Survivalist Forum banner

How much ammunition does a soldier carry?

98K views 55 replies 35 participants last post by  HammerHand 
#1 ·
I was just curious, How much ammunition would your average infantry soldier carry if he were expecting a fire fight?
What’s the standard amount?
(this is excluding mortars and such- how much ammunition for his primary weapon?)
Oh, and how many Shot shells would a military shot gunner carry?

I know I am giving little info to work off, but please try.

Thanks a bunch
GENT
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dwind
#27 ·
Not really spring fatigue, as much as misfeeding..I think it was traced to followers as much as spring problems. And 18 rounds seemed ok.

Need more AR expertise than I have. LOL I mostly has problems due to dirt & bolt not locking than feeding problems. Oh, and bolt-to-gas-tube mating.. that did cause short bolt stroke failures-to-feed on two occasions. The screws holding the gas recoil thingy on the bolt carrier came loose.

I have no clue as to ammo battle load these days. ...Iraq vets.. clue us in.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Well, that depends.

When I was in the Marines (1990-1998) the basic rifleman carried 7 30round magazines for the M16 so that would be 210 rounds in magazines. In pack carried a reload block for one complete reload.

Now the poor Marine carring the Squad Automatic Weapon carried much much more along with his A-gunner and the other two members of the fire team carried a belt or two to feed the hungry M60 or M249.

The the fireteam leader also carried several gernades for the M203 attached to his M16.

All of these get burned up really quickly in a fire fight.
 
#7 ·
At least 210 rds., for m16, I believe the saw gunners got 3-200rd. boxes. That was all we had for small arms in my platoon. We always grabbed more than the minimum since we didn't have to walk around with it. My helmet bag was stuffed with underwear, a few mre's (or Chef Boyardee :D) and about 8-10 mags. I only kept 4 on my vest and one in my weapon. It is too cumbersome to carry too much on your chest when you have to worry about directing your crew, handling the radio and maintaining your own weapon.
 
#8 ·
It really depends on the type of unit. An infantry man would carry more since that's their job.

A truck driver less since their job is to get out of dodge, and fast.

A Ranger, Recon Marine, LRRP, SF, SEAL etc... would carry a lot more since they may be out and about a lot longer between resupplies. Their mission is simply to go farther faster and quietly, so no air drops of supplies.

The new mags can stay loaded for a long time with no ill effects so 20 round mags would have 19-20 and 30s would have 29-30, since the newer silicon springs have fantastic memory. Same springs the cops use where their weapon is loaded 24/7/365.

A basic load though would be 12-30 round mags. 3 in each of 4 mag pouches for a total of 360 plus a bandoleer or 2 for reloading the mags. Colt ships their M4s with 7-8 brand new 30 round mags.

I was in an armor unit, Scout PLT, and our basic load included up to 10,000 rounds per track. That's 5.56, .50, .45, and "low pressure" grenades. These were M113s. This didn't include LAWs or explosives or other missiles(AT4, Dragons, Stingers etc...)

The tanks carried around 56 for the main gun and +/-5,000 for each of the coax and the M85. The machine guns can go through 600+ rounds suppression fire and then <300 sustained, per minute.

I think the grenade carrier(vest) holds about 30 rounds of low pressure.

As an end note; the mission decides the amount and type of weapons and ammo carried. Also ammo and supplies are redistributed often within a squad and PLT.
 
#49 ·
A Ranger, Recon Marine, LRRP, SF, SEAL etc... would carry a lot more since they may be out and about a lot longer between resupplies. Their mission is simply to go farther faster and quietly, so no air drops of supplies.

.
That's not true for all missions. My roommate is a former Ranger (3rd Batt) and they got all their ammo airdropped in AFGH and IRAQ every time. They would carry the basic load plus whatever the mission would require.

I was a SAW gunner in a light infantry unit and I carried WAY more ammo than my buddy in Ranger Batt on most missions.
 
#9 ·
i carried 10 30rd mags for my M4. I also would put another 4 or 5 mags. Ultimately though i would carry as much as i physically able to and still be able to fight efficiently. Some people carried more, some less, it depended on your strengths and the weight of your other equipment. Your priorities should be water bullets food.

POGS carried 7 30 mags. I honestly dont see how they could be comfortable with that. There were several times i had to dig in my bag for a mag. People talk about fire discipline but sometimes you have to suppress in order to keep from being overran or to cover another squads movements. You can easily dump 3 or 4 mags this way.

Say you've just been ambushed. Your gonna return with as much firepower as possible in order to move to cover (-2 mags). Once you reach cover you maintain fire discipline (-1 mag) Order comes down to provide suppressive fire while squad B maneuvers into a flanking position to take up a LOA (-3 mags). With just something common as this youll need plenty of ammo. This scenario would only take maybe 15 mins and your already down 6 mags and the fight isnt even over yet.
 
