Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronin
60 rds per SLR? So, three 20 rd mags? Fuck your gov is a bunch of stingy bastards!  |
Yeah that was at a time when the army higher-ups and the government thought that 60-80 rounds of .303 per SMLE was sufficient for WW2 so 60-80 rounds of 7.62mmN per L1A1 SLR would surely be sufficient.
That wasn't the biggest problem though, at that time magazines were considered to be part of the weapon and their issue was tightly controlled. Most infantry soldiers would be issued 5 mags for their L1A1 SLR but damage could mean they had only 4 or 3 to use (you'd be held accountable for the mags and expected to pay for the repair/re-issue if the damage or loss was considered to be caused by negligence).
The Battle of Long Tan to which Legbreaker is referring started out as a light patrol so most soldiers had between 3 to 5 mags for the SLR. The canny few who were able to acquire more mags were always very careful about when and where they used them because ammo was also strictly controlled and you'd be hauled over the coals to explain why you had more than your allocation.
As a result of the shitfight that Long Tan became, the army looked at the issuing of mags and ammo for wartime use and drastically changed the scale of issue. I recall that during the 1980s, infantry soldiers would likely be issued with 7 SLR mags during peacetime training but during wartime it could be as many as 11 plus they would be expected to carry extra rounds in their packs to refill their mags.