War Movie Buffs

[Mark B]

Back in 2013, went over to Kentucky by myself ( The Mrs has never forgiven me) I met up with an ex Maryland State Trooper and a couple of other retired coppers. The ex MSP Trooper is a top bloke and big gun guy. On the first day he asked me what I wanted to do, and the answer was show me your best gun shop. We drove from Lexington to the outskirts of Louisville to a place called Buds Guns Store. It is a franchise chain. The place was huge. It had the indoor range where full autos could be hired to fire. The retail area was massive. All the staff were tooled up. All the long arms were in racks and you could handle them and check them out without supervision, probably explains all the staff open carrying a pistol. One of the long arms that I saw keeping in touch with the MG44, was a reproduction version in .22. The thing was heavy as. The only firearms for sale that you needed staff to show you were the revolvers/pistols which were all in cases or covering a back wall. The retired MSP Trooper bought himself a Sig hand gun. Background check done online took five minutes and he walks out with a brand new handgun just like buying a bottle of milk. His personal collection was mind boggling. Got to keep both his Smith and Wesson .38 and Beretta 92 that were his police issued guns. Strange thing though he was he was a Mosin Nagant fan and had half a dozen of them. They certainly looked out of place with his M4, AR15, AK and Sager shotguns. The highlight though was the commercial moonshine sold in the traditional jars. Some of the nicest brew I have ever had. Good times.
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The Barrett was a beast. Fired off 5 rounds. The thing is designed with springs etc to limit the recoil. I can’t say it made much of a difference to me personally. It was still like being kicked in the shoulder by a donkey. Was a great experience though. Took my 12 year old son and the guys at the range were fantastic and let him fire the Barrett once at no extra cost. 50 cals are not cheap, so it was a free 25 US bucks.
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The SKK is underrated. Saw one way back in the day that a gunsmith had converted to full auto. Cheap and pretty much unbeatable.

 

[soc123_au]

Back in 2013, went over to Kentucky by myself ( The Mrs has never forgiven me) I met up with an ex Maryland State Trooper and a couple of other retired coppers. The ex MSP Trooper is a top bloke and big gun guy. On the first day he asked me what I wanted to do, and the answer was show me your best gun shop. We drove from Lexington to the outskirts of Louisville to a place called Buds Guns Store. It is a franchise chain. The place was huge. It had the indoor range where full autos could be hired to fire. The retail area was massive. All the staff were tooled up. All the long arms were in racks and you could handle them and check them out without supervision, probably explains all the staff open carrying a pistol. One of the long arms that I saw keeping in touch with the MG44, was a reproduction version in .22. The thing was heavy as. The only firearms for sale that you needed staff to show you were the revolvers/pistols which were all in cases or covering a back wall. The retired MSP Trooper bought himself a Sig hand gun. Background check done online took five minutes and he walks out with a brand new handgun just like buying a bottle of milk. His personal collection was mind boggling. Got to keep both his Smith and Wesson .38 and Beretta 92 that were his police issued guns. Strange thing though he was he was a Mosin Nagant fan and had half a dozen of them. They certainly looked out of place with his M4, AR15, AK and Sager shotguns. The highlight though was the commercial moonshine sold in the traditional jars. Some of the nicest brew I have ever had. Good times.
.
The Barrett was a beast. Fired off 5 rounds. The thing is designed with springs etc to limit the recoil. I can’t say it made much of a difference to me personally. It was still like being kicked in the shoulder by a donkey. Was a great experience though. Took my 12 year old son and the guys at the range were fantastic and let him fire the Barrett once at no extra cost. 50 cals are not cheap, so it was a free 25 US bucks.
.
The SKK is underrated. Saw one way back in the day that a gunsmith had converted to full auto. Cheap and pretty much unbeatable.

To fully appreciate a .50 you need 50 rounds minimum, fortunately for me my experiences were payed for by the taxpayer.

The SKK is a great weapon. Also very easy to convert to pretty much an AK. I used to use mine for shooting Goats & Pigs. Not as accurate as a decent .223, but plenty of fun. I tried it with a scope, but the recoil on auto used to spin the optics in the scope & wreck it. My favourite 7.62 though will always be the SLR. my right eye socket aches just thinking about it, but I loved that rifle. I was lucky enough to carry the L2A1 version for a while too. The F88 is quality, but lacking the charm of the old girl. Drill with the Austyr is also far less satisfying.

 

[Mark B]

To fully appreciate a .50 you need 50 rounds minimum, fortunately for me my experiences were payed for by the taxpayer.

The SKK is a great weapon. Also very easy to convert to pretty much an AK. I used to use mine for shooting Goats & Pigs. Not as accurate as a decent .223, but plenty of fun. I tried it with a scope, but the recoil on auto used to spin the optics in the scope & wreck it. My favourite 7.62 though will always be the SLR. my right eye socket aches just thinking about it, but I loved that rifle. I was lucky enough to carry the L2A1 version for a while too. The F88 is quality, but lacking the charm of the old girl. Drill with the Austyr is also far less satisfying.

