Check this out...Ruger in Vietnam?

[NuclearMeltdown]

...is this what I think it is? Look closely.

[/img]

 

[dougader]

That dirty rat bastage stole General McArthurs SA 45 and had it stripped and blued! The outrage! The scandal!

 

[Terry T]

Been looking for a photo like this! :shock:
I've seen one somewhere years ago with a door gunner with a low slung weastern rig. Love to find a copy of it.

Any documentation for the photo? When? where? Who? Unit?

Terry T

 

[NuclearMeltdown]

It's actually a screenshot from Netflix. It was the National Geographic: Inside Special Forces program.

Judging from the equipment, etc. I'm guessing it's a Special Forces adviser with some South Vietnamese forces sometime before 1965.

I thought I could make out a Ruger emblem on the grip, but it could be any single action.

It would be neat to see what that field looks like today. Things are different in Vietnam today though (to say the least).

 

[Terry T]

I'm confident that it's a Ruger.
The color and shape of the grips and the color and shape of the hammer and frame are just different than a Colt. Colts were CCH rather than blued. Rugers were much cheaper and available in army cal. like .30 carbine and 357 mag. which would shoot 38s. Not to mention 9mm convertibles and 45acp convertibles.
Terry T

 

[americal]

Had a sniper come out to my company in the central highlands Vietnam ,he was carring a .357 Blackhawk protected sight SA it was a touch of home

 

[NuclearMeltdown]

It would make sense for that to be a .30 Carbine in the picture, with all of those ARVN troops carrying M1 Carbines. But if that picture is as early as I think it is, it would be before the .30 Blackhawk became available.

Anyone else who was in Vietnam remember seeing any Blackhawks or other single actions? This stuff is interesting.

 

[Unconverted]

There was an old book on helicopters in Vietnam Nam, called "Gunslingers in Action". As I recall, there's a photo in it of a pilot with a holstered Blackhawk on his hip. You know, Air Cav!

 

[Colonel Daddy]

Was told by two vets, now deceased, that some American troops were known to sometimes carry Ruger 22 auto pistols. Does anyone have firsthand knowledge?

 

[deserttrans]

Served with USMC and in country 68-69-70. Seen a lot of different weapons. Lots of Model 12s, Auto 5s, Browning HPs, SA Colts and Rugers too. Had a platoon Sgt. carry a 357 Blackhawk. I heard of one of our tunnel rats that had a 4 inch 22 auto as a backup,but never seen it.

 

[lfpiii]

Ruger sold a lot of MKI 22lr that were used in the war. The guns were sold to the CIA with custom made silencers from a company in the south east USA I think Florida.

 

[flatgate]

Not S.E. Asia but look a p. 263 in Ruger Pistols and Revolvers.

flatgate

 

[Snake45]

There was an old book on helicopters in Vietnam Nam, called "Gunslingers in Action". As I recall, there's a photo in it of a pilot with a holstered Blackhawk on his hip. You know, Air Cav!

Pretty sure I have that book. I'll look for that pic later today and if I find it, I'll try to post it.

 

[rugerguy]

Yessir, that is an awesome picture, we never got one of any of our "customers" who did exactly that, BOTH carried .44 mags shortened barrels, cut back to the ejector housing on their Supers...one used sights, the other did NOT,,,,,,, point and shoot....would have LOVED to had gotten a picture back then... thank you

 

[jgt]

In 65 you could see about any and every pilot or gunner wearing a pistol. many were in low slung cowboy rigs. Most personel at that time were allowed to carry personal weapons to southeast asia so the types were as varied as the people.

 

[stantheman86]

Very cool, there was a thread about this a while back and I have been waiting for a picture

If I had to guess I would say it was a .44 Mag, if I was carrying a SA revolver, that's what I would pick.

 

[Snake45]

There was an old book on helicopters in Vietnam Nam, called "Gunslingers in Action". As I recall, there's a photo in it of a pilot with a holstered Blackhawk on his hip. You know, Air Cav!

Pretty sure I have that book. I'll look for that pic later today and if I find it, I'll try to post it.

Okay, I've just been through the book twice and didn't see any Rugers in it anywhere. Also looked through the same author's book Huey with no joy.

 

[Snake45]

Been looking for a photo like this! :shock:
I've seen one somewhere years ago with a door gunner with a low slung weastern rig. Love to find a copy of it.

Terry T

You wouldn't by any chance be thinking of a series of B&W photos published by LIFE magazine in 1965, would you? Runs in my mind the guy was wearing tiger stripe fatigues, too. :?

 

[edlmann]

Anyone else who was in Vietnam remember seeing any Blackhawks or other single actions? This stuff is interesting.

I have seen, ca. 1971 - 2, at least one Blackhawk, I assumed in .357. Also a 6" S&W 28. Finish on both was, "rode hard and put away wet."

I was a C-130 loadmaster at the time and we got to meet all sorts of folks. The advisors were the least likely to be carrying GI issue.

