OK.....I'm gonna go back in time to 1964 and play SF advisor in SE Asia.  Here is my CMP service grade Winchester (post WWII USGI birch stock) still with Win barrel (MW 2/TE 3) and my Colt 602 clone. Too bad I don't have my Rock Ola carbine for it would go nice with the picture. I think I'm going to try to get various accoutrements from the era to make a nice display.

Nice OP!  

OP....Was your Garand a “luck of the draw” mail order, or did you go to one of the stores and pick it out?  I’ve got the itch and it won’t go away....

Great looking weapons.

Luck of the draw. Ordered her late last december and the only thing I changed was added a birch rear handguard. It came with a walnut one and it looked out of place. I also had the buttplate reparked because it was practically bare metal.

Wow, great guns.  That Garand stock is super duper nice....

Well dang. Seeing that beauty and knowing it was mail ordered is pushing me to grab my checkbook...bigly!

Yep............I love birch also. There is no cartouche (heard it's an Anniston rearsenal) and had some small dings but was real clean. Steamed out the dents and gave her some pure Tung oil and it came out great. She came with mostly WWII SA parts as well. The bolt is SA WWII, trigger assembly is SA WWII and even came with a D35382 6 SA op rod without the relief cut!

Cancel - duplicate post

IF you are going to play US advisor in Viet Nam in the early/mid 60s you weapon would most likely have been the M1/M2 Carbine.  Most definately Not the early AR 15/M16.  
You almost never see early photos of a GI carrying anything but a carbine.
Sarge

Yep, neither of those would have likely been in RVN then.  Besides the M1/M2 Carbine, you'd see advisors humping M14s. The OP has some nice weapons but not what you'd see in 1964 in RVN.  What you'd see would look more like these.

In 1963/64 US Property marked Colt AR-15s model 02 (602) were issued to US Advisors in Vietnam. These pictures are all from the early to mid 60's and our guys all have a 602. There is someone with a Garand behind the tough looking SOB with the 602 on the boat. He even has a waffle mag in the gun so pre 1965 most likely. The other guys have a 602 and are Special Forces of some kind (Army/Navy). My post wasn't to say this is what EVERY person had but it's historical fact the Colt 602 was used by Special Forces during 64 along with the M1 Carbine of course.





Not sure when these are from


ARVN Rangers

I could maybe consult my book about the history of Green Berets in Vietnam.  I seem to recall a plethora of weapons, including M16's.  I was gonna say Grease Guns too.  I actually thought M14's were less common to ODA's in early Vietnam as compared to some of the other ones.  Mainly because they were big and heavy compared to some other choices.  But then the same case would be with Garands.

Right you are. I never meant to infer that we would be carrying Garands but our SVN allies would be along with M1/M2 Carbines.

Even in '68 when I got there I saw M14s and M1 Carbines at Cu Chi.  Yes, by then the M16s were the norm but a number of the camp guards used them as they had better punch at longer range.  I also saw the pump shotguns with the 1903 era, 18" long bayonets on them too.  While my tank's TO&E included grease guns, we had M16s instead and like many other TCs, I cut an M2 50 ground mount down to a pintle mount and had it welded on top of my cupola of my M48 instead of mounting it sideways inside it.

We later put a shield on the front as well and we gave the loader an M60 mount in front and to the rear of his Loader's hatch.  Someone had an idea so we also welded standoffs next to the light guards in front so we could deploy a chain-link fence frame across the front of the tank with 'wing's that folded out on the sides to catch any B40s before they impacted when we dug in defensively.

By then we were mounting all sorts of stuff everywhere. The POL convoy trucks we escorted had some sort of small mines attached in a row on each side of the bed so if they got rushed they could blow a side and 'clean out' the brush.  We also had a M42 'Duster' that would go on the POL runs with us too and that was just plain cool when those twin 40mms would go to work on Charles!!!!  It it went 'bang' it seemed like we had one or two.

Nice set OP! My FIL was there in '65, USMC. He had an M14 and KA bar, but went through boot with an M1 Garand.

OP... When you get done with your guns...

GO CUT THE WEEDS AROUND YOUR SHED!!!

This exactly.

Also M3, Swedish K, Madsen M50 (if CIA), and S&W 76 (beginning in 1967) SMGs were common among advisors and Tier I units.

My Uncle was an Army MP in Saigon maybe around 65 and he said they had M1 Carbines and M1 Garands but
mostly carried a 1911 and/or a Carbine.

My Dad, who was in the USAF, spent some time in Laos in 63 loading bombs on CIA T28s and A26 Invaders.
For security they had M1/M2 Carbines as well as M14s and of course various pistols.

I was surprised he mentioned the M14 since he was Air Force but since it was a "black operation"
at the time I'm sure the folks running  that show could get what ever they needed.

I guess I really should get another M14 clone of some sort......