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Posted: 7/22/2014 8:50:06 AM EDT
[#1]
1964 Just prior to Tonkin we had a mix of Win 97, 12 and Ithica M37 riot guns. Ammo was old paper rounds that often failed to feed because they were swollen from the humidity. Those were replaced with brass case 00 buck. Never shot it except on the range.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 8:55:13 AM EDT
[#2]
There was a Vietnam war in here?
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:02:44 AM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: 1964 Just prior to Tonkin we had a mix of Win 97, 12 and Ithica M37 riot guns. Ammo was old paper rounds that often failed to feed because they were swollen from the humidity. Those were replaced with brass case 00 buck. Never shot it except on the range. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:05:24 AM EDT
[#4]
My dad told me he carried an Ithaca on one patrol. Hauling the ammo around was a bitch, and no contact was made on that patrol, he never fired a shot. He pawned it off on someone else as soon as he could.
He did say once the poor bastard carrying it fell or tripped or something, and the whole squad was on their hands and knees looking for shotgun shells until they found them all.... pretty sure that dude got the shit kicked out of him. 
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:09:01 AM EDT
[#5]
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:13:29 AM EDT
[#6]
Every time I cleared a hooch in Vietnam, it was with a shotgun and no shots were ever fired.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:16:33 AM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Every time I cleared a hooch in Vietnam, it was with a shotgun and no shots were ever fired.  |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:18:07 AM EDT
[#8]
No, but I carried one briefly in Iraq during the invasion.
Mossberg 500 series. 00buck |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:18:33 AM EDT
[#9]
So no stories of hitting Charlie with 00?
So 00 buck was the only issued ammo for shotguns? |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:20:42 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
So no stories of hitting Charlie with 00? So 00 buck was the only issued ammo for shotguns? It worked because the sun is different there. The yellow Vietnamese sun doesn't offer the protection of, for example, the Afghanistan Red Sun. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:22:46 AM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Every time I cleared a hooch in Vietnam, it was with a shotgun and no shots were ever fired. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:22:49 AM EDT
[#12]
Yep...my Dad:
Picture was taken during the battle for Hill 875, Dak To, Central Highlands, 1967 |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:25:25 AM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It worked because the sun is different there. The yellow Vietnamese sun doesn't offer the protection of, for example, the Afghanistan Red Sun. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: So no stories of hitting Charlie with 00? So 00 buck was the only issued ammo for shotguns? It worked because the sun is different there. The yellow Vietnamese sun doesn't offer the protection of, for example, the Afghanistan Red Sun. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:27:08 AM EDT
[#14]
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:27:16 AM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Plus I think bears were already extinct there by then. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
So no stories of hitting Charlie with 00? So 00 buck was the only issued ammo for shotguns? It worked because the sun is different there. The yellow Vietnamese sun doesn't offer the protection of, for example, the Afghanistan Red Sun. And the terrain considerations, as well. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:30:43 AM EDT
[#16]
Shotguns sit in the truck..
Grappling hook and backing up a humvee works a lot better than a shitty shotgun |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:39:22 AM EDT
[#17]
Do any of the Vietnam guys remember seeing any Stevens 520s? I've read that they were still in the inventory in the late 60s left over from WWII and Korea.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:40:08 AM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
It worked because the sun is different there. The yellow Vietnamese sun doesn't offer the protection of, for example, the Afghanistan Red Sun. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
So no stories of hitting Charlie with 00? So 00 buck was the only issued ammo for shotguns? It worked because the sun is different there. The yellow Vietnamese sun doesn't offer the protection of, for example, the Afghanistan Red Sun. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Buckshot kryptonite |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:40:25 AM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
It worked because the sun is different there. The yellow Vietnamese sun doesn't offer the protection of, for example, the Afghanistan Red Sun. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
So no stories of hitting Charlie with 00? So 00 buck was the only issued ammo for shotguns? It worked because the sun is different there. The yellow Vietnamese sun doesn't offer the protection of, for example, the Afghanistan Red Sun. And THAT is the truth, young man. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 9:41:40 AM EDT
[#20]
Anybody use a shotgun during the Vietnam War in here? Yes, with #8s. on quail in south Alabama. I was still a yoot.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 10:00:05 AM EDT
[#21]
I worked with a Vietnam vet who talked about using a shotgun when entering VC tunnels. It was practice in his unit to fire a couple of rounds along the roof of VC tunnels to clear out the exposed roots and any bamboo vipers tied tail-first to the roots. His unit had several snakebite casualties and using the shotgun was their solution to the VC's hanging snake boobytraps.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 10:43:38 AM EDT
[#22]
My pops carried a 97.
