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Very early in Vietnam, a small number of M1903A4 rifles with M84 scopes were pressed into service by the Army. The Weaver scope began being replaced by the M81/82 scope late in the war with the M84 scope, during and after the Korean War. So desperate was the Army for scopes that buyers were sent out around the country to sporting goods stores to buy up the stocks of the Weaver 330 scopes. The Weaver scope was a small objective that lacked waterproofing and was, at best, a stop gap. A commercial Weaver 330C 2.5X hunting scope was mounted, later redesignated the “M73B1.” Significant numbers of these rifles were produced by Remington.
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The M1903A4 was standardized and accepted in January 1943. The M1 platform also presented issues maintaining accuracy because of the complex stock fitting and the damp, wet environment of Southeast Asia.Īs for the M1903A4, it was a World War II desperation acquisition by the Army for a sniper rifle. The offset scope also made for a very uncomfortable rifle with a poor cheekweld for the sniper. The rifle also had to be zeroed at 200 to 300 yards to avoid large windage adjustments with increasing range. The top-loading enbloc clip caused parallax problems. The M84 scope featured flip-up covers to protect the adjustment knobs.Īnother issue that snipers had to deal with was with the M1D’s offset scope. The 2.2X flat-post reticle in the M84 scope significantly compromised the capability for serious long-range sniping. The M1D with the M84 scope was what was issued early in Vietnam. The M84 was a marginal improvement over the M81/82 with a range compensating elevation turret. Both scopes were replaced by the 2.2X M84 scope in the early 1950s. The M81 had a fine crosshair and the M82 had a post-type reticle. Both scopes were the 2.5X Lyman Alaskan scope with a sunshade and differed only in reticle design. The initial scopes on these rifles were the M81/82.
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A number of sporting rifles and scopes were also assembled and sent into service by the Marines. Very early in the war, stateside Marine Corps armories were emptied of every available Winchester Model 70 (M70) target rifles. The USMC initially armed their snipers with M1D rifles, but realized a better rifle system was needed. Early on, soldiers were primarily issued M1D rifles along with a few M1903A4 rifles, both in. troops early in the Vietnam War were mostly World War II small arms pressed into service again. So let’s step back and examine the sniper rifles that were available to both sides early in the conflict, and their capabilities. Land, who did everything necessary to put effective snipers and equipment in the field. This gap was rapidly closed by resourceful men, such as Maj. With these two elements, the NVA held an advantage in sniping during the early part of the war. The NVA, on the other hand, benefited from the Soviet Union’s World War II training doctrine and large numbers of World War II-era Soviet sniper rifles. By mid-1968, however, the Army had several well-organized in-country sniper schools supported by the U.S. Army didn’t begin organized, in-country, division-level sniper training programs until early 1967. The principles and practices developed by these two legends are still the basis of sniper training today.Īccording to Peter Senich in his book “Long-Range War: Sniping in Vietnam” (1994), the U.S. Land was also the man behind improving shooting skills and techniques, while Marine sniper Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock wrote the book on stalking. According to him, the school was the springboard for early sniper schools in Vietnam for both the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions. He established the first organized sniper training program in 1961 in Hawaii for the USMC. Marine Corps (USMC) Major Edward James “Jim” Land. One of the men behind this new emphasis on sniping was U.S. military adjusted its attitude and approach towards snipers and sniper training. The situation quickly changed as the U.S. Up to this point, sniper training in the U.S. Not to mention, NVA snipers harassed U.S. military to bring accurate long-range fire to bear. In the initial stages of the war, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong were operating in the open because of the inability of the U.S. military was caught unprepared for the requirements that the Vietnam War would place on precision, long-range, small-arms engagements. As the United States committed to helping South Vietnam in 1959, the U.S.