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Forget about BODY ARMOUR I want to know about the Vickers K


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Link to Vickers page

kgunandpouches.jpg

The only people to use the K gun in the ground role were the Royal Marine and Army Commandos. Each "Commando" had a Heavy Weapons Troop within it and this troop had two sections. One was the 3-inch Mortar Section and the other was a K-Gun Section. It was a short-lived affair for the K-Gun in the ground role as the high rate of fire and the weight of the gun and the magazines were so much that re-supply would have been a disastrous task. It was only used shortly in the ground role from D-Day (6th June 1944) for a few weeks afterwards. The only photos of the Commandos using K guns are D-Day itself or D+1 and maybe D+2. There are onlt some quite poor photos of the K gun in its ground role but it can be clearly seen that the bipod is not that of the Bren or even the Lewis but is something that has been developed completely separate. It is also adapted to have a pistol grip below the receiver and a shoulder stock. The magazines were carried in specially made pouches that are similar to the Lewis pouches at first glance but they were specially supported by an integral pair of braces and a front strap. This was because of the weight of the magazines when full. A single magazine was carried in each pouch so a No. 1 would have three full magazines and the No. 2 would have 2 so that is only a maximum of 500 rounds which could be fired off in a couple of minutes!!

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