5.56X45mm
Milforum Mac Daddy
From: www.shootingindustry.com/02pages/Ftr0107b.html
R. Lee Ermey, The Gunny, is one of the biggest draws at the SHOT Show. When he's at the Glock booth signing autographs, he always attracts a large, seemingly never-ending crowd. Best known for hosting "Mail Call" on the History Channel, The Gunny first gained prominence as the drill instructor in the critically acclaimed movie Full Metal Jacket.
He recently met with Shooting Industry's editor, Russ Thurman, a retired Marine who also worked in Hollywood, primarily as a technical advisor for Vietnam movies.
Thurman:
Tell me about your tour of duty in the Corps.
The Gunny:
I was a staff sergeant with 11 years in the Marine Corps, making $505 a month, when I got out. We weren't well paid back in those days. I put in for warrant officer and was accepted, but I got hurt before I could get that done. C'est la vie. I had to find something else to do with my life. It just happened to work out pretty darn good.
Thurman:
Your big break came in Full Metal Jacket, based on the book The Short Timers.
The Gunny:
I was lucky with Full Metal Jacket. When Stanley Kubrick (director) called me, that's what they call being blessed. It opened every door in the world. He mentioned that Gustav Hasford's The Short Timers was the book that the movie was based upon. It just so happened I had read The Short Timers and I was on my way through it again a second time. I found the book to be extremely entertaining. It pretty much captured the essence of the warrior. The Marine. You had Private Joker, Private Cowboy, T.H.E. Rock — it was entertaining, even though, technically, it was pretty loose.
Thurman:
It certainly established your signature as The Gunny.
The Gunny:
Absolutely. No question about it; Full Metal Jacket was my fifth international film and it put me on the map. "Mail Call" is basically the motivator for my being at the SHOT Show. It is one of the highest-rated shows on the History Channel. When it started, it caught the eye of all the gunmakers. When Glock approached me, I was also approached by about half the gunmakers in America — all of them wanted me to represent their product. I said, "Well, ya know, I won't represent something that I don't use myself, number one, and some of these weapons I haven't even tried out, so how can I tell somebody to go buy something I don't know if I'd buy."
So, I got handguns from everybody and shot them. I found which one I liked the best and the one I felt was the best weapon. That's the people I decided to go with and it just happened to be Glock.
Thurman:
So, during your test and evaluation, Glock came out number one?
The Gunny: It did indeed.
Thurman:
Why?
The Gunny:
Well, number one, I'm an old traditional b@st@rd. I like the 1911. But after you shoot about a hundred rounds through that old 1911, you feel it start to drag, you can feel it start to bind out. The material the Glock is made out of is almost like Teflon, it just repels the burnt powder, the black powder residue that everything else seems to glom onto.
The first Glock I got was the .45 GAP, and I don't know whether you've ever fired a .45 GAP, but it's a round that's half as large as the old .45. The reason I think the military went to the 9mm is because you can carry a lot more ammunition. But then, they lost the concept of why in the hell a staff NCO or an officer is armed with a sidearm in the first place. When you're out of ammunition for that M16, M14, M1 or whatever the case may be, and those rascals are coming up over the berm, the pistol, it's something you can shoot these guys with and it's a one-shot situation. You lay a .45 slug right in the middle of somebody's chest and they're gonna stop. With the 9mm, you gotta shoot them three or four times to get their attention. Might as well have a .22 Magnum. I wish they'd pull their heads out of their butts and start thinking about this. Even police officers, why should a cop who's being fired at put three rounds in center mass before he stops this guy? One round's all it takes for the .45 and that guy's not gonna feel like shooting at you anymore.
Thurman:
Were you familiar with firearms before you joined the Marines?
The Gunny:
I grew up in rural America. My father taught us gun safety and what we should do. Nowadays, it's gotten to the point where kids are 15 years old before they ever fire their first weapon. I was out pheasant and duck hunting by myself with a 12-gauge single shot, old breakdown shotgun when I was 8 years old.
Thurman:
What are your thoughts about the rights of people to be armed?
The Gunny:
I think if everybody was armed, there would be less crime. If I'm a robber and I think you might have a gun, I'm gonna think twice about approaching you or taking your car from you. We've got bold criminals who will walk right up to your driver's side window, point a gun at you, tell you to get the hell out and jump into your car and drive it away. I don't think they'd be that bold if they thought, "This guy might be armed." We would weed out the nuts, the criminals, the drug addicts, of course, and not issue them weapons. Supposedly, that's what our system does today. They have this ridiculous paperwork you have to fill out every time you buy a handgun. It's just totally ridiculous.
