A Tunnel Gun

gizamo · #1 07-13-2009, 09:32 PM

Model 36, Chief's Special....

giz

7shooter · #2 07-14-2009, 08:56 AM

Gizamo... Were 38's used by tunnel rats ? There would be a number of advantages to a revolver in that situation. I've met a few tunnel rats over the years and they all said they went down with 45's. Their joke was that they got farther with a smile and a 45 than they got with a smile alone. The men I met were incredibly courageous. They were also all short.

panamajack310 · #3 07-14-2009, 09:17 AM

Hi, One of my friends was a tunnel rat in Vietnam they used the 45acp along with 4".38's. He said several of his guys bought their own gunss to use for their preferences. He told me one of his guys used a 45acp 1917 because of moonclips.

digi-shots · #4 07-14-2009, 01:45 PM

Great gun! great posting!

Good to hear from you.

danski · #5 07-14-2009, 03:37 PM

Read an article years ago by a former tunnel rat. His unit had .38s. I have seen photos of the TRs with .45s as well.

The writer who used a .38 said he preferred it because it was less likely to jam in the
tight tunnels and they didn't like the extra recoil nor the brass flying about in those confines.

If needed to fire, they supposedly were disciplined to fire three rounds
and then pass the .38 back to the man behind as he passed up his fully loaded .38.
Even if more rounds were fired, the change-off was still part of procedure.

He wrote the biggest scare was a trap door from an above tunnel and a grenade
being dropped in.

I believe after a lot of this "nonsense" our military just started pumping the tunnels
full of vomiting gas--and then the liberals accused us of chemical/biological warefare.

However you figure it, the TRs were very, very, very brave men.

Crazy K38 · #6 07-14-2009, 04:05 PM

it's true I learn some thing everyday,

gizamo · #7 07-14-2009, 06:05 PM

Gear...

giz

Dan M · #8 07-14-2009, 06:19 PM

Hey Giz great collection of goodies there. Good to see ya back buddy

Dan

perpster · #9 07-14-2009, 11:13 PM

Giz, What's the cylindrical shaped bump on the outside of the holster?

gizamo · #10 07-15-2009, 05:31 AM

The holster is a clamshell style. The cylinder pocket helps it with retention...

giz

mdwiese · #11 07-15-2009, 05:40 AM

That job took a lot of guts, thanks for posting!

rayb · #12 07-15-2009, 05:15 PM

Sometime in 1969 we were issued a "tunnel kit" consisting of a full roll of commo wire, a reel for the wire, two of the old hand held telephones, I think the nomenclature was TA-1, and a Ruger .22 with the 4 1/2 " (or whatever the standard length was) barrel. There may or may not have been an extra magazine for the Ruger, I don't recall.

No one to my knowledge entered a tunnel with the Ruger, but I don't know what happened after I left country.

I often wonder what happened to all the stuff I saw there.

Years later I bought a similar Ruger, marked with the 1976 "200th year" Ruger applied during the bientennial. IIRC, I found it in an archery shop. Guess it reminded me of something.

rayb