The USMC doesn't talk about gun safety until range day ?
I'm surprised
Not even then. The Range Officer is very well versed in firearm safety, naturally, and he imposes that on the recruits, but within no instruction beforehand. The recruit finds out about firearm safety
after they have broken the rules.
Have there actually been any studies on animals eyesight, specifically deer etc
IIRC bulls are color blind and see mostly movement and the "red rag to a bull" is a myth
Yet the hunting stores are full of camouflage clothing to equip you head to foot (even camouflage boots). I am sure hunters wear camouflage clothing as part of a personal image
Deer can see in color, but they have more rods (night time) and fewer cones (day time) than humans. They also lack red cones, which gives them a very specific red-green color blindness. Deer can see better than humans at night, but reds, oranges, yellows, and browns are indistinguishable from different shades of green to deer.
I've never been hunting. I just don't think I could do it.
We all have to eat. That is my only rule when hunting: If you kill it, you eat it. It is the rule my father taught me when I was 8. I do take caribou and an occasional moose in the fall, plus a few ptarmigan and spruce grouse during the Winter. I also catch between 200 and 250 pounds of salmon each season. When combined with the berries and other flora that I forage, somewhere between 20% and 25% of my food comes from the wild.
I like knowing where my food originates and how to prepare it for consumption.
When I picked up a rifle in the army, it was the first time (other than a friend's shotgun) I'd touched a gun. It was ab SLR (FN FAL 7.62mm NATO). I wasn't holding it properly and the first recoil wacked my cheek bone hard. I developed severe gun shyness after that and never was a good shot.
The sergeant said the rifle would kill an elephant. I believed him.
I also had an issue with the M16. My dominant eye is my right eye, so I learned to shoot right-handed. However, when I joined the Marine Corps they noticed that I was left-handed and required me to learn how to shoot left-handed. They didn't care about a dominant eye, calling it "nonsense." As a result, the ejector port on the M16 ejects the hot casings directly into the face of left-handed shooters. It is not a pleasant experience. They have a deflector on the ejector port now, but that didn't exist in 1972.
Now with the prevalence of body armor and combat at longer distances like in the ME and Afghanistan, the 7.62mm is making a comeback.
After boot camp the firearm I was assigned was the M60E1 because I was the biggest guy in the platoon. I happen to agree with you, the 7.62mm is a better overall round than the 5.56mm. However, you have to remember that the goal was not to kill but rather to wound. The idea was that a wounded enemy would require more resources than a dead one.
I liked full auto after basic training but the rounds went everywhere - I transferred to a support branch after two years infantry
My MOS was 1391 (Bulkfuelman) and I was assigned to the Bulkfuel Company, 7th Engineer Battalion, 1st Field, Service, & Support, Group, 1st Marine Division. When we weren't training with the Navy SeaBees, they rented us out to the grunts as enemy target practice. Which I kind of liked actually. They had to follow all kinds of rules, but we were pretty much free to do as we pleased. Like sneak into their camp at night and steal their C-Rats.
Did you know that the M-16 was calibrated for 7.62mm for US troops based in Germany ?
The frame can be changed to suit just about any caliber. I bought an AR12 last year to replace my Mossberg Model 500 that had been my "camp gun." They even have them chambered for .50 cal. BMG:
YouTube
It is also my preferred caliber. I use a Springfield .3006 for caribou and a slightly more powerful Remington .300 Win. Mag. for moose. Every animal I've taken has been within 150 yards so I only use mechanical sights.
