# I guess our military believe's if it ain't broke,don't retire it at least sometimes



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

The son of a friend returned last week from deployment and I was visiting him and his father and grandfather listening to them talk war shop a little and the youngest told of how he was glad not having to be behind the trigger of the .50 cal M2 he was assigned to while helping the cab crew look for IEDs.

From there , his father said he remembered manning one of those belt fed bullet hoses during his first and only tour after peacetime training during Operation Desert Storm, then his grandfather added that he remembered manning the trigger on one on a river boat during the Vietnam era that their boat chief told him it was Korea or WWII refurbished surplus but saved their bacon many times.

As they talked about the bullet hose they all had experience with, we figured out that military weapon has been in use for almost a century with only minor upgrades.

We all agreed that the weapon had the B-52 beat in years in use by decades since John Browning turned out the first one in 1920 or so.

With the many high tech weapons always being developed for our military, it's cool hearing of the ones that prove dependability so well that three generations of G.I's can all say they had their finger on the trigger of it.

Considering how expensive ammo for our handguns and hunting rifles are, I cringe to think how much it costs to fully load one of those behemoths and am glad the ammo cost are bulk rate out of our nation's annual military budget.


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## shawnlee (Apr 13, 2010)

Its way cheaper than you think......

I was getting bulk surplus military .50 cal ball ammo for under 2 bucks a round for quite a while...…..which is a odd question/situation in itself,...…..why does the military release perfectly good ammo they use as surplus , the answer to that might shock you.

PS...in a emergency I have paid almost that retail for .270 Winchester ammo for hunting from a smaller mom and pop store out in the sticks...…. Not to mention more than that for say .338 lapua ammo, much less match grade ammo costs.

......also lots of perfectly good very new manufacture military 5.56 green tips floating around,....there must be a reason the military chooses releases this ammo...….its not B grade, I have fired and chrono a bunch of it....its A grade ammo and less than 2 years old lake city stuff.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I remember the 50 cal from VN 1966-1967, barrel getting hot and changeing it out for a cool one.
It was mounted on a duce inhalf for protecton during a convoy and bridge eretion.

 Al


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

a number of John Browning's designs have remained only minor changed for a hundred years.

beyond the design remaining only minimally changed I was reading there are 70 year old M-2 still in service some likely sat in warehouses for some time but many have been rebuilt several times and remain in service .


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

A well made and designed firearm isn't a passing fad, any more than a hammer going out of style.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

Some things are just right. 
Some of the torches I use are pre wwII. And. There are new ones just like it in bubble packs in stores today


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

Shrek said:


> The son of a friend returned last week from deployment and I was visiting him and his father and grandfather listening to them talk war shop a little and the youngest told of how he was glad not having to be behind the trigger of the .50 cal M2 he was assigned to while helping the cab crew look for IEDs.
> 
> From there , his father said he remembered manning one of those belt fed bullet hoses during his first and only tour after peacetime training during Operation Desert Storm, then his grandfather added that he remembered manning the trigger on one on a river boat during the Vietnam era that their boat chief told him it was Korea or WWII refurbished surplus but saved their bacon many times.
> 
> ...





GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> a number of John Browning's designs have remained only minor changed for a hundred years.
> 
> beyond the design remaining only minimally changed I was reading there are 70 year old M-2 still in service some likely sat in warehouses for some time but many have been rebuilt several times and remain in service .


You’ll enjoy this. M2 serial 324. 
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.we...ought-for-90-years-without-needing-repair/amp

I got to see this exact machine gun in Anniston when I was there working on a sniper rifle project. The guys were slow-rolling it on the line trying to get someone with horsepower to recognize the historical significance of it before it got relegated to de-mil. They were making a point of showing it to anyone they could grab the attention of. I got to strip and dry cycle it, and they were going to get me and another guy into the live-fire pile with it, but we got way-layed by actual work.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Hope they were successful in preserving that 3 digit s/n weapon considering the current s/n sequence is in the 7 digit range.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

lower SN than the one in the museum definitely should have been able to find some museum to take it.


what is cool is that it is original , virtually anything can be rebuilt and rebuilt just that most things are not worth it.

you could get an AR-15 to go millions of rounds if you inspected the BCG every 2K and replaced the barrel ,bolt , gas tube and springs every 8-10k and replace the upper and bolt carrier every 5 barrels. but ut wouldn't really be original.

when a new receiver is less than the labor run them through the recycle and get fresh casting machined ready to assemble


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## FarmboyBill (Aug 19, 2005)

Alley I remember them also mounted on ring mounts on both deuces and apcs. The last time in, 85/7, I had tin wear that on the handle one had 1917, I still had the WW 2 steel pot, and, in Redeye Stinger, a 1911 and a couple things that would/could date to Korea and VN


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