In the heat of battle, it becomes very obvious that superior weaponry is very critical. During the Tet Offensive, my platoon and I were on top of a big concrete water tower just outside our perimeter to the north. I spotted Capt. Michael Gooding used a twenty-power scope as he expertly picked off advancing enemy troops using an M14 selective-fire rifle mounted with a 2.5-power scope. My first shots in combat were taken with a .50-cal M2 heavy machine gun, fired against ARVN soldiers in a hospital compound. Never did we figure out why they attacked us in the first place, but they paid the ultimate price.
The Tet Offensive, which came to an abrupt end on 2 February, left behind haunting reminders. Outside our LZ and in Quang Tri, 900 enemy corpses lay bloated. Across South Vietnam, the offensive claimed 32,000 lives, which included 14,000 civilians, 2,100 ARVNs, and 1,000 Americans.
On the more positive side, my division captured a great number of small arms during Tet. These were proudly displayed above the two doors of the Brigade HQ where Colonel Rattan slept. The temptation to acquire these enemy weapons proved impossible to resist as they were loosely hung by wire loops. Watching the careless patrol of the guard around the building I acted. With careful timing in my approach, I managed to lift an AK47 from its loops and walk away undetected. It became a ritual of sorts with the Colonel constantly replacing the weapons, and I, with wire cutters to hand, would silently cut the wires to secure my prize.
The Springfield Armory, meanwhile, never lay idle in making further developments on firearms. Wartime experience with the M1 Rifle indicated that a lighter rifle, greater magazine capacity, and selective fire were needed. This pursuit dominated Springfield Armory’s final two decades of history.
Work on an improved M1 began as early as December 1942, with the M1E series. John Garand’s T20, finished October 1944, was the first of the “T” series, with a B.A.R.-style magazine and selective fire capabilities. Trials procurement of 100,000 T20E2s had been ordered in 1945, but the war’s sudden end stopped these plans.
At the same time, a competitive contract was awarded to Remington Arms Co. which developed prototypes like the T22E1 and T27. These rifles were also built around a standard M1 receiver and used a B.A.R.-style 20-round magazine. The T23 and T24 rifles were simply M1s that were converted to selective fire but still had the 8-round capacity.
Improvements in propellant technology, coupled with German developments late in WWII, resulted in the development of the T65 cartridge. The first rifle designed around this new cartridge was Earle Harvey’s T25. Initial setbacks aside, the T44 program would eventually succeed based on designs by Garand. Arctic tests in 1953 went so badly for the FN rifle that the T44 was granted a stay of execution. By 1957, the T44E4 would be approved as the M14 rifle to replace the M1 rifle, M2 carbine, and M3A1 submachine gun.
Parallel to this, Project “Salvo” was developing a rifle that would scatter a shower of small-caliber, high-velocity projectiles. Disheartened by the failures with the AR10 prototype, Eugene Stoner nevertheless impressed Gen. William G. Wyman. What Stoner would later create, the AR15, which became the M16, would prove to be one of the most radical steps in firearm history.
From clandestine procurements of firearms to advanced developments of rifles, the relentless pursuit of excellence with firearms is a badge of the integral place superior weaponry holds in military success.