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Honestly I'm surprised that a military ordinance page is so clean and straight forward. It also feels a little strange to see marketing material for military we

Honestly I'm surprised that a military ordinance page is so clean and straight forward. It also feels a little strange to see marketing material for military weapons.

nogbit 8y ago
Surprised? You shouldn't be, it's a big business/industry and it's legal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companies_by_arms_sales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companies_by_arms_sales
AWildC182 8y ago
You'