualified because it was chambered in .30-06. The Ultra-Rifle was also discarded because its construction used components from several manufacturers. Likewise, the Remington Model 600 and 700 ADL were deemed “too light” for military sniping operations. Only the 40X passed all requirements and testing.
Along with rifle and optic requirements, the MTU letter’s final paragraph added, “Thus, along with the M40 sniper rifles, came special ammunition manufactured for the marksmen’s use on the range and the battlefield.” This line presents a form of unification within a specific weapons system.
For the Marines and the rest of the U.S. Military, this was the first time a precision rifle was viewed as a system. Rifle, optic, case, ammunition, sling, and all ancillary gear and components were streamlined into one system. (As for the ammo, this was the birth of the famed M118 7.62X51mm Match ammo.)
The Marines contracted for an initial batch of 700 M40 rifles (though over 900 were delivered). They were shipped in plastic cases designed to hold the entire system.
An important part of that early sniper system was the Redfield Accu-Range scope. Its 3-9X magnification range and compact size were state-of-the-art in 1966. A distinctive feature was its ranging reticle, which could range targets out to 600 yards. The package was held together by mounts that were near facsimiles of those used on the 1903A4 Springfield rifle.
One important distinction between the prototype and the production M40 rifle was the inclusion of a clip-slotted bridge on the 40-X receiver. The slot allowed quick loading of ammunition via stripper clips. All production model M40 rifles were built on the standard 700 short-action, with no slot for stripper clips.
M40 Rifle Evolves in Vietnam
The M40 proved to be an accurate rifle. It was quickly deployed in the harsh combat in Vietnam, and Marine Snipers were able to confidently engage the NVA and VC (Viet Cong). However, Vietnam was a bit different than Quantico, VA.
Early rifles shot well but weren’t necessarily ideal for humid jungles. The wooden stock was the culprit behind questionable serviceability. Vietnam is tropical; it rains a lot. Wood, such as the stock of an M40 rifle, reacts to moisture. High humidity causes the wooden stock to expand and contract. Conversely, swollen wood creates pressure points along the barrel, affecting accuracy.
The only solution is to remove the barreled action from the stock and sand down the high spots. An annoyance, to say the least. Harsh conditions further sidelined many of the original contracted rifles. Rust, cracked optics, broken triggers, and a lack of parts led to the rifle’s evolution into the M40A1 in 1973.
Modifications to the M40 included welding the recoil lug and internal magazine box to create a solid one-piece body. Next, the original aluminum trigger guard and magazine floorplate were replaced with a modified steel version borrowed from Model 70 rifles.
The chrome-moly barrels, which were prone to rust, were replaced with Atkinson stainless-steel tubes finished in black oxide. Finally, the dated wood stock was replaced with a fiberglass one from McMillan and had an integral camouflage finish.
While these modifications were significant upgrades over its predecessor, the gun weighed 12 lbs., 3 lbs. heavier than the M40. Fielded from the 1970s into the 2000s, the M40A1 is the Marine Corps’ longest-serving sniper rifle.
The Legacy of the M40 Sniper Rifle
The Vietnam War marked a change in warfare, or rather, how warfare was conducted. Unconventional combat and the soldiers skilled in this action, such as snipers, rebalanced the playing field. Their surgical use laid the groundwork for future warfighters. As a result, the famed M40 they used is often the sniper rifle to which all others are compared.
Ancel Keys was a polymath who, among many other things,
personally developed the US Army’s K-rations.
Fair use.
It is a soldier’s lot to gripe about his food. That has been the case since well before Hannibal’s hordes coaxed their elephants across the Alps. For literally millennia, those were pretty reasonable gripes. Then America happened.
Ours is the best-equipped, most powerful military in all of human history. In addition to $13 billion aircraft carriers and $600 toilet seats, Uncle Sam invests breathtaking amounts of effort and treasure in feeding our boys and girls serving downrange. I can attest from personal experience that he’s pretty darn good at that nowadays.
T-ration is short for Tray Ration. These are pre-cooked group meals sealed in big tins. To prepare them, you simply dunk the sealed can in boiling water for a while. Think Chef Boyardee on steroids. That stuff was actually quite good.
We used to refer to MREs as “Meals Refused by Ethiopians.” That’s not really fair. MREs are quite tasty these days. Additionally, every meal includes a flameless ration heater that offers a hot meal almost anywhere on Planet Earth under almost any circumstances. All that really began back in 1941 when a University of Minnesota physiologist named Ancel Keys developed the U.S. Army’s first K-rations.
