Dodging hot brass

Factual Questions
1

For you soldier types…
How would two men share a foxhole or trench so that the brass ejecting from the gun on the left didn’t launch straight into the man on the right?

2

I was in the US Army, and although I dug a few foxholes, I never fired from one. I think it wouldn’t be too difficult to avoid the brass. The second soldier’s face is the only exposed skin, so moving a little left or right could probably take care of it. Having said that, IMHO, when firing in anger from a foxhole, hot brass on your face is a minor concern.

3

IANAST, but the newer versions of the M-16 (and an heap of the AR semi-auto variants) have a small bump cast into the receiver right behind the ejection port that is supposed to bounce the brass forward. Having only shot at targets, hot brass down the collar is a darned annoying thing, but in combat, them other guys that are shooting at you would probably be much more annoying.

4

I thought it said dodging hot bras.

Guess I’ll go get dressed again…

5

I’m sure there’s more to worry about, but I figured there’d be some tactics devised so that you wouldn’t have that distraction…

6

You have to remember that the soldier on the right has his back to the other soldier, assuming he’s righthanded. I have fired from a foxhole with another soldier, I was on the right, and while his brass bouncing off my back was distracting (this was in basic, not combat), it wasn’t a problem.

7
      • (Flashing back to the scene in “The Gods Must Be Crazy”)- “-Cut eet out mon!” - MC
8

This is my experience as well, although with other weapons (H&K G3 and Husquarna submachineguns.) Actually, some G3s do have the problem mentioned, so in Denmark an additional screen is sometimes added over the ejection port.

I have had hot brass caught in my sleeves and sliding down my forearms, notoriusly bad for the concentration.

S. Norman

9

I’m left-handed, and fire that way. I almost invariably burned myself firing the M-16 and M-16A2 by having that damned hot brass get caught in my sleeve. OUCH!

For the lefties, the army supplied so-called “brass deflectors” to prevent this from happening. This snapped onto the weapon where the brass was discharged, and was WORSE – it would generally deflect the brass back into my face!