[3] Tunnel rats were given the task of destroying them, gathering intelligence within them, and killing or capturing their occupants—often in conditions of close combat. [11] According to contemporary accounts, the U.S. Marine Corps and British Royal Marines were involved in similar work in the war in Afghanistan. WEIGHT (CYLINDER) - 0.419 pounds In the years since the Vietnam War ended tunnel rats have suffered from a high percentage of Agent Orange injuries and diseases due to soldier's exposure to the chemicals on the ground, or that leeched from topsoil into the tunnel environment. During the 1979–1989 Soviet war in Afghanistan, such tunnels were used by Mujahideen fighters. If the rounds went off in a fire or other mishap, at least the pellets wouldn’t leave the ammunition can. But the very conservative tunnel rats never liked or trusted the tunnel weapon completely. Like green ferrets, Tunnel Rats would go into the dark, forbidding tunnels and discover whatever might be there.

The clay where the tunnels were constructed was soft and easy to work with during the wet season and dried rock hard during the dry season making it an ideal environment for tunnels. MUZZLE VELOCITY - 750 fps A few of the OSS-ordered WWII era suppressed High Standard HD .22 automatics made they way into Tunnel Rat hands. Sometimes while on the mission, a Tunnel Rat would meet a Viet Cong soldier, and would then have to engage in exceedingly close combat.

The Tunnel Exploration Kit was abandoned in service, most tunnel rats wanted nothing to do with it, and it was quickly withdrawn. Sometimes stakes were also coated in poison from plants or animals or human feces.

I drug him outside but he was dead.” When the United States and its allies realized the complexities of the tunnels and the operations the Viet Cong could carry out, it became their mission to find, clear, and destroy the tunnels. Generally, tunnel rats were armed with pistols, bayonets, flashlights, and sometimes explosives.

During the Vietnam War, U.S. and ANZAC troops uncovered a great number of enemy tunnels while patrolling or conducting larger operations. It was in July 1969 that ten of possibly the rarest modern US military handgun ever made arrived in Vietnam. The VC would even use venomous snakes (placed as living booby traps).

The Americal Division used its Tunnel Weapons with its Ranger and Infantry companies. “I shot him coming out of a bunker. In the early stages of the war against the French colonial forces, the Viet Minh created an extensive underground system of tunnels, which was later expanded and improved by the Viet Cong. The arena of combat ranged from swamps to mountain highlands, from the water to the land.

Some tunnel rats had competent armorers and machinists make up suppressors for a variety of handguns, including several for the M1911A1.

The primer pocket was redesigned and that eliminated a lot of the misfire problems. MAXIMUM RANGE - 1,400 feet On a very odd note, one of the Tunnel Weapons was reported lost in Vietnam.

Soldiers quickly learned to scan the ceilings with their flashlights. ROUND WEIGHT - 0.971 ounces (27.5 grams) Sometimes poison gases were used. Personal weapons were used by the rats, ranging from .25 caliber automatics to sawed-off shotguns.

This weapon was later recovered in California where it had been used as a suppressed weapon in a murder. MAC-V looked at some of these field improvisations and added their characteristics to their request for a new weapon.

The round didn’t have to be in a barrel or cylinder to have a lethal velocity if fired.
The work was constant. When fired, the new ammunition gave out little more than low-intensity sparks.

In July, 1969, ten Tunnel Weapons and 992 rounds of ammunition arrived in Vietnam for testing. During the First Indochina War the tunnels were a fairly basic system but they evolved into a very complex tunnel system during the Vietnam War.

Before entering, a grenade was usually thrown into the tunnel entrance to kill any Viet Cong that may be near the top. To fire the new ammunition, a revolver system was used to eliminate any problems with trying to function a semiautomatic weapon. OVERALL LENGTH - 6.75 inches The 25th Infantry Division issued their Tunnel Weapons also to members of one of their reconnaissance and Intelligence platoons as well as to its Ranger company and infantry companies. The experience for tunnel rats was intense.

