FutureWeapons on Discovery Chan

[Cosmoline]

He's supposed to be a SEAL? I must have missed that. I thought he was from the Army for some reason. That does make me wonder. If they're not being trained to use battlefield pickup weapons then they ought to be. I can't find a website for the show with his name, but next time it airs we should note it and check him out.

 

[seeker_two]

Sweet, when did our enemies start using .308 Saigas. That explains where they all went.

(...hands Crosshair a box of .338 Lapua Mag...)

...and just for that, you get to use these in your SKS...

 

[Carl N. Brown]

WHY DON'T WE volunteer to serve as a vetting board for Discovery Channel?

Apparently the SEAL or exSEAL is like most most military and police
personnel: clueless outside their current issue weapons.
Kari the Vegan from Mythbusters probably know more about guns
than the average military or police.

Remember the big flap when a Dallas policeman identified the
JFK assassination weapon as a 7.65 Mauser insread of 6.5 Carcano?

That is as damaging to credibility as equating 7.62 NATO with 7.62x39mm;
falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, as they like to say.

 

[Cosmoline]

In fairness, the Carcano/1891 carbine confusion was an easy mistake to make from only a quick look at the rifle. They are similar size and have similar external box single stack magazines. There's really nothing in common betwee the .308 and the 7.62x39 other than the "7.62" designation. So if you've ever SEEN THEM SIDE BY SIDE or FIRED them, you'll instantly know the difference. In the case of the Dallas PD we can conclude whoever made the mistake had seen some of the recent surplus imports but didn't have detailed knowledge of various types. In the case of this fellow, we can conclude he's never actually fired an AK-47, which is disturbing.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

A SEAL unfamiliar with his enemies' weapon is disturbing.

But most military and police do not know much about guns
beyond their issue weapons.

Which is why WE (THR) should be hired to vet Discovery
channel on gun issues, and be paid handsome bonuses.

(Back in the late 1960's I walked into J&M Wholesale, saw
a rack of 7.65 Mauser 1891s, and thought to myself, where
did they dig up those Carcanos? until I got a closer look.)

 

[TMM]

I watched it too and it rather bothered me...

if a guy who was in the SEALS for 10 years, i'd certainly hope he could discern between a 7.62 Kommie and 7.62 NATO...

He also dosn't seem very knowledgeable in other areas, like other posters mentioned - 20 seconds to reload a single-shot bolt action? i think not.

~tmm

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I had that taped. Looking back at the tape this morning, I
began to feel (as I noted on another thread) that Mr. SEAL
is on TV, reading from a script, and probably has no
authority to edit or re-write. At least he has a paying job.

 

[Kevlarman]

You'd think that as a SEAL, he'd have enough clout to tell the producers, "look, your script is inaccurate and will make me look like a fool on national television, especially to all my other fellow SEAL buddies."

 

[saspic]

I got the impression that since the .223 and .50 calibers are both in inches, he wanted to give the AK caliber in inches as well for comparative purposes.
Admit it, how many of you can convert millimeters out to the hundredths place into inches to the thousandth? So maybe he was off by .003 inches or so, SEALS aren't mathmeticians.

 

[Sactown]

I thought he said .308 bullet and not .308 round. 7.62 would be .308 BULLET, but if he said round, then he's got no business hosting a weapons show.

 

[Kevlarman]

Yes indeed, he said "this is the .308, it is the standard round for the AK-47."

When people say .223, I take it to mean 5.56x45.
When people say .308, I take it to mean 7.62x51, not 7.62x39.
(Yeah yeah, they're not exactly the same..)

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Suffice to say, this tape gets recyled (like "House of the Dead").

 

[Cosmoline]

The host is Richard J. Machowicz, who wrote "Unleashing the Warrior Within."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786865695/104-8814091-8705535?v=glance&n=283155

Provided, of course, that the warrior within doesn't have to use the AK-47 within.

He also founded the "Bukido Institute:

http://www.bukido.com/

His bio is here:

http://www.bukido.com/RickMack.html

The picture is pretty clear to me. You can draw your own conclusions.

 

[seeker_two]

I thought he said .308 bullet and not .308 round. 7.62 would be .308 BULLET, but if he said round, then he's got no business hosting a weapons show.

Then he'd STILL be wrong...the AK/SKS uses .311-.312" bullets...same diameter as the .303 British or the 7.56 Argentine Mauser. :banghead:

I know. I make reduced loads for my SMLE sporter using AK bullets (123gr.)

