Rubber bullets?

[Ranger J]

I just read something I can't really believe.  A report  has come out that the border guard recently killed in the shoot out with a gang on the Mexican border was armed only with rubber bullets.  According to the report the government will not confirm or deny this.  Please tell me this wasn't so!

RJ

[Brett]

I don't have an answer to that question but it would not surprise me in the least.  Didn't we have National Guardsmen stationed on the border who were not allowed to have any ammo for their ARs.  If I recall correctly they did not even have magazines for their rifles.  Guess they were just supposed to point and shout "BANG, BANG, BANG" really load.

[lakota]

if the liberals get their way they will be lucky if they can have a night stick while on patrol

[wareagleguy]

Total BS

[blind ear]

I know a young man back from Iraq a few months and he said they usen rubber buckshot. He was on a vehicle that escourted convoys. Said command didn't want thier fire inadvertently killing friendly natives. His vehicle carried instruments that scanned for phone frequencies used to set off IED roadside bombs. He had a 12 ga pump with a laser lite. go figure. ear

[Ranger J]

More info is coming out and evidently the rules of engagement for border patrol requires that they must first use non lethal means before using real guns.  In this case evidently 'beanbag' shotgun loads were used by the patrol but the Mexican gang returned fire with real guns and the guard was killed.  You know we wouldn't want to get the Mexican government mad at us or anything.

RJ

[srussell]

 cant have a war without the libs screwing it up

[powderman]

BEANBAGS?? can't take a chance of violating scums rights. A darned shame an American died defending criminals. POWDERMAN. 

[wreckhog]

Beanbag rounds would be ridiculous, but how do they violate someone's rights any more or less than FMJ's or hollowpoints? I have NEVER heard of them being used against armed opponents BTW.

[Ranger J]

The guards were under orders to 'take the gang alive'.  I guess then they could be deported back to Mexico.  That will

 teach them a lesson!  I guess life in the world has really changed.  At one time England fought a war over Captain Jenkins ear.

RJ

[wreckhog]

The article said that he also had an M4 carbine. Doesn't that imply that he had something other than rubber, ie FMJ's? Unless he chose to use the abortion decribed below.

">Referencing the photo at:
>http://www.addameer.org/september2000/gallery/pictures/43.jpg ,

>- Exactly how do rubber bullet muzzle adaptors work?
>- What's the function of the barrel extension visible in the picture?
>- Is the ammunition basically a rubber-coated spherical projectile in a
>  standard cartridge?


The M-16 is a 5.56mm weapon, which is too small a caliber for an effective
non-penetrating round.  If you fire a 5.56mm projectile slowly enough that
it won't punch holes through people, it won't have enough energy to do
much of anything at all.  It would be the functional equivilant of a
BB gun.

"Rubber bullet" rounds for the M-16 and similar weapons are steel spheres
half an inch or so in diameter coated with a thin layer of rubber or plastic.
They are loaded, singly and from the muzzle, into a cylindrical tube attached
to the barrel of the weapon, and launched by firing a blank cartridge from
the rifle.  Hence the device seen in the photographs.

Not as effective as a dedicated rubber-bullet-firing weapon would be, but it
has the distinct advantage of allowing you to fire regular bullets if the
crowd you are controlling turns out to be more violent than you expected."
I shoot plastic training bullets in 7.62x51 (.308) BTW. First they are cheap (18 cents a shot), they look cool, and they have approximately the same specs as a .220 Swift. Yes, about 4000fps out of a .308 rifle and quite lethal up to 200 yards, unless you have body armor. They won't cycle in an auto or semi auto unless you use a special blowback bolt.