[12][13], SAMOOR ("Weasel"), a formation within Israel's Yahalom elite combat engineer unit, is charged with many of the same missions that tunnel rats performed during the Vietnam War. The 15-pellet load gave the revolver the shot spread of a very open .410 shotgun. The captured-piston ammunition for the Tunnel Weapon and other systems has been declared a suppressor by BATF.

The revolver was huge with its aiming light and muzzle can.

The men of the 3 Field Force, an Australian combat engineering unit that served in Vietnam from 1965-1966, have made a convincing argument that they were the first allied troops to enter the tunnels. According to the Viet Cong plans the tunnels were no smaller than 0.8 meters or greater than 1.2 meters wide. The Vietnam War tunnel rats were a group of soldiers from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand whose job it was to search out underground tunnels to flush out or kill any Viet Cong, gather intelligence, recover arms, and then destroy the tunnels. The steel cartridge cases also had some problems with the recessed primer system. This job fell on the Vietnam War tunnel rats.

Bats also roosted in the tunnels, although they were generally more of a nuisance than a threat.

BARREL LENGTH - 1.372 inches Some tunnel rats had competent armorers and machinists make up suppressors for a variety of handguns, including several for the M1911A1. The revolver decided on was the Smith & Wesson Model 29, .44 Magnum. Training time for the new weapons ranged from none to several hours, but it usually always included a firing demonstration at the recommended plywood target. But many tunnel rats were devoid of any formal training and though they were sometimes successful in securing intelligence, an enemy hospital, or stores of weapons. For our platoon we could use five or six of these weapons.” Despite their extreme work during the Vietnam War, the tunnel rats are not a very well-known group but their job was one that made a huge difference during the war.

He was always secured to a rope in case he needed to be pulled out in an emergency. The tunnel rats had been using a variety of weapons since the suppressed S&W fiasco eighteen months earlier. These diverse facilities, coupled with sophisticated ventilation systems, allowed VC guerrillas to remain hidden underground for months at a time. In addition to trying to avoid surprise attacks and booby traps, Vietnam tunnel rats also had to avoid getting lost in the myriad of tunnels. By Kevin Dockery

Military intelligence indicated that the Viet Cong were operating out of a large underground bunker.

Personal weapons were used by the rats, ranging from .25 caliber automatics to sawn-off shotguns."[8]. The tunnel rats were American, Australian, New Zealander, and South Vietnamese soldiers who performed underground search and destroy missions during the Vietnam War.

The sergeant’s painful discovery was the first uncovering of the tunnel complexes of the Viet Cong.

The blast and noise of a normal revolver shot was almost completely eliminated. In another incident, a sergeant armed with a Tunnel Weapon took out a VC outside of a tunnel. During the Vietnam War, "tunnel rat" became an unofficial specialty for volunteer combat engineers[1] and infantrymen from Australia and the United States who cleared and destroyed enemy tunnel complexes. The "Diehards" of the U.S. Army's 1st Engineer Battalion, whose exploits are featured in Mangold and Penycate's book, later claimed a special place for tunnel rats in American military history during their rotation through the Cu Chi District of Vietnam in 1969.[10]. The tunnels had several levels with a trap door separating each level.

To increase hit probability in the dark tunnels, ammunition for the new weapons would be of the multiple-projectile type.

Because of the trap doors, the Viet Cong could seal off the rest of the tunnel system from dangers such as gas and flooding. One tunnel rat wrote that it wasn’t unusual to destroy more than 100 enemy bunkers during each operation. In case of a round going off from heat or a blow, the shot would be moving at the same 750 foot per second velocity it would have if fired from the weapon.

Here’s a look at some of the other dangers Vietnam tunnel rats faced: Some of these dangers are self-explanatory but let’s take a look at some of the others.

Comments on the weapons from these users included;
Through this trapdoor would go a tunnel rat equipped with a flashlight, handgun, knife, and bravery. The payload continues away from the cylinder, moving at what can be a significant velocity. These weapons were used in against some of the most low-tech forces the US military had faced in a long time.

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