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Navy Gun Pr0n.

By The Armorer on March 10, 2006 | | Comments (27)

060307-N-7711S-012 Persian Gulf (March 7, 2006) - Airman Melissa Watson fires off a round from an M-14 at a target during a small arms firing exercise aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Reagan with her embarked Carrier Air Wing One Four (CVW-14) is currently on her maiden deployment conducting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in the region and participating in the global war on terrorism. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate Airman Christine Singh (RELEASED)

Another one here, and another one here.

Those are M-14's, the Armorer's favorite US battle rifle. H/t, Tammy B.

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27 Comments

By Were-Kitten on March 10, 2006 9:06 AM
Question. The caption says it's an Airman pictured, on board a carrier. Do we have Air Force personnel assigned to carriers now??
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 10, 2006 9:19 AM
Look at how they captioned the photographer, too. Airman may be Naval shorthand for the Aviation ratings in the Navy. I dunno. Mebbe a visiting sailor with enlighten us. That said, if the people doing captions for the Navy have the same depth of knowledge as the people captioning Army pics, it could just be a screw-up, too. But those are Navy ratings doing the shooting.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 10, 2006 9:40 AM
Miss Melissa has picked up a very bad habit, somewhere along the line. First time she tries to hit a target greater than 15 meters away with *that* support-arm position, she's gonna be SOL. Even the VC knew better than to use the mag as a front handgrip. And I like the M-14 a lot, too. But for anything over a thousand meters, I'll take an M-1, and, yes, I *can* hit things that far out with it. With iron sights. The only advantage I can see to using a scope is to see "the look" on his face...
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 10, 2006 9:56 AM
Good catch, Bill. I've only shot the M1 and M14 out to 800 meters on the National Match ranges at Fort Riley and Fort Sill. But I suspect my eyesight no longer supports that kind of shooting over iron sights. There's a little FOD detail to follow, since they seem to be shooting across the flight deck... and I wonder what those sandbags are full of...
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 10, 2006 10:04 AM
Beat me to the FOD walkdown. Heh. The sandbags are probably full of laundry...
 
By jim b on March 10, 2006 10:26 AM
Carriers = Naval Aspirators. They are engaged in a FAM fire. Sandbags are to protect the stuff around the catwalks ... have you ever seen squids shoot? Sailors designated as Ship's Landing Party FAM fire weapons now and then. A lot of them are armed with the M-14, which replaced the M-1. BAR, Thompson's some time back. To Marines they look more like the Ding Ding Brothers Barnfarb and Bailout circus. They even go ashore now and then for familiarization. Or sometimes in areas where there is no USO to provide comic relief to any Marines who may be about. Grey helmits dungarees, and their trousers tucked into their socks. Usually the 'CCO' of a gator ship, or the Marine Detatchment of a capitol ship is tasked to try to teach them something. Back in the 'day' they operated like the the anchor klankers in Sand Pebbles.
 
By Roy Patterson on March 10, 2006 10:49 AM
hi! I am a real fan of your website! I am from the "M-14" army! enjoyed this article on that fine weapon! Roy Patterson veteran B Troop 1st Squadron 14th Armored Cav 1966-1969 Fulda Gap
 
By Bruce on March 10, 2006 10:52 AM
Wait a minute! No helmets or LBE? What kind of rifle range is that? And... So that's where all the M-14s are hiding out..
 
By jim b on March 10, 2006 11:25 AM
Bruce let me try to explain. The range is a flight deck of a carrier.... that IS her LBE. A helmet would mess up her hair, she is wearing her 5th ammendment glasses, and keeping a tight group somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific or wherever she is tournig at present. That 'gun' thing is just a way of passing some time, they were playin with remote control air planes till they crashed them all. What you can't hear is the music playin while they shoot, and the gunner's mate gryping about having to clean the rifles after they are done. I hope she doesn't break a nail. You know how crabby she gets.
 
By Were-Kitten on March 10, 2006 11:44 AM
I just hope those bags are full of sand, and not seamen. ;-)
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 10, 2006 12:04 PM
Owe-kayyy, I sense a thread-hijacking attempt in progress...
   
By FbL on March 10, 2006 1:00 PM
Owe-kayyy, I sense a thread-hijacking attempt in progress... Perceptive, ain't he? ;)
 
By jim b on March 10, 2006 1:06 PM
no one play with the term threadjacking okay ... it's Friday after all.
 
By Were-Kitten on March 10, 2006 1:38 PM
Thread-jacking? Moi? never..... I was just looking out for the safety of our men at sea. honest. *crosses fingers behind back*
 
By PigBoatSailor on March 10, 2006 3:20 PM
We interrupt your regularly scheduled threadjacking with this important Naval Bulletin: Our benevolent host is mostly correct on the airman confusion. There are 3 'flavors' of ratings in the Navy: Seamen (most rates), Airmen (aviation related rates), Firemen (Damage Control types, Hull Techs, Machinists, other seemingly random rates). However, once they reach E4, they are all just referred to as Petty Officers, or their specific rate. We now return you to your threadjacking already in progress
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 10, 2006 3:24 PM
I tole ya a wandering sailor would give us the straight skinny!~
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 10, 2006 3:29 PM
Huh? Using "sailor" and "straight" in the same sentence? What's up--you turning into Lex of Argghhh?
 
By PigBoatSailor on March 10, 2006 6:12 PM
Geez chief, just because they say 120 men get underway on a sub and 2 prizefighters and 59 couples come back...?
 
By Heartless Libertarian on March 10, 2006 6:31 PM
Am I the only one who noticed the Picatinny rail looking thingys on the female sailors rifle? First mount I've seen that didn't have a solid rail all the way over the ejection port. Can anyone elighten me as to the advantage of doing it this way?
 
By Neffi on March 10, 2006 7:55 PM
Well, HL- female sailors *demand* a different mount (or so I've heard). Something to do with solid rails over the ports, or some such thing...
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on March 10, 2006 9:19 PM
Rather than a "mount" perhaps a "mounting"? Cheers JMH
 
By lex on March 11, 2006 10:26 AM
Clearly got here far too late to contribute meaningfully to this discussion... Will point out that I love the M-14 too. Just sumpin about a rifle that's got heft, both coming and going. And you leave that last bit be, Were-Kitten ;-)
 
By CDR Salamander on March 11, 2006 10:26 AM
John, I'm just glad we got away from the "bags of seamen" comment from the Kitten. As for the Army.....I always think of the stuff you sent me of your exchange tour. Isn't that you front right?
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 11, 2006 11:55 AM
'Phibian - no, no. I forwarded you that from CAPT H!
 
By Blake Kirk on March 11, 2006 3:34 PM
The 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Abn drew a couple hundred M-14's from depot stocks as interim weapons for soldiers in Designated Marksman positions prior to deploying to Iraq last year. When we got to the staging base in Kuwait, it turned out that I (that old retired dude,) was the only person in the Brigade headquarters company who knew how to field strip one. It turned into a train-the-trainer class real quick.
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on March 11, 2006 4:24 PM
One of the best Arty training films around! Cheers JMH
 
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