Did a tour of Thales at Lithgow a while back. It’s the old small arms factory where the SLR and F88 were made back in the day and its now owned by the French. The factory is like Fort Knox and the gear that is still made there is pretty impressive. The actual museum at the front of the older unused sections is open to the public and well worth a look.

 

[Captain Apollo]

In relation to the Me 262 it had two sub-type the Schwalbe (translate to Swallow, which was the fighter version) and the Sturmvogel (translate to Storm Bird, which was the fighter bomber version). The Me 262 did not enter service until April 1944 when a unit was formed to introduce it to service and train pilots to fly it.

The thing is the Schwalbe version was ready much earlier than 1944 but an edict by Hitler in mid-1943 was that the Me 262 should be a ground attack/bomber and not a defensive interceptor, which is what put it back production wise and lead to the Sturmvogel variant. Albert Speer recorded in his diaries than Hitler blocked the production of the Me 262 until 1944.

The other issue it had beside Hittler was that many of the senior official of the lufwaffe didn't think jet fighters were that important and that regular planes could win the war for them. Hence it was at various times starved for funds. Herman Goring was implacably opposed to jet aircraft development.

 

[Mr Spock!]

Lets not muck around guys. I want you to make a call on the greatest Vietnam War movie ever!!!!! TOP 3 if you need to!

1) FMJ
2) Hamburger Hill
3) Danger Close
4) We were Soldiers

Special mention to Go Tell The Spartans

 

[Mr Spock!]

Not sure if that is strictly true, lots were getting shot down when they attacked bomber formations, and if the war had continued the Allies would have pumped out more Meteors which were slower but more reliable.

But like with anything though the Nazis were hopeless at mass production.

Don't know about that.

They were past the bomber before the gunners had a chance to get a bead on it.

I mean imagine trying to shoot a jet with a machine gun.

The allies worked out they were vulnerable when coming to land and many were picked off that way.

Red Tails has some nice graphics.

 

[Mr Spock!]

8 Superb War Movies You (Probably) Haven’t Seen – But Should Watch



1. Beasts Of No Nation
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...www.nextflicks.tv/review/beasts-of-no-nation/
2. Anthropoid
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...=https://www.nextflicks.tv/review/anthropoid/
3. Generation War
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ps://www.nextflicks.tv/review/generation-war/
4. Siege Of Jadotville
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...www.nextflicks.tv/review/siege-of-jadotville/
5. '71

6. Max Manus - Man Of War
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ww.nextflicks.tv/review/max-manus-man-of-war/
7. The Wall

8. 13 Hours

Seen all those and can vouch that they are excellent.

 

[Mark B]

Just watched Beasts of No Nation. Very disturbing subject content but a very good movie. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Mark B]

Not a movie, but finished up a binge of Generation Kill. That was Brilliant, great acting and production.

 

[Ghostface Killah]

Shake Hands with the Devil (2007)

 

[Matua]

Anyone watched Mosul on Netflix? And if you have is it any good.

 

[Mark B]

Anyone watched Mosul on Netflix? And if you have is it any good

It’s not too bad to be honest. Very good production. The only down side is that it is captioned as they speak in their own lingo. Pretty funny scene when the Iraqi squad meet up with some Iranian counterparts. They use the old insult about Iraqi weapons being in pristine condition because they were only issued once and dropped once. Worth a look IMHO.

 

[Mark B]

Shake Hands with the Devil (2007)

What has happened in recent history in the African nations shows just what a waste of space the UN are. Spineless bunch of politicians with their snouts in the trough.

 

[Captain Apollo]

I know I mentioned this up thread, but if you want a cracking action movie that goes for just over 2 1/2 hours, I vouch for Where Eagles Dare -


In my family, you had to have watched this umpteen times to be a member (it was one of my late Father's favourite movies and we had to watch it every time it was on TV).

 

[Jim Rockford]

The Alistair MacLean novel is a good read as well.

 

[Mr Spock!]

Watching this Russian series on Amazon Prime.

It's very good and the equipment in it eg Yak-3s and Me109s are the real deal.

The Attackers


Amazon Prime has a few excellent Russian movies/tv shows including this one

Probably the greatest war movie ever based on the prelude to the battle of Stalingrad

They Fought For their Land

 

[The Lounge Lizard]

Not really a war movie but a POW movie.

Stalag 17.

Started off as a light hearted comedy then serious towards the end.

 

[Chippy73]

Clint Eastwoods "Letters from Iwo Jima" is excellent, the battle is told from the Japanese side and is probably in my top three war movies....very moving.

 

[Mr Spock!]

Clint Eastwoods "Letters from Iwo Jima" is excellent, the battle is told from the Japanese side and is probably in my top three war movies....very moving.

The Japanese movie, Yamato, is in that same vein. (Not the spaceship one)

The Yamato and her sister ship, Musashi were the largest battleships ever built and both were lost in futile battles.

 

[Mr Spock!]

This Russian movie has original German tanks, the Panzer IV and Pz 38t. They're still pulling tanks out of swamps over there (and getting them to work).


I love Russian war movies. There is an air of true desperation about them unlike 12 GIs winning the whole war in US films.