He said all he had was 00, and he only liked it when patrolling village areas. He was also a fan of the M14 over the M16. Pic of my dad.  |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 10:48:32 AM EDT
[#23]
Just the other day I saw an ad that a company was re-making the duckbill spreader muzzle device for shotguns like they used in Vietnam, but
I can't remember where I saw it posted. 
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Posted: 7/22/2014 11:43:17 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
1964 Just prior to Tonkin we had a mix of Win 97, 12 and Ithica M37 riot guns. Ammo was old paper rounds that often failed to feed because they were swollen from the humidity. Those were replaced with brass case 00 buck. Never shot it except on the range. Pretty much what my father told me. The first shotguns they had were ancient 97's and the first two had hammers break on the range. Same thing with the paper rounds and said that about a third of the brass cased ones were duds, so they just got shot up. The next shotguns they got were what he remembered to be Winchesters, but he was the assistant team leader then and not carrying one so he wasn't sure. What he did remember was that apparently they had a single action bar, would bind up really badly and rusted to shit and back much more rapidly than others. By then the ammo situation was squared away and they were issued modern 00-Buck. That design wasn't around very long (maybe less than a month) before it was replaced with Ithica M37's which were loved all the way around. That's what he carried for awhile and was apparently very happy with the performance on target. At some point they were given flechette rounds... Only a couple of boxes. They took them out, shot some old crates with them, kinda shrugged their shoulders and said, "Groovy, but we're not using these." |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 11:49:57 AM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Just the other day I saw an ad that a company was re-making the duckbill spreader muzzle device for shotguns like they used in Vietnam, but I can't remember where I saw it posted.
A Vietnam-era Ithaca 37 clone, mil-spec 1911, and a retro M16 clone would be a 3-gun setup with panache. 
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Posted: 7/22/2014 11:50:23 AM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Tell ya truth, I like it here. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Every time I cleared a hooch in Vietnam, it was with a shotgun and no shots were ever fired. I heard the gooks were putting chemicals in the grass. To make us all pacifists. Edited for spelling. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 11:54:36 AM EDT
[#27]
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Posted: 7/22/2014 11:56:52 AM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryDamn. That reminds me I need to finish mine. I just need the front swivel and a park job. Nice looking shotty, btw! |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 12:03:09 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Do any of the Vietnam guys remember seeing any Stevens 520s? I've read that they were still in the inventory in the late 60s left over from WWII and Korea. Stevens 520 was another John Browning design. I used to hunt rabbit with one, 30" full choke. It was a heavy bitch. (#4 shot mostly) |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 12:08:41 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
A Vietnam-era Ithaca 37 clone, mil-spec 1911, and a retro M16 clone would be a 3-gun setup with panache. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Just the other day I saw an ad that a company was re-making the duckbill spreader muzzle device for shotguns like they used in Vietnam, but I can't remember where I saw it posted.
A Vietnam-era Ithaca 37 clone, mil-spec 1911, and a retro M16 clone would be a 3-gun setup with panache. Like a wild bunch match but a Nam match. I like it. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 12:17:49 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
So no stories of hitting Charlie with 00? So 00 buck was the only issued ammo for shotguns? meh...cannister rounds for the 79 
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Posted: 7/22/2014 12:23:25 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Like a wild bunch match but a Nam match. I like it. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
A Vietnam-era Ithaca 37 clone, mil-spec 1911, and a retro M16 clone would be a 3-gun setup with panache. Like a wild bunch match but a Nam match. I like it. Charlie Don't Surf Match. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 12:26:58 PM EDT
[#33]
In before afghanman.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:02:52 PM EDT
[#34]
Not Vietnam, but I think last year there was a story in a gun magazine (yeah I know) about an officer or wo who drew a shotgun from the armory because they wouldn't let him go out with the patrol with just a pistol. Don't remember if it was Afghanistan or Iraq.
