Monday, May 03, 2010

Recommended

Lagniappe's owner shoots with and talks to a Marine Korean War veteran, one of those remarkable men who fought at Chosin against the Chinese. We learn why the US M1 Carbine is an ineffective weapon when used in winter conditions against heavily-clothed soldiers.

Good stuff.

3 comments:

Borepatch said...

My uncle was at Chosin. Made it back, although some of his buddys didn't.

Anonymous said...

The heavy quilted winter clothes the Chinese wore were not the reason the carbine rounds failed to stop them. The fellow at the "Box of Truth" proved it. But yeah, the M1.30 is still on the light side when it comes to stopping power. Some of it's poor performance could be that it was not very accurate over 100 yards--Especially when fired by nervous troops freezing from winter cold at charging troops. My Dad, also a vet at Chosin, suspected that the Chinese in those human wave attacks were hopped up on opium, so they didn't feel anything when they were shot. Maybe so, maybe not.

Bob said...

@anonymous: the Box o' Truth tests involved terry cloth as a testing medium; the Chinese winter uniforms involved were probably made of heavy-grade wool. Nor did the tests take into account such things as metal buttons, metal identity tags, binoculars, bandoliers and items in pockets, all of which could have deflected M1 Carbine bullets.