The US Army’s K-rations helped keep American troops healthy and fed in some of the world’s worst places. Public domain.
Food of the Gods
With World War II just beginning to conflagrate around the globe, American troops needed a compact, lightweight meal that could be eaten with minimal preparation. This ration needed to be palatable and nutritious. It also had to be shelf-stable and amenable to mass production. With all this in mind, Keys hit the local supermarket to do some research.
Keys started out with dry sausages, hard biscuits, candy, and chocolate bars. The resulting DIY field ration weighed 28 ounces and provided 3,200 kilocalories. He divided everything into thirds and christened it breakfast, dinner, and supper. He field-tested the resulting amalgam on six soldiers at a nearby Army base. They rated the meals as “palatable” and “better than nothing.” It was a start.
The Army called this new field food K-rations. Uncle Sam already fielded A-rations, B-rations, C-rations, and D-rations. While the military claimed that K was simply an easily recognizable letter, it was widely understood to have been chosen in homage to Dr. Keys.
Each ration contained a breakfast, dinner, and supper.
K-rations were never intended for long-term use.
Some of the K-ration’s contents were downright nasty.
Details
Army grunts soon referred to K-rations as “Paratrooper Rations.” The boxes and contents were standardized. The fatigue pants pockets of the standard M1943 uniform were specifically designed to carry them.
K-rations were never intended for long-term use. The original stipulation was a maximum of 15 days, but this was later reduced to 10. Issue versions provided some 2,830 kilocalories, which really wasn’t adequate to support a soldier for an entire day if he was operating in hostile environments or engaging in heavy physical work. However, K-rats were portable, filling, and tolerable. Troops in austere environments subsisting solely on K-rations predictably lost weight over time, but they didn’t starve.
Some of the K-ration’s contents were downright nasty. The lemon powder was designed to be dissolved into water to make lemonade. However, it was so acidic as to be unpleasant. Additionally, the pork loaf was heavy on fat and tough to get down. As a result, troops oftentimes discarded these components, further reducing the calorie content.
Weapons, vehicles, and equipment are important, but an Army really does run on its stomach. Public domain.
The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Nicotine is a shockingly effective anxiety drug, and back then nobody knew how horrible smoking was on the human body. Each K-ration included a total of 12 cigarettes divided into three 4-cig packets. The really popular brands were represented, including Chesterfield, Camel, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, and others. A dozen coffin nails a day lays the foundation for a proper smoking habit. Millions of GIs came home hopelessly addicted to cigarettes as a result.
While cigarettes served as a welcome diversion for troops stuck in some of the world’s most horrible places, they were actually much more than that. Troops hoarded their cigarettes and then used them to barter for local goods and services. Across both theaters of war, American cigarettes became a sort of ad hoc currency.
Ruminations
Early K-rations were short of ascorbic acid or Vitamin C. Troops feeding too long from K-rats alone began to show signs of scurvy. Subsequent upgrades fortified the drink powders with Vitamin C and rectified that problem.
Untold millions of K-rations were produced, but the Army tired of them soon after the war. They were replaced by C-rations, the famous canned ration packs of the Vietnam War era, starting in 1948. Remaining stocks of K-rations were distributed to U.S. Aid programs in recovering war zones overseas.
Each ration contained a breakfast, dinner, and supper. Twelve rations came to a case. Three cases made up a crate made of either wood or fiberboard. With a total of 36 daily rations per crate, a single crate would usually support a platoon in the field for a day.
K-rations included such sketchy stuff as chopped ham and eggs, canned pork luncheon meat, cervelat sausage, beef or pork loaf, and a nearly inedible hard D-ration emergency chocolate bar. The menu was upgraded over time and also included such stuff as chewing gum, matches, a bouillon packet, toilet paper, halazone water purification tablets, a simple flat wooden spoon, and fifteen dextrose sugar pills. The end result supported literally countless GIs.
Food in the Army evolves over time. Modern stuff is diverse, well-reasoned, nutritious, and packable. WW2-vintage K-rats were much less so but still kept a little meat on a guy’s bones no matter where he served. The humble K-ration likely did more to win World War II than all of the Navy’s battleships combined. It has been said that an Army marches on its stomach, and Ancel Key’s K-rations kept those stomachs filled.
