Automatic weapon fire- Hawk Mt/AT

[Teacher & Snacktime]

We got to listen to an assault on Hightower Gap a couple of years ago. The following morning we found loads of stuff....knife, ammo clip, fabric pieces, .... all kinds of evidence of where they'd been maneuvering. That's only .5 from Hawk Mtn Shelter, so it sounded like they were invading us until about 10pm

[One Half]

Dummy rounds do NOT "fire". Possibly you found a "tracer round" used for night fire?

D'oh. Just remembering that the system that the .mil uses uses an "special" round, can't remember what it's called. But it does actually "fire" in that it will "work" the bolt causing the empty casing to eject and a new round to feed. There's a suppressor on the end of the rifle when they use it as some debris does leave the barrel. Also there is a device put on the rifle and the "combatants" wear a harness/vest with "receptors" kind of like "laser tag."

But a dummy round is not the same thing. No powder, no primary, and does not work the action, eject and feed a round.

[RangerZ]

It was probably a blank 7.62 round, either loose from a belt for an M-60 machine gun or ( unlikely ) from an M-14 rifle magazine. No bullet but a paper disk sealing the end. Both weapons are operated by the gases from the gunpowder to drive the bolt back and chamber another round. Since there is no bullet going down the barrel to contain the gases both weapons need a blank firing adapter on the muzzle to do that.

[One Half]

It was probably a blank 7.62 round, either loose from a belt for an M-60 machine gun or ( unlikely ) from an M-14 rifle magazine. No bullet but a paper disk sealing the end. Both weapons are operated by the gases from the gunpowder to drive the bolt back and chamber another round. Since there is no bullet going down the barrel to contain the gases both weapons need a blank firing adapter on the muzzle to do that.

Yes thank you! I couldn't think of the word "blank." And the blank firing adapter.

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[glenlawson]

If you are at Camp Merrill and you cross the landing strip, there are a couple of trails that lead back to Cooper Gap rd. One of them likely still comes out in the area of Hightower Gap, very near Hawk Mountain. This is the Mountain Ranger School and the woods will get a lot of use when the camp is in session. It is also why the Army will park a couple of water trailers along Cooper Cap rd during the dry months.

If you want to find more fired and unfired 5.56mm cartridges, if you are on the trail at Justus Creek, go right (south) toward the old path of the AT. There is a fire trail that will take you to an area called Devil's Kitchen which is close to Cooper Gap rd/Blue Ridge Rd. The trail was re-routed a number of year ago in part to reduce over-use and to get away from an area where there was some significant overnight partying.

[gpburdelljr]

I was on the Knife Edge at BSP heading to the summit once when we saw the shadows and thought we heard thunder, next thing we knew two A-10s one after another came into the Chimney Pond basin from the east and then headed up over the summit. That terrain hugging radar they use is truly impressive.

I may be wrong, but I don’t think the A-10 has terrain following radar. I believe they use the Mark-1 eyeball.

[peakbagger]

I dont claim to be an A-10 expert, I have just seen them run really close to the tree tops and pull off some very impressive changes in altitude.