#10 ·
Thanks, this is exactly the type of info i wanted, great stuff (and special thanks to anyone with personal experience...)

I dont suppose anyone knows how many shotgun shells would be carried by a shotgunner?
50? 100?
 
#11 ·
Tough question. The shotgun is very much a specialized weapon. If your trying to use it as if it was a MBR i would go 100rds minimum. We carried a shotgun with us but it was more of a squad asset like our scoped m14. Someone would carry it in addition to their MBR.

* Just texted a buddy of mine and he said he carried approx. one half a normal combat load. So that would be 105rds minimum and 150rds preferred. He said the problem is that the rate of fire is far less then the MBRs as well as the reload times (he carried a pump) this reduced the need for some much ammo.
 
#12 ·
While running recon (Special Forces CCN out of Dang) into cambadio and loas in the nam police action I carried the following

Car 15 or AK47 different missions different weapon

600 rounds of ammo
2 regular grenades and 6 anti personal grenades.

(wrapped the regular grenades on my shoulder harness with black elect tape then pulled the pins out once I was on the ground. That way you could rip the grnade off and throw it without having to pull the pin which required using two hands. You could fire with one hand and throw with the other.)

Had, I think six canteen pouches on the web belt in which I carried my mags, clips, what ever you want to call them (in combat who gives a sssssssssh about small ssssssssssssh like a name) As far as I know, no weapon required a true clip and some men called them mags and some men called them clips.

had several rounds in the back pack as well. 6 anti personal (small gernades) would fit in a canteen pouch, (might have been three, pouch on each side of the belt (incase one arm was injured you still had an arm on the other side with a matching set up of toys.

I do not mean to be rude, but this is why I laugh at people who have 1000 or more rounds and put all their faith in numbers of rounds carried or stored.

In a true, defense position firefight (without and army supply system) you can not stock enough ammo. Put your faith in the amount of ammo, you will die.

Put your faith in your skills and your ability to evade and fight another day.


later
wayne
 
#15 ·
Thanks all.
 
#18 ·
Just to add on the shotgun, because ammo is always a concern with them:

I work security, and I own a Maverick 88 Security version which holds 7+1 shells and a 6 shot side saddle. I'd gone out with it once or twice on jobs while thinking that I'd like a few more shots than that to bring along in the case of a LONG assignment.

So when I upgraded my stock to a Knoxx, I also ordered a bandoleer sling, which adds 25 shells. It may seem a bit much, but one of the strengths of the shotgun besides its power potential is its adaptability for possible situations. The right shell for the right job, and in sufficient (hopefully) quantities to help in an emergency.

It added quite a bit of weight to the gun, but it is manageable. And after Hurricane Ike when I had to grab the shotgun and go- I had 38 shells already with the gun. After Katrina- I was glad for the added firepower, whether it was 'too much' or not.
 
#24 ·
In my unit a "standard combat load" consisted of 7 x 30 rd magazines for the M4 rifle. Most Soldiers load 26-28 rounds per magazine to reduce spring issues. (Gov't mags are crap)

3 x 15 rd magazines were carried for the M9 Beretta pistol. M249 gunners carried 600 rds on their persons. 2 x 100rds assault packs and 2 x 200 round drums. We carried 1 shotgun per squad and the Soldier designated to carry it considered it a secondary/specialty weapon only. 25-40 rounds were carried for that weapon depending on the mission. Those Soldiers carrying an M203 Gl also carried 3 flares, 2 Buckshot rounds and 12-18 HE rounds for the launcher.

My personal load was somewhat modified. I carried 10 x 30 rd magazines with another 6 loaded in my bail out bag. 3 x 15 rd magazines for my pistol with 2 additional loaded in my BOB. I wore 2 x m67 grenades and 2 x M18 HC smoke grenades on my gear and carried anothe smaoke grenade and a thermite grenade in the pack as well. ALong with 1st aid stuff, NVGs, spare batteries a small GPS, map, 100 oz. of water and some chow it was heavy but manageable.
 
#26 ·
Of course you put the pins back in.

When I took over the team the practice had been to secure the LZ and then throw the granades just before you got on the chopper.

I changed this practice. I made the men replace the pins back in the granade after they got on the choper.

Why did I do this.

Never, never, never, waste ammo or ordanance.

What would happen if the chopper was shot down and you were back on the ground with out the toys you needed because you ****sssssssed them away on the first extraction.

later
wayne
 
#28 ·
Depends on the weapon, but for the G3 we carried 100 rounds 7,62 in 5 mags. Now that they have switched to 5,56 I guess they carry twice that. In addition a rifle squad would carry 4 grenades per man (2x shock and 2x frag). 1 guy would carry 2 M72 rocket launchers and the machne gun crew would carry 1000 rounds for the MG3.

