#The M9 actually sees more use with me than the M4

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Been playing Into The Radius again

It really is the only game out there that allows me to exist in my natural state.

Chainsmoking

It also also really gets you to grow attached to your gear. Weather you scavenged and repaired your guns, or you saved up enough money to buy them from the in game store, VR really makes you appreciate them when they save your life in a pinch.

It's also the little details that really get me about this game, like cleaning your guns after a long run into the zone, or being able to perform a simple press check to confirm if you have one in the chamber or not

(Also I did not have my finger on the trigger there, trigger discipline is not programmed into this game)

Now excuse me while I rearrange my shelves for the 50th time to avoid going into that fucking factory lmao.

I'll post more about the game's atmosphere and such soon but for now I jjust wanted to gush over the small things that get me about Into The Radius

[transcriptroopers]

I live in a country where guns have to be licensed and therefore I cannot get hold of one to experience this myself, but how does it feel to hold in your hand/s? What is it made of? Does it get warm under your touch or does it remain chill? How does it feel to know that you have a machine of death in your hands, or do you get so used to it you do not think about it? I'm not really sure about what type of guns I'm using in my story so any information you can give me is so, so helpful!!!

Just so you understand the sort of mentality you’re dealing with, hubby and I found your description highly amusing at first, and at first I treated it like a joke, and I realized after the fact how tasteless that response is. We’re jaded to the seriousness of guns; that’s the attitude you’re looking to replicate.We make a habit of calling them “weapons,” not “guns.” We’ll usually get chewed out if we just call them guns, though if we use the proper term for the weapon (rifle, pistol, etc) that’s usually acceptable.

As far as technical info goes, here’s an excerpt from the Wiki page on M16s:The M16 is a lightweight, 5.56 mm, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed assault rifle, with a rotating bolt. The M16’s receivers are made of 7075 aluminum alloy, its barrel, bolt, and bolt carrier of steel, and its handguards, pistol grip, and buttstock of plastics.

5.56 is the standard round (and we call them rounds, not bullets; the bullet is the tip of the round and the casing/shell is the rest of it) for M16, M4, and M249, the weapons most commonly assigned to enlisted. We have to walk around and pick up the shells if we’re firing our weapons at a range. 

Me and hubby agree that holding a weapon for the first time is surprisingly uneventful. It feels the same as if someone had put a hammer or a crowbar in your hand for the first time. Guns in American culture are so prevalent that when you’re younger they seem benign and of no great consequence. This is with me coming from a gunless background and hubby having some experience with weapons prior to joining. After a while it does completely stop dawning on you that the contraption you’re holding is a deadly weapon and most people would be unnerved to see them. We mostly only have weapons on us during basic training, during a field exercise, and during deployment, and during deployment your weapon might very well be locked up for a part of it if you aren’t deployed to a combat zone. There’s no real reason to just lug around a rifle around during a normal work day. So in actuality, I probably spent less than 25% of my time in the army with an actual weapon. 

Our weapons are made with metals (and some parts plastic) and due to Science metal does tend to get warm when held, yes. They can of course be hot or cold given the environment. It’s dreadfully unpleasant to hold them without gloves in the snow, especially when your fingers start going numb and you’re not 100% sure you’ve got an adequate grip on it. They reek of CLP and metal and they leave a lasting smell on your hands, more so if you’ve been firing.CLP of course being Cleaner, Lubricant, and Protectant, basically just a lubricating oil we use on our weapons to ensure all the parts are moving smoothly so it hopefully doesn’t jam. A lot of people will literally pour CLP on their weapons and they just drench the poor thing and you don’t need that, folks. Just a few drops will usually do as long as you’re maintaining it regularly.I preferred pistols over rifles. I enjoyed taking them apart more and shooting with them, but I only ever got to do that once or twice as a for-fun thing because only our officers used the M9. 

Lucky for me I was assigned an M249 during three of my four years. Typically only one person per squad has a 249, so there’s only ever maybe four or five people per platoon with one, maybe 15-20 per company.

It’s classified as a “light machine gun,” but it’s still over twice as heavy as the M16 and required belts of ammo that were a pain to carry around. While everyone else could just prop up their weapon where convenient, the 249 needs to be set up with its stupid little tripod and then sit on the ground and be a tripping hazard until you pick it up again. It fires at a much higher rate than the m16, (I mean, it’s a machine gun) so for a fellow who depends on prescription eyeglasses (such as myself) it can become impossible to shoot because the damn thing sends up so much smoke and fog that it renders lenses useless. I also remember one time we were instructed to sling while marching and I fucked up and loosened up my sling on accident and I couldn’t stop and fix it or unsling it because slinged weapons was the directive and we were on uneven terrain and I wound up walking with that bastard for two miles with it bouncing against me every now and then. I had bruises all up and down my front. I hated that thing; it was an inconvenience and an annoyance. Could not have been happier when I finally got an M16. 

Speaking of slinging the weapon, we generally don’t sling it to our backs unless we’re carrying something or doing some other task that requires full use of our arms. Otherwise we hold it in the “low ready,” with the weapon pointing toward the ground and away from people. Having our weapon around is pretty much second nature. Maintaining our arms is of utmost importance, some would say over maintaining ourselves. Some will choose to clean their weapon over cleaning themselves. We memorize the serial numbers and carry them with us everywhere unless we can physically lock them up. Leaving an unattended weapon is a serious issue. We also clean them regularly, sometimes multiple times a day if the weapons have been in a compromising environment i.e. we’ve been crawling through sand or something. Dropping your weapon is pretty much blasphemous and will reward you with several push ups if anyone sees. Some people were just Extra and if they dropped their weapon and there was no one around to punish them, they’d punish themselves because they disrespected their weapon ors.

Flagging is usually taken very seriously, although there have been occasions where I’ve seen someone get more chewed out for dropping the weapon than for flagging someone, which I think is steaming bull shit tbqh. We’re taught to NEVER, EVER point a weapon at someone, even in jest, so of course it never happens, ever, because we totally follow instructions at all times, completely and unsarcastically. I can say that having left the army, hubby is still a fan of guns and he and his best friend go to the shooting range occasionally, but I am rather firmly pro gun control so I never really see/use them anymore. So all sorts can go in and come out of the army and how each person feels about weapons will be unique, but generally while we’re in, they’re an extension of ourselves and a soldier’s most important asset. And to sum up, there’s usually three types of gun people in the army:1) I have a gun. Cool I guess. (most common imo)2) I have a 5.56 mm, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed assault rifle, with a rotating bolt which was implemented into service in 1964 to replace the Garand, Carbine, and Browning with a maximum firing range of 3,600 meters and an effective firing range of 550 meters. 3) I don’t actually know shit about guns but I really want to be macho and impress people so I pretend to be knowledgeable and make a fool out of myself while annoying everyone around me.

-Kingsley

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