Thread: Field modifying service weapons

Originally Posted by bunji

@hamish971 I have been talking to the Colonel & others ,they have just been approved to do the following as a small "official "part of Honoring Capt Ron,first time it has ever been allowed -


On November 6th, the UDT-SEAL association are going to perform a ‘swim out’ ceremony in Ft Pierce, Florida from the the UDT-SEAL museum, where the first Underwater Demolition Teams Frogmen (UDT)were trained & the Navy SEAL Teams grew from . Navy SEAL legend Fred Fritsch is going to swim out from the beach and cast Capt Ron’s ashes under full military honors.

It is amazing how many hoops they have to jump through even over 50 years later due to the secret missions Capt Ron completed on the oNuclear Submarines & the early "Red Cell" type of security missions .
@hamish971 I have a lot of rare photos & Video etc from the battle fields in Nam & "The Spike Teams" ,"Over The Fence"operations from the early days of The Phoenix Program etc ,etc showing the wide variety of field modified weaponry they used,everything from ,but will not post anything l am not given the OK for it & after l work out how to hide faces etc ,in those pictures that need it .

I always found it interesting how back in the early days right up to recent conflicts weaponry & equipment is shared among the various elite Special Forces , the SEALs were given by the SAS (all very unofficially) some of the Original pommy versions of the Hush Puppy ,suppressed 9mm pistols for assassination & ambush Op's & one Capt Ron used had been used to kill a very high ranking SS, Nazi in.

He told how although they were big & unwieldy,after they made some modifications to the suppressor (all while on these floating barge "Heli port / airports" they used in Nam as bases, as they were so far away from any real support bases).They operated almost entirely at night, start of OP's at 10Pm pick up at 4AM, all going well ,transported out by Brown Water Navy in low profile ,heavily armed,specially modified, jet boats & if in heavy contact the Seawolves would be scrambled for dust off etc .They would test these original Hush Puppy before going out on missions by walking up to their posted sentries or small groups talking in the inky blackness & fire them behind their backs into the water & after these modifications they were never detected even at those close quarters . Once again Capt Ron was involved in Suppressed weapons that suited the SEALs more & the birth of the Mk 22 Hushpuppy based off theSmith and Wesson M39, a 9mm Semi Auto handgun, the SEALs used along side & with specially developed ammunition, as part of the program for their modified what they nicknamed the "Swedish K", the 9mm Carl Gustav M/45 submachine gun.They even modified the MK22 pistol grip/magwell to use a 13-round double-stack Browning HP magazine to increase firepower as well as a detachable stock & of course threading the barrel & increasing sight height to allow for the suppressor.

MK22

https://i.imgur.com/l4Ud57N.jpg

SEALs with the unsung hero locals,who working as Combat Interpreters, not only gained important intelligence but also saved the SEAL teams many times, as operating so far behind enemy lines warning of enemy movements near by or the SEALs being hunted was extremely important .In any "official"posed pic like this they are rarely shown carrying the SEAL modified AK's they would use as point man,so if they walked into a ambush or "bumped" NVC they could gain critical seconds of confusion of the NVC to break contact.These locals while on point were fearless & had a type of unusual "formal "greeting they would shout out if they bumped the enemy ,that the SEALs immediately knew they were in for a hard time ie so instead of just saying Oh Hello ,they would say something like greetings kind sir.


https://i.imgur.com/vvVP4jA.jpg


Posed pic

https://i.imgur.com/UXh0XI3.jpg

Op combined forces

https://imgur.com/e6wM3px

Tiger Stripe loaded for Bear

https://i.imgur.com/bde1EQ9.jpeg

Hope info/pic's were of interest ,let me know if you want me to dig up info on the Stoner 63 LMG or if you have any other questions

Great photos and info thanks mate. I have heard of ‘silent’ pistols being used and shared between countries from WW2 all the way till now but I’ve never run into those models, thanks. I know members of SOG carried some kind of suppressed .22 pistol to deal with dogs ect as well.

That’s really interesting about the point man having an AK and alerting the team. It seems indigenous team members were invaluable to special operations teams in Vietnam for many reasons.

I’ve spotted that one of my favourite YouTube channels Forgotten Weapons has a lengthy video on the Stoner 63. I’m excited to watch it tonight but any info on how CPT Yeaw contributed to the development specifically would be super interesting if you knew anything further.

Hamish