The loss of modern infantry weapons

[kalos72]

So I was thinking last night about refitting a few militia units in my campaign and realized something. What do I arm them with?

I haven't really thought much about it but since there are no more factories running 1000's of M16 off the line, do you think there are enough of them floating around? I mean how many M16's could I reasonably buy from NYC?

Armies of the Night for example has the M!6 as 'common' at $600 per. Does that mean I can go there every day and possibly buy one?

Or am I looking too deeply into the mechanics of the game versus just some assumed "artistic freedoms"?

And that leads me into my next question...What parts of the M16 would a T2k world be able to produce?

Seems most of the parts are either aluminum or steel, which could be smelted from steel ibeams or rebar I guess. Could the receiver be steel too? And I guess we could use wood stocks to replace the plastics, making the weapon heavier of course.

Can you melt the receivers/barrels from civilian weapons to reform an M16 receiver? Or perhaps re-chamber a civilian rifle to a 7.62 or 5.56?

[fightingflamingo]

I would say manufacturing new modern firearms in the T2K post war environment is generally going to be two complex for most (nearly all) enclaves you'd find anywhere. The V1 Small Arms guide addresses this particular issue somewhat with the M16EZ.

However, don't forget the number of firearms generally available in the United States, so a variety of AR15's or Mini-14's may be a good choice as they are not uncommon, SKS's and AK-clones are also possible, going up to the far less common M1A's, but the vast bulk of these weapons will be bolt action hunting rifles. The US government holds large stocks of M1's which in my campaigns I have the Feds supplying to the states for use in their local militia's and state defense forces, which by 2000 could wind up in the hands of many local militia's as central control breaks down and these forces disentegrate.

[kalos72]

Thats true about the shear number of pistols/rifles/shotguns in the US today, but after a point, the more modern military weapons will need replacement parts or even be worn past the point of repair. What then?

How does the a states militia arm itself? I have seen post where some militias are listed with 4-5000 men. Surely each state doesnt have a stockpile of M1's in those numbers no?

So my thinking is if we can repair nuclear power plants, reload ammunition from base chemicals, I am sure we can use a lathe to pump out some , perhaps inferior to prewar production, replacement parts. IE "Rifle River".

But if not, surely a 4000 militia isnt gonna want to arm itself with a dozen different weapons, carrying a dozen different caliber ammo or have to reload a dozen different types of ammo either.

Long term - would modern military weapons survive or would larger forces start to resort back to more medieval warfare and such?

[fightingflamingo]

the US government maintained hundreds of thousands of M1's as part of it's war reserve.

[kalos72]

Does anyone know where? Perhaps that a whole new adventure then...

I was reading up on the M1 and it seems to be a rather simple rifle to produce considering its era. Steel and walnut...

Is there much of a difference in the 30.06 and 7.62 Nato?

[headquarters]

I agree with those who say that the stockpiles of M1 30-06 rifles, M-14 .308s ,Us Carbines etc + various smgs and lmgs are substantial in the US.

They probably have stockpiles of M16s too.

This is in addition to all the tens of thousands of AR15 type civillian weapons and tons of spare parts out there .In a major city that has bylaws that allow firearms - I am pretty sure I could get myself relatively well armed by rummaging through a few FedEx/UPS /carrier services centers.

But if none of it is available - and you have an organization that can spare food to run a simple weapons program - SMGs can be made by hand and simple power tools and plumbing supplies.Look at the pakistani tribal areas-they make al sorts there -much of it with hand tools.

I never did buy the m16ez .To close tolerances in the ar family for that too work well -unless entirely made of regulation /factory spare parts

The Poles built SMGs in the woods using parts brought in on bicycle with little or no tools during WWII.
Many small workshops made Stenguns in nazi occupied Europe and other smgs too.

Going improvised is an option - if you like the idea.

[kalos72]

So do you think I am over thinking the problem of arming a few thousand militiaman with a decent, standardized, combat rifle?