 

[SgtSam]

Yeah! You could find all sorts of firearms being used by everyone in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. But the Air Force, for the most part, didn't feel that they needed to arm, or allow to be armed, the many enlisted Airmen that served over there. It used to really get on our nerves. When Camrahnbay was partially invaded in 1971, the ammo dump blow to smithereens, many buildings blown apart, most of us had to huddle in ditches, etc., hoping that the invaders didn't get that far. If they had, we'd have been able to throw sand and gravel at them. We had no firearms to defend ourselves. Many of the officers did, however.

I'm sorry! But those pictures just opened an old subject that just sends me off the deep end. The Air Force always armed it's people in combat zones up through the beginning of the Vietnam era. Then the idiots in charge decided that they didn't need to be. Hell, one general, whom I won't name, even had all of the bunkers removed from the bases, and when the '68 Tet offensive hit, for the most part, the guys had nowhere to go, and nothing to defend themselves with.

I'll stop!

 

[Anonymous]

A neighbor when I was younger made it through Vietnam, though missing his left foot. He still had his treasured Blackhawk and Gerber Mark II knife he carried over there. He said for lots of guys, they were the best un-issued items to have. I have heard from several vets that the tunnel rats were issued Ruger Standards.

 

[pps]

...is this what I think it is? Look closely.

[/img]

Fantastic pic

 

[larry237]

I was in Vietnam in mid-1966 at the Naval Hospital near DaNang for a couple of months, on temp duty. I took a 357 Blackhawk and carried it at times in a pilot's shoulder holster that an armorer gave me. It got some strange looks, being carried by an E4 Hospital Corpsman. Mostly it was in the armory, since personal arms weren't generally allowed, it being a "secure base." Like SgtSam said, a lot of people didn't have official access to firearms. I found out that some heavy footlockers in the different spaces were filled with an assortment of rifles, handguns, grenades, and ammo. These were a "secret" that officially didn't exist. Anyway, I never had to use the Blackhawk, but it was a little comforting at times.

 

[Jbrown75]

Ruger sold a lot of MKI 22lr that were used in the war. The guns were sold to the CIA with custom made silencers from a company in the south east USA I think Florida.

Any interest in seeing pictures of one? I have access to a few (pictures, not the firearms themselves).

 

[NuclearMeltdown]

Ruger sold a lot of MKI 22lr that were used in the war. The guns were sold to the CIA with custom made silencers from a company in the south east USA I think Florida.

Any interest in seeing pictures of one? I have access to a few (pictures, not the firearms themselves).

Showing those pictures can only add to the wealth of information on the board here.

 

[M'BOGO]

Ruger sold a lot of MKI 22lr that were used in the war. The guns were sold to the CIA with custom made silencers from a company in the south east USA I think Florida.

Any interest in seeing pictures of one? I have access to a few (pictures, not the firearms themselves).

YEAH

FWIW, what I get from the OP photo. Possibly a "civilian" advisor (black beret? never official, IIRC, some SEALs wore them), no load bearing, no rifle. Definitely earlier in the U.S. involvement, no M-16's, and the duck hunter camo, WW II webbing, not a regular ARVN unit. I'm not trying to play expert, or know it all, just a geek sayin' what I see.

 

[Snake45]

FWIW, what I get from the OP photo. Possibly a "civilian" advisor (black beret? never official, IIRC, some SEALs wore them), no load bearing, no rifle. Definitely earlier in the U.S. involvement, no M-16's, and the duck hunter camo, WW II webbing, not a regular ARVN unit. I'm not trying to play expert, or know it all, just a geek sayin' what I see.

GOOD eye, m'brother! :wink:

All I can see in the handgun in question is a SA-type "plow handle" grip, period. Could be a Ruger, a Colt, a Great Western, a Herter's, even a High Standard Double Nine. But maybe others know more or can see something I'm not seeing there. :?

 

[M'BOGO]

Something else for the "civilian" theory, flat farmland, and camo. If it were a Green Beret, he would be working in the hills, with tribe people, and I've never seen the Montagnards in camo, off the top of my head.

 

[NuclearMeltdown]

If you have Netflix and you're curious, it might be worth a watch to see where I got that screenshot. Info is on the first page.

I wonder where National Geographic got that video clip for their film.

 

[EarlFH]

It would make sense for that to be a .30 Carbine in the picture, with all of those ARVN troops carrying M1 Carbines. But if that picture is as early as I think it is, it would be before the .30 Blackhawk became available.

Anyone else who was in Vietnam remember seeing any Blackhawks or other single actions? This stuff is interesting.

We had a sargent in our battalion who carried a single action in a cowboy rig. I never questioned him about what brand it was. All I know is that it was a .38 caliber, but not which one. I saw him try to kill a big pig with it. He shot it in the head twice, and it was still running around, so someone with a .45 Auto shot it once, and it dropped in it's tracks.

EarlFH