Marines in the Making, with their 1903's

[Roadkingtrax]

S

As for the 06 round. That's preposterous. Camp Pendleton ranges accommodate .50cal as well as 40mm and larger rounds. There are ranges on main side that allow private shooters to shoot whatever caliber they want.

Very true, 30-06 is no longer allowed.

[Griff Murphey]

All of these ranges were built for .30'06 and origjnally had safety fans for the big WW-1 boat tail bullets. At Fort Wolters the excuse was that much of the range safety fan was given away to a state park. Then the Army NG built a range control tower at 500 yards to purposely disable the range (which the Texas State Rifle Association had helped restore) from shooting 600 and 1,000 yards matches.

Perfumed princes at work.

[Kaliman]

I'm not here to argue specifics of ranges on military bases because I could care less.

I posted because certain users want to criticize the current generations of Marines, and personally, I found it uncalled for.

[Griff Murphey]

Not me. I served as an Naval dental officer with them for two years and I often think it was the best two of my life. I would definitely go back and do it over again. My contact with present day Marines has always been very positive. In this one area liberal politics appear to prevail... sadly.

I do care about our heritage of marksmanship and I think this trend is a negative for the military in general.

[Kaliman]

Agreed

[RED]

As for the 06 round. That's preposterous.

Spot on!

Wow! I also find it hard to believe there are USMC ranges that will not allow 30-06 rounds but do allow 7.62 NATO. The difference between the WWII round and the Vietnam era 7.62 Nato round:

The WWII round adopted in 1936 fired a 147 gr. bullet at 2,805 FPS and the 1960's 7.62X51 Nato fired a 147 gr. projectile at 2733 FPS...

The difference is 5 grs of bullet weight and 62 FPS. Yep, that's all and that makes the '06 decidedly more dangerous at 500 yards?

I went to Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School in 1966 and all the DI's were USMC. I flew with USMC pilots the RAG and again as a instructor in the RIO school... and I still have the utmost respect for those guys. I cannot believe the USMC of today is anything other than the best.

My good friend (deceased now) USMC Cap't. Joe Rowland is almost a legend for his reply to the USN 0-6 Captain when we were put on report for being "uncovered,", on the tarmac.

He said: "Sir, yes sir, thank you sir, a letter of reprimand is better than no mail at all."

Six months later, Joe was a airline pilot for Trans Texas.