Sixteen million Americans served in uniform during World War 2; 418,500 perished. One in every 38 American servicemen gave their lives for their country.
Our flight crews had it the worst: 44.4% of all RAF bomber crewmen died in the rarefied skies above Europe. However, that pales in comparison to the German U-boats.
In the opening salvoes of the Battle of the Atlantic, U-boat wolf packs wreaked unmitigated havoc on Allied transport ships. Over time, however, improvements in countermeasures as well as the breaking of the Enigma code fundamentally changed that calculus. By war’s end, three out of every four German submariners had been killed in combat.
Occurring as it did in the middle of vast oceans, WW2 naval combat was pitiless. The winners might go home to fight another day. The losers almost invariably slipped beneath the waves to either drown or be mercilessly crushed by the weight of the sea. Such stakes ensured that all involved fought like Norse berserkers.
The Players
The night May 5, 1943 was clear with a bright moon. U-66, a Type IXC German U-boat under the command of Oberleutnant Gehard Seehausen, was cruising along the surface recharging its batteries off of the Cape Verde Islands. U-66 was Hitler’s seventh-most successful German submarine now on her ninth war cruise. Her tally included some 33 Allied ships. U-66 had been at sea for four months and was desperately low on fuel.
As luck would have it, a U.S. Navy TBM Avenger launched from the American escort carrier U.S.S. Block Island picked up U-66 on radar some 20 miles from the U.S.S. Buckley, a compact American destroyer escort that was just itching for a fight. The Buckley’s skipper was Lt. Cmdr. Brent Able. In the dim light, the captain of U-66 mistook the Buckley for a German resupply submarine.
The Fight
By the time Seehausen realized his mistake, the two warships were only 4,000 yards apart. The German skipper ordered a snap torpedo shot that passed harmlessly off the Buckley’s starboard side. Lieutenant Cmdr. Able opened fire with everything that would shoot.
The Buckley ravaged the trapped U-boat for the next two minutes with her 3-inch deck guns, 40mm Bofors, 20mm Oerlikons, and sundry .50-caliber machine guns. High-explosive rounds ripped into the submarine’s conning tower and superstructure. Seehausen fired another ineffectual torpedo. Then Lt. Cmdr. Able then gave his ship hard right rudder and drove the nimble vessel up onto the deck of the U-boat.
In desperation, the Seehausen ordered his men topside. Some attempted to surrender. Others fought like Dervishes.
The crew of the Buckley had emptied their small arms lockers. First Officer Klaus Herbig led a German boarding party onto the forecastle of the destroyer escort. American sailors with Thompsons and .50-caliber machine guns tore them to pieces.
To say this was a desperate fight just doesn’t do it justice. Two of the attacking Kriegsmariners were struck in the head with coffee mugs. Gun crews unable to depress their weapons sufficiently began throwing empty ammunition cases down on the advancing Germans. Several enemy sailors still managed to board the American vessel.
The boatswain’s mate pulled his 1911 pistol and shot the first man dead. The Chief Fire Controlman swept the deck of the German boat with his Thompson. Lt. Cmdr. Able later said he enjoyed, “Excellent results.”
One enemy sailor managed to make it into the wardroom where a ship’s cook doused him in hot coffee before pummeling him into submission with the coffee pot. Five Germans were captured alive onboard the Buckley and escorted below by a sailor armed with a hammer. Meanwhile, the German deck gun crew literally disintegrated when struck by a burst of four 40mm high-explosive rounds.
As the U-boat scraped along the Buckley’s starboard side, an American torpedoman tossed a hand grenade through the open hatch to the U-boat’s conning tower. The dying U-boat then veered into the Buckley near the stern, tearing a hole in the engine room and shearing off the starboard screw. However, U-66 was done. The entire fight had spanned a mere 16 minutes.
The Aftermath
The crew of the Buckley expended 300 rounds of .45 ACP, 60 rounds of .30-06, 30 rounds of 12-gauge buckshot, and a pair of fragmentation grenades along with the aforementioned dinnerware and coffeepot. Roughly half of the U-boat’s crew survived. Oberleutnant Seehausen went down with his boat. He was 26.
The Buckley returned to Boston under her own power. Lieutenant Cmdr. Brent Able was awarded the Navy Cross, the Navy’s second-highest award for valor. His crew was authorized to wear a combat star on their European-African Theater ribbons.
