One of the photographs of a returning 5-American recon showed a slightly off-the-wall mix of weaponry. This will just go to prove how unconventional we really were. Three Americans were carrying standard full-length M16s. One American named McCoy had an early CAR with the 10 inch barrel and the ear-splitting short muzzle flash arrestor.

But the kicker was SGT Schimke and his .45 ACP Thompson.
From what I’ve heard, the Team Sergeant, Pete Morakon didn’t really think that was a very good idea. But there it was.

Archie Williamson
AKA “Charlie Brown”

Thanks for sharing your experiences with our readers! Information on the XM177 use and history is relatively lacking on the internet. It appears that the G&P XM177-E1 G&P currently produces also includes the forward assist (with teardrop shaped plunger) but no shell deflector. It also appears that they now have the ‘fence’ around the mag release and ejection port. Finding a perfect replica of the weapon you carried looks like it may be impossible without swapping a few of the gun’s external parts. Nonetheless, I and my co-editor Brandon really appreciate your comments!

Best Regards
MikeG

Our E1′s did have the forward assist (I never had to use it)as well as the deflecter. We never recieved any 30 round magazines ( SOG imported theirs from the States ), and never loaded the 20 round mag to full capacity, usually loading only 18 rounds.

A little extra trivia: I usually carried the weapon with the stock completly collapsed, because of all the vines and tight spaces we had to wiggle through. That was fine, but under stress ( like being suddenly confronted by a VC at 10 feet ), the weapon came to my shoulder before I even had time to pull the stock out. Kind of like an adult jumping on a kids tricycle.
And, the recon teams of SOG often carried the weapon loaded with all tracer (instead of every 5th round). So when confronted by a superior force of NVA (typical) their first burst of fire had the effect of being fired on by 5 CARs instead of just one.
AS far as malfunctions, any problems usually were usually the magazine. So all magazines carried on operation were tested ahead of time. If there was any glitch, the mag was put aside, not used. Personally, I never had any malfunction of any kind with the CAR.

My congratulations to G&P for making a CAR I can handle, or just hang on the wall. An E1 with the FA and deflector would be absolutely perfect, but I’ll just hang their E1 up with the left side showing.
Archie Williamson
XO, A-108 Minh Long
Jun 68-Jun 69