 

[murphy54]

I have not seen it...but that person was as stupid as it gets ...an AK 47 with that ammo...

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Ok, I have not taped over this show I said I did not like,
and I did rewatch it.

On the Barret comment "Only four men have ever designed guns and had them adapted by the US Military - Browning, Stoner, Garand, and Me."

I got the gut feeling that on the cutting room floor was the explanation
that Ronny Barret--like Browning, Stoner and Garand--conceived an
idea, designed and developed the rifle himself, marketed it, got it
adopted by the military and continued to control its development
and manufacture after adoption by the military, which is what makes
Barret one of a few in the history of arms design. There is a hint
of that in the introduction to that quote.

 

[starfuryzeta]

Last night they did a bit on the Tavor. Looks like a nice lil bullpup.

 

[fletcher]

Agreed, the Tavor looks to be a very good weapon. I love the part when he said "It's as accurate as a sniper rifle."

 

[hksw]

Dude, he was a Navy SEAL SNIPER for 10 years! He should know. You should know too, he says it every dramatic episode.

(Note : I am skeptical of, at least, his knowledge.)

What I can't get over is his calling anything weapon system that can be delivered by remote or without a first hand human witness as "sinister".

 

[Creeping Incrementalism]

http://www.bukido.com/RickMack.html

He was a certified instructor in Naval Special Warfare Combat Fighting Instructor Course, a Naval Special Warfare Scout/Sniper

A sniper instructor, and he thinks a bolt action rifle takes 20 seconds to reload?

From taking a look at this guy's website, it looks like he's in love with his own manly image.

 

[carterbeauford]

The episode in question is being rerun as I post this, which prompted me to search and find this thread.

Richard "Mack" Machowicz is quite the tacticool badass.

He claimed the Barrett has cut a man in two?

The .308 AK quote, along with the quote in my sig, is depressing. It is time these networks found people with a little credibility.

A .48ACP AK would be pretty sweet, on the other hand

 

[SolaScriptura139]

You'd think that as a SEAL, he'd have enough clout to tell the producers, "look, your script is inaccurate and will make me look like a fool on national television, especially to all my other fellow SEAL buddies."

Yeah, then they flash the paycheck in his face...

 

[loki.fish]

As mentioned before, not only is he an ex SEAL, he's an ex SEAL sniper. The only episode I have seen with a Barrett .50bmg rifle, he didn't use the M82, he used the M107...same episode as the "worlds quietest sub" from Germany and the UAV that tracked the black moving SUV through a desert. Every episode I have seen, I've been disgusted about some of his remarks. Just makes me sick.

 

[RangerHAAF]

Does anyone know or remember the website that is kept up by SOCOM operators? I'm registered there because I was with the first Ranger Battalion between 86 and 90 and I know at least one of the moderators.

They have sections for all of the members of the SOCOM family; Rangers, SEALS, SF, Marine Recon, Air Force PJ's, etc. If this guy was truly a SEAL someone on that board will know him.

They've probably already started talking among themselves because of the show last night, no SEAL or SOCOM family member makes that kind of mistake.

Okay,

I've found the link, if anyone should care to check it out.

http://www.socnetcentral.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=42

 

[Wes Janson]

I didn't see the Barrett episode, but I did see the first part of the Tavor/Sensor Fused Weapon episode. Several things struck me about both:

I got a bad feeling about the Tavor, and the way they presented it. First off, no iron back-up sights at all? And the claim that the optic was an integral part of the barrel had to be incorrect. They made a big deal out of it being more compact, which is true, being a bullpup, but the size difference seems irrelevent. An M4 is nominally 33 inches long, extended; the Tavor is 28 inches. 5 inches is a difference, but you can drop that down to 2 inches by collapsing the stock. There are no provisions for an M203, or much of anything else (although some will undoubtedly argue that to be a good thing).

And did anyone else notice the firearms instructor walking in FRONT of a line of soldiers, in prone position with rifles pointed downrange?!


One thing struck me about the Sensor Fused Weapon CBU-97B/BLU-108B munition: they never gave any information on the combat efficacy of the weapon. Of all the munitions that actually hit their target, what percentage successfully disable/destroy the enemy vehicle? And what about the crew? They spent some time talking about the lone combat test of the SFW in Iraq, and how it supposedly hit a number of Iraqi vehicles, causing the rest of the formation to surrender...but they never say how badly damaged the vehicles really were. Those omissions seem somewhat suspicious to me, and I'd love to know how effective it really is at disabling/destroying enemy armor.