Fierce: These Are the Deadly Guns That Make the U.S. Navy SEALs a Powerhouse
The Navy’s SEALs are well-known for their exotic guns—everything from machine guns to grenade launchers … and several iconic, quiet handguns.
by WarIsBoring
Most of the new weapons, finally dubbed the MK-23, went to the SEALs. The guns became “the first caliber .45 [caliber] … pistol to enter U.S. military service since the venerable government-model 1911A1,†the official operator’s manual states.
The Navy’s SEALs are well-known for their exotic guns—everything from machines gun to grenade launchers … and several iconic, quiet handguns.
The Navy stood up the Sea Air Lands teams in 1962 and quickly sent them to Vietnam to search out the enemy and work with local forces. The naval operators realized a suppressed pistol would be ideal for many of their most secretive missions.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/fierce-these-are-deadly-guns-make-us-navy-seals-powerhouse-47462
@rangerrebew Pure,unadulterated HorseHillary! Guns are nothing but mindless tools that do nothing on their own but scare politicians and other Metrosexuals. Take a gun away from an experienced SEAL team operator and hand it to a Naval radioman,supply clerk,etc,etc,etc,and see how well it performs.
There is nothing unique about them using silenced pistols,or the "Hush Puppy" tag that went along with them,either. We also used suppressed weapons in SF. I even had a M-3 "greasegun" with a silencer on it in VN in 69. It was an entire new barrel assembly that just screwed on to the front of the receiver just like the original barrel. 9mm Swedish K's,and Stens were very popular with silencers,but they had no real power due to the "squib" rounds they fired to keep silent,so I went with the M-3 because the full-power GI Ball 45 ACP round was already subsonic,and wouldn't quickly burn the silencer out.
I was in the team tent at our launch site once and it was raining like you wouldn't believe. There were several teams in there waiting for the weather to clear so we could launch missions,and the tent leaked. The floor in the tent was painted plywood nailed to pallets, and it was slicker than snot. People would walk in the door and find themselves trying to "walk on ice". It was real entertaining to watch,but the reality is if someone got hurt that meant his team had to abort their missions,so Squirrel Sprouse took his silenced 9MM Sten to shoot some holes in the floor so the water would run away,and not a single damn one of the rounds he fired did anything but bounce back up in the air. Not a single one of them penetrated the half inch wet plywood. Several people lost their fascination with silenced 9mm squirt guns that day.
I also saw all kinds of silenced 22 pistols. Hi-powers,Colt,Ruger,and Hi-Standard were all common and popular. Mostly for shooting holes in the tires of MP jeeps. I never actually saw one on a mission.