This was the standard configuration, but it rarely looked like that when we were overseas. There it all depended on what sort of patrol we were out on, how long, etc.
 
#30 ·
501st airborne 2003-04 afghanistan ..

day ops
carry load on lce was 7-30rd magazines ,in assault pack 3+ magazines.
in rucksack(left on truck) remaing magazines to total 30.

30 magazines always loaded. mission dependant placement no less than 7 on l.c.e. at all times.

the only deviation would be to remove magazines from rucksack to place into assault pack. the only reason for doing this is if you are leaving the the trucks ..and going by helo somewhere.


fs-19 is obvously not seeing the combat load of todays marines..
1 in 4 has a claymore
all have 1-2 frags
team leaders have flashbangs
rifleman carry det cord -door charges
terrain dependant 1 in 15 carries an at4
team leaders also have a 203 w 30 rds
squad leaders have the option of carrying a shotgun
1 rifleman per team can carry an m14.

if you crunch the numbers you can see why an infantyman only needs to carry 7 30rd magazines.. 28-34 men per platoon.

4 squads
1st squad
squad leader. mossberg 500, 50 rds + or m4 w/210 rds
alpha team leader m4/m203 optional 210+ rds,30 rds+
saw gunner, m249 800-1000 rds
rifleman m4 or m14 210+ rds
grenadier m4/203 210+ rds, 30rds+

bravo team leader m4/m203 optional 210+ rds,30 rds+
saw gunner, m249 800-1000 rds
rifleman m4 or m14 210+ rds
grenadier m4/203 210+ rds, 30rds+

2nd squad

squad leader. mossberg 500, 50 rds + or m4 w/210 rds
alpha team leader m4/m203 optional 210+ rds,30 rds+
saw gunner, m249 800-1000 rds
rifleman m4 or m14 210+ rds
grenadier m4/203 210+ rds, 30rds+

bravo team leader m4/m203 optional 210+ rds,30 rds+
saw gunner, m249 800-1000 rds
rifleman m4 or m14 210+ rds at4
grenadier m4/203 210+ rds, 30rds+claymore

3rd squad

squad leader. mossberg 500, 50 rds + or m4 w/210 rds
alpha team leader m4/m203 optional 210+ rds,30 rds+
saw gunner, m249 800-1000 rds
rifleman m4 or m14 210+ rds
grenadier m4/203 210+ rds, 30rds+, claymore

bravo team leader m4/m203 optional 210+ rds,30 rds+
saw gunner, m249 800-1000 rds
rifleman m4 or m14 210+ rds at4
grenadier m4/203 210+ rds, 30rds+ claymore
weapons squad


squad leader. mossberg 500, 50 rds + or m4 w/210 rds
2-4a m240b 600 m240 rds
assistant gunner1, m4 210rds and /200+ m240 rds
assistant gunner2, m4 210rds and /200+ m240 rds

2-4b m240b 600 m240 rds
assistant gunner1, m4 210rds and /200+ m240 rds
assistant gunner2, m4 210rds and /200+ m240 rds

platoon leader m4 w/210 rds
platoon sergeant m4 w/210 rds
rto m4 w/210 rds
forward observer nco m4 w/210 rds
forward observer spc m4 w/210 rds

remember everyone has grenades.. nobody ever travels outside of the mortar range ... theres extra ammo on the trucks or a quick reaction force within 30 minutes.. helos or a10;s can usually be on station within 20 minutes... yada yada

you decide what your situation is.. if your going to have a vehicle load up.. people that tell you you dont need much ammo have never need to establish fire supperiority..i.e. pulling the trigger until your enemy gets behind cover.
 
#31 ·
one other thing.. the 240 gunners also could

stack an m4 to their rucksack
carry a m9 .. 92f berreta with 3 mags
do neither

most carried the m9 , this in case thier open bolt weapon failed to function.

also the platoon leader has the option of carrying an m9 but few do as this identifies them as an officer.
 
#35 ·
I would flat out not leave the FOB with only 180 rounds. I dont know any rifleman that would. However considering the source and the time frame in which is was written i could see that maybe 180 rounds is all they may have needed. Right now though in afghanistan or iraq no one would even consider such a low amount of rounds. 180 rounds says you dont expect to have to fight.
 
#36 ·
apparently texas pete is relying on a reference .. unless it is a typo ,, however firsthand knowledge .. pete read my earlier reply. army sop states the combat load for a rifle man is 7 magazines 1 in the carbine and 6 on the l.c.e. while regular army troops always carry more according to the unit and mission. they are required to have at a minimum of 210 rds.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top