Gun Trucks

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Webstral

If one has an M60, does it belong on a gun truck or with a platoon of dismounts? Heavier weapons, like the M2HB, almost certainly have to be mounted on a vehicle. Of course, machine guns aren't exactly as common as hunting rifles. Only so many are going to be confronted with this choice. Still, when I think about the Vermont State Guard and the Granite Brigade (NH), these are organizations with access to cargo trucks, homemade armor, and machine guns. Do the M60s and 60mm mortars go on trucks or with the dismounts?

A couple of the color plates in the Osprey book show M60Ds (helicoper door guns with spade grips and ring sights intead of a butt-stock and a pistol grip) mounted on gun trucks. It seems to me that, with very few aircraft still airworthy, this would be a natural use for old door guns.

It's almost ridiculous how many MGs some of those Vietnam-era gun trucks carried. We're talking 3-5 M2HBs and 2-4 M-60s per truck, in some instances. One even had two 7.62mm Miniguns! Most of them carried an M-79 too. I was surprised that none of the images in the book show AGLs as a gun truck weapon. I know that they were widely used on PBRs by the Brown Water Navy. I wonder why they never caught on as gun truck weapons.

[Legbreaker]

Coax machineguns from knocked out AFVs would be useful on trucks also. The added bulk of makeshift butts and trigger mechanisms wouldn't matter that much when mounted.
You might also see coax weapons on tripods and used as SFMG in the indirect role. It's possible they could even be used on trolleys - imagine a pram reworked to carry a machinegun instead of a baby....

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by Raellus

A couple of the color plates in the Osprey book show M60Ds (helicoper door guns with spade grips and ring sights intead of a butt-stock and a pistol grip) mounted on gun trucks. It seems to me that, with very few aircraft still airworthy, this would be a natural use for old door guns.

It's almost ridiculous how many MGs some of those Vietnam-era gun trucks carried. We're talking 3-5 M2HBs and 2-4 M-60s per truck, in some instances. One even had two 7.62mm Miniguns! Most of them carried an M-79 too. I was surprised that none of the images in the book show AGLs as a gun truck weapon. I know that they were widely used on PBRs by the Brown Water Navy. I wonder why they never caught on as gun truck weapons.

Speaking for the Vietnam-era AGLs, it was an experimental Honeywell design that was hand-cranked. The first real AGL is the XM-174 by Aerojet. Both designs used either a 12rd drum or a 50rd box and fired standard 40mm grenades (the barrel on the XM-174 is the same one fitted to a M-79).

GIs also took the time to strip any crashed gunships and stripped them of their M-75 40mm (Cobra) and the M-5 40mm (UH-1 gunships).

There is a photo in the national archieves that shows one gun truck fitted with no less than six 40mm AGLs!

There are also pics of twin M-60 mounts mounted on each corner of the truck bed.

Another favorite mounted on some gun trucks was the E8 35mm 16-tube CS gas grenade launcher, I've seen at least three pics that shows at least two of these units mounted.

If you have a chance to check out a copy of Shelby's Vietnam Order of Battle (pg 303), there is an great pic of a M-151 jeep, protected by sandbags and armed with a M-134 7.62mm minigun for the passenger and a Honeywell handcranked GL on a pedestal mount!

[95th Rifleman]

Re-purposing aviation weapons is the logical choice for things like gun trucks and static positions aswell. On Okinawa the japanese did the same with MG's taken from wrecked aircraft.

In a game I ran the group rigged up 27mm Tornado cannons to defend a German airfield from marauders.

[bobcat]

anti aircraft guns are also good for gun trucks. in iraq one of the local militias had a russian 37mm twin barrel AA gun mounted on the back of a bongo truck.

i wonder if one could mount a 25mm bushmaster from a bradley?

[WallShadow]

Anyone with armorer expertise want to weigh in on converting an ex-A-10's 30mm gatling into a crew served surface or vehicle mounted weapon?

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

Anyone with armorer expertise want to weigh in on converting an ex-A-10's 30mm gatling into a crew served surface or vehicle mounted weapon?

I saw one unmounted at the Davis-Monthan air show year before last. On its own (with its ammo feed and giant drum mag), it's nearly as long as most trucks. The A-10 noticeably slows when firing it. I just don't see it being a viable ground vehicle-mounted weapon unless it's somehow mounted on an MBT chasis.

[Panther Al]

yeah - the GAU-8 is something that just isn't doable short of a very heavy tracked chassis. Even a Hemmit wouldn't be able to take the recoil forces generated by the cannon.

[95th Rifleman]

Originally Posted by Raellus

I saw one unmounted at the Davis-Monthan air show year before last. On its own (with its ammo feed and giant drum mag), it's nearly as long as most trucks. The A-10 noticeably slows when firing it. I just don't see it being a viable ground vehicle-mounted weapon unless it's somehow mounted on an MBT chasis.

I have this image now of an Abrahms variant carrying one of those things.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by bobcat

anti aircraft guns are also good for gun trucks. in iraq one of the local militias had a russian 37mm twin barrel AA gun mounted on the back of a bongo truck.

i wonder if one could mount a 25mm bushmaster from a bradley?

This is actually quite doable- not easy mind, but I would be shocked if more than a few trucks from humvee's on up sporting such a mod in the twilight war.

[natehale1971]

During World War Two, didn't the German's put the 88 on truck beds? My grandfather told me how damn deadly the 88s were, and that they had been really, really hated by infantry and tankers alike.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by natehale1971

During World War Two, didn't the German's put the 88 on truck beds? My grandfather told me how damn deadly the 88s were, and that they had been really, really hated by infantry and tankers alike.

Heavy half-tracks, yes, but not trucks. The 88 produces one big jolt of recoil at a time, though, not like the GAU-8 which produces heavy sustained recoil depending on the burst length.

[atiff]

Originally Posted by natehale1971

During World War Two, didn't the German's put the 88 on truck beds? My grandfather told me how damn deadly the 88s were, and that they had been really, really hated by infantry and tankers alike.

Not sure about the Germans, but in WWII (and WWI) the Italians put 75mm and 90mm AA guns on portee mounts, and use them in dual AT/AA roles.

Wiki link of matching info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian...raft_artillery