Berlin 1961

[Roadkingtrax]

Berlin, September, 1961: Sfc Walter Longanbach, right, supply sergeant of Company D, 6th Infantry, 2nd Battle Group, issues the new, fast-firing M14 rifles to three men of his company. The troops in three companies in West Berlin that received M14s were about to begin marksmanship lessons, followed by range firing; after that, they were to turn in their M1 Garand rifles, the standard infantryman's weapon since 1941. A story about the switch noted that one of the advantages of the new weapon was that it fired the standard 7.62-mm cartridge used by forces of other NATO nations.

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Information

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[RCS]

The M1 was adopted long before 1941. Those M14 handguards were replaced with solid handguards

[browningautorifle]

I'd love to know what the serial number of those rifles are...

[Bill Hollinger]

How long did the Army use the M14. I know the Marine Corps used them a bit longer.

[Joe W]

How long did the Army use the M14. I know the Marine Corps used them a bit longer.

I am thinking the Marine Corps only had them about 4 or 5 years, late 1962 to 1966 or 67 but not sure.

[bearrowland]

If I recall correctly, alot of the lads weren't too happy getting those M14s at the time, especially with the Berlin Wall business going on.

[Bill Hollinger]

Joe, I think you are about right on that. A buddy of mine was in the Marine Corps and in 1966 when he got to Vietnam he had a n M14. He said about six months in he received an M16 only to have it taken a few days later and given back his M14. Some issue with the new M16 caused the boss pull them from the line. I suspect it was the whole cleaning kit, dirty jamming issue. He told me about a month later they all got the M16s for good. That would have been very late 1966 or early 1967 by his account.

[RCS]

Found this barrel in 1991 from R. Beaver, never found anything dated before this Jan 1960 barrelAttachment 41424 since this one !

[bearrowland]

Bill, I have a buddy of mine that was in the Army that experienced the same thing in Vietnam.

[Shake Rag]

I'm real surprised that a rifle was issued with the selector switch. We Marines learned it took a little training to use on auto and then we ignored it.