The sinking of U-66 was the last close quarters ship-to-ship combat in U.S. Naval history. What a bunch of freaking studs.
Depending upon how you count them, there are between 193 and 195 recognized countries in the world today. The Vatican and Palestine are the two most ambiguous examples. Nowadays, nations go to war over the most trivial geographical infractions. However, the world was once a much more rollicking, less regimented space.
This fetching lad is the esteemed Christopher Columbus. Depending upon your perspective, he was either a valiant explorer or a bloodthirsty imperialist.
The Guy
In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
He had three ships
The Nina, The Pinta and the Santa Maria, too.
He left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.
Most everybody knows that Christopher Columbus was the first European to explore the Americas. There is controversy and ambiguity, because there will forever be controversy and ambiguity. Leif Erikson the Viking just popped over for a visit but didn’t stick around some 500 years earlier.
And there is the Native American perspective that they didn’t really need exploring at all and would sooner have simply been left alone. Regardless, 534 years ago, Chris and his mates were poking around Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti) when rank laziness conspired to shape the affairs of men.
This is a reproduction of the Santa Maria, Columbus’ flagship. Considering what was being asked of it, she wasn’t much of a boat.
The Ship
Columbus’ flagship was the Santa María. She was a 15th-century carrack that had been previously christened La Gallega. It was a long time ago, and the specific dimensions are in dispute. Most historians agree that the Santa Maria was about 62 feet long on deck and displaced some 125 tons. She was crewed by between 40 and 45 sailors.
62 feet is not a terribly big boat to be traversing the entire breadth of the Atlantic Ocean. And that was the largest of his three. Columbus’ expedition was indeed a fairly bold enterprise.
On Christmas Day 1492, Columbus and his buddies had just killed an eventful few days navigating around the northern coast of Hispaniola, avoiding obstacles and trading with the local Taino people.
They had gone two nights without sleep and were all fairly spanked. With the sea a dead calm (“like water in a bowl” per his later description), Columbus retired to his cabin for a little shut-eye. He left the ship in the hands of his capable but equally exhausted helmsman.
At around 11 pm, the helmsman, feeling like there really wasn’t much untoward that could occur in seas this smooth, passed the reins off to a grumete or cabin boy and hit the rack himself. Columbus had specific standing orders never to do this. However, when the cat’s away …
The Accident
As everybody else on the Santa Maria slept soundly, this poor, inexperienced kid just held the course. Without anyone being the wiser, prevailing currents pushed the heavy vessel toward a sandbar. The first inkling that something was amiss occurred when the rudder scraped the sand.
The poor kid screamed like he was being skinned. Columbus and the ship’s master, Juan de la Cosa, rushed to the deck. However, by then it was too late. The ship was most thoroughly grounded.
This was bad, but it wasn’t the end of the world. These were experienced sailors. Columbus directed De la Cosa to launch a small boat, secure an anchor, and then winch the Santa Maria backward off of the sandbar. However, the tide was going out. The clock was ticking.
The Coward
There was no Coast Guard cutter or rescue helicopter standing by. They were a zillion miles from home, surrounded by unexplored territory and a bunch of sketchy natives. If they screwed this up, these guys were done. As such, when De la Cosa got out in his small boat, he just scuppered off to the nearby Nina and left Columbus to fend for himself.
The Nina’s skipper wisely refused to allow the coward De la Cosa to board, so he returned to the Santa Maria a humble and broken man. However, by then the damage was done. The Santa Maria was doomed.
The Catastrophe
These big wooden ships looked substantial, but they weren’t designed to support their own mass outside the water. As the sea receded, the ship’s seams split. The Santa Maria was irretrievably ruined. As the tide came back in, she filled with water.
A local Taíno chief named Guacanagaríx paddled out to help along with some of his mates. The crew salvaged the cargo and harvested as much of the ship’s timber as possible. However, the remaining crew members would not all fit aboard the remaining ships.
Columbus used the salvaged materials from the Santa Maria to construct a fortified settlement, the first of its kind in the Americas. He named it La Navidad (Christmas) because the accident occurred on Christmas Day. Necessity forced him to leave behind thirty-nine of his men.
So the first official European settlement in the New World was the result of a sleepy helmsman, a cowardly ship’s master, and a cabin boy who was just doing the very best he could.