Thurman:
You're not thrilled, I take it, about filling out paperwork.
R. Lee Ermey, The Gunny, is one of the biggest draws at the SHOT Show. When he's at the Glock booth signing autographs, he always attracts a large, seemingly never-ending crowd. Best known for hosting "Mail Call" on the History Channel, The Gunny first gained prominence as the drill instructor in the critically acclaimed movie Full Metal Jacket.
He recently met with Shooting Industry's editor, Russ Thurman, a retired Marine who also worked in Hollywood, primarily as a technical advisor for Vietnam movies.
Thurman:
Tell me about your tour of duty in the Corps.
The Gunny:
I was a staff sergeant with 11 years in the Marine Corps, making $505 a month, when I got out. We weren't well paid back in those days. I put in for warrant officer and was accepted, but I got hurt before I could get that done. C'est la vie. I had to find something else to do with my life. It just happened to work out pretty darn good.
Thurman:
Your big break came in Full Metal Jacket, based on the book The Short Timers.
The Gunny:
I was lucky with Full Metal Jacket. When Stanley Kubrick (director) called me, that's what they call being blessed. It opened every door in the world. He mentioned that Gustav Hasford's The Short Timers was the book that the movie was based upon. It just so happened I had read The Short Timers and I was on my way through it again a second time. I found the book to be extremely entertaining. It pretty much captured the essence of the warrior. The Marine. You had Private Joker, Private Cowboy, T.H.E. Rock — it was entertaining, even though, technically, it was pretty loose.
Thurman:
It certainly established your signature as The Gunny.
The Gunny:
Absolutely. No question about it; Full Metal Jacket was my fifth international film and it put me on the map. "Mail Call" is basically the motivator for my being at the SHOT Show. It is one of the highest-rated shows on the History Channel. When it started, it caught the eye of all the gunmakers. When Glock approached me, I was also approached by about half the gunmakers in America — all of them wanted me to represent their product. I said, "Well, ya know, I won't represent something that I don't use myself, number one, and some of these weapons I haven't even tried out, so how can I tell somebody to go buy something I don't know if I'd buy."
So, I got handguns from everybody and shot them. I found which one I liked the best and the one I felt was the best weapon. That's the people I decided to go with and it just happened to be Glock.
Thurman:
So, during your test and evaluation, Glock came out number one?
The Gunny: It did indeed.
Thurman:
Why?
The Gunny:
Well, number one, I'm an old traditional b@st@rd. I like the 1911. But after you shoot about a hundred rounds through that old 1911, you feel it start to drag, you can feel it start to bind out. The material the Glock is made out of is almost like Teflon, it just repels the burnt powder, the black powder residue that everything else seems to glom onto.
The first Glock I got was the .45 GAP, and I don't know whether you've ever fired a .45 GAP, but it's a round that's half as large as the old .45. The reason I think the military went to the 9mm is because you can carry a lot more ammunition. But then, they lost the concept of why in the hell a staff NCO or an officer is armed with a sidearm in the first place. When you're out of ammunition for that M16, M14, M1 or whatever the case may be, and those rascals are coming up over the berm, the pistol, it's something you can shoot these guys with and it's a one-shot situation. You lay a .45 slug right in the middle of somebody's chest and they're gonna stop. With the 9mm, you gotta shoot them three or four times to get their attention. Might as well have a .22 Magnum. I wish they'd pull their heads out of their butts and start thinking about this. Even police officers, why should a cop who's being fired at put three rounds in center mass before he stops this guy? One round's all it takes for the .45 and that guy's not gonna feel like shooting at you anymore.
Thurman:
Were you familiar with firearms before you joined the Marines?
The Gunny:
I grew up in rural America. My father taught us gun safety and what we should do. Nowadays, it's gotten to the point where kids are 15 years old before they ever fire their first weapon. I was out pheasant and duck hunting by myself with a 12-gauge single shot, old breakdown shotgun when I was 8 years old.
Thurman:
What are your thoughts about the rights of people to be armed?
The Gunny:
I think if everybody was armed, there would be less crime. If I'm a robber and I think you might have a gun, I'm gonna think twice about approaching you or taking your car from you. We've got bold criminals who will walk right up to your driver's side window, point a gun at you, tell you to get the hell out and jump into your car and drive it away. I don't think they'd be that bold if they thought, "This guy might be armed." We would weed out the nuts, the criminals, the drug addicts, of course, and not issue them weapons. Supposedly, that's what our system does today. They have this ridiculous paperwork you have to fill out every time you buy a handgun. It's just totally ridiculous.
Thurman:
You're not thrilled, I take it, about filling out paperwork.