He loaded up with slugs and actually had to shoot a guy with it. He hit the guy in the pelvis and dropped his ass to the ground like a sack of potatoes. But since it wasn't a fatal shot, the guy was still trying to shoot his AK from the ground and he pumped around round in the guy through the shoulder blades and no more Aloha salad bar. Details are kind of fuzzy. That was like the first gun magazine I had bought in 5 years, don't remember which one with was, but it was like the only military account I've read of a shotgun actually getting used in military combat. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:13:07 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I heard the gooks were putting chemicals in the grass. To make us all pacifists. Edited for spelling. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Every time I cleared a hooch in Vietnam, it was with a shotgun and no shots were ever fired. I heard the gooks were putting chemicals in the grass. To make us all pacifists. Edited for spelling. Don't you worry, Wilmar, 'cause you's a killer anyway, man. I read that they issued 00 buck, #4 buck, and flechette rounds were available. I read that the flechette rounds had better distance but didn't usually put the guy down right then and there. A shotgun seems like a good choice if you were there during the time period that the kinks hadn't been worked out of the M-16 system. I have often read it was a favored weapon by the pointman of a unit. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:22:00 PM EDT
[#36]
I was in the US Army from 1975 to 1979.
One of my squad leaders had carried a shotgun in Vietnam. One day when I had to step into the NCO locker room (NCOs who were married/lived off post had a locker room for their gear/clothes, etc.) for something he hollered at me to come look at a picture of his buddy. It took me a moment to figure out what was in the picture. He was standing there holding a head, by the hair, sitting on his shoulder. I asked him what the hell he was doing with a head on his shoulder. He told me he was on point, with the 12 ga., when he felt a sudden sharp pain in his lower leg. He looked down, saw an arrow sticking out of both sides and some blood. He was looking around when the VC popped up out of his spiderhole for a second shot and he gave the guy a load of 00 buck to the chest. He said the medic got the arrow out (crossbow bolt/arrow) and bandaged him up (had to show off the two scars on either side of his leg). He said he was so pissed he cut the guys head off and kicked it around awhile and then finally had one of his buddy's take a few picture of him with the head. I don't guess the VC cared much by then. The load of 00 buck did its job ASAP. He is the only guy I ever heard talk about carrying a 12 ga. in Vietnam. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:29:07 PM EDT
[#37]
My great uncle did 4 tours in Vietnam with special forces. He used and brought back a Winchester 1897 trench gun which is in 90% + condition. The only info could get from him is that he carried buckshot, and during troop movements on the ground they put the guy with the shotgun(him)!second in line behind the lead scout in case of ambush situations.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:41:27 PM EDT
[#38]
I carried several different shotguns in Iraq if that counts.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:51:34 PM EDT
[#39]
My dad used a savage clearing a couple villages. He used it on a v.c who tried to shoot him with an a.k. He said the flechette round at close range was very effective. He was more of an m-79 guy but liked the m-16 too. He loved the 1911..
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:53:08 PM EDT
[#40]
My GIL (grandpa in law) has some photos of what looks like an Ithaca.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:55:04 PM EDT
[#41]
Thanks for those who served and thanks for the stories.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 1:55:05 PM EDT
[#42]
My father carried a shotgun in Vietnam at Cam Rahn Bay.
I think he said it was a Winchester and he said it was worn out like nobody's business. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 2:03:00 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Every time I cleared a hooch in Vietnam, it was with a shotgun and no shots were ever fired. Bunny was the shit! |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 2:24:26 PM EDT
[#44]
Chief Watson used an Iticha 37 with Buckshot against a VC armed with an AK47.
BTW, the AK is on display at the UDT/Seal museum at Vero Beach. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 2:35:49 PM EDT
[#45]
Pretty cool to,hear. That would have sucked to have had the cardboard or paper shells.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 2:37:40 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Shotguns sit in the truck.. Grappling hook and backing up a humvee works a lot better than a shitty shotgun I used mine a few times. |
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Posted: 7/22/2014 2:42:19 PM EDT
[#47]
One of my neighbors growing up did a tour as 82nd then two as 5th SF Group (had the pictures, awards, shadow box, etc. to prove it). He had an Ithaca 37 that he'd brought back. He said their point guy would usually carry it; supposedly they were issued 00 buck but his guys would trade it with the Aussies for #4 buck which they preferred in tight jungle. I remember him saying it worked very well at close range in an ambush or when clearing villages but otherwise they preferred the M16s.
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Posted: 7/22/2014 2:55:26 PM EDT
[#48]
Carried one in Iraq for a short time. Never shot it in combat. Not that it really has to do anything with OP's question though...
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Posted: 7/22/2014 3:25:59 PM EDT
[#49]
Thanks to those that fought!
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Posted: 7/22/2014 4:15:23 PM EDT
[#50]
My dad was in the Korean War and in his things that he brought back was a all brass 12 shell with a cardboard end cap that says OOB. He never said anything about shotguns in the war . He only talked about the 1911, BAR and the Garand. He really liked the Garand. All he ever owned when he got back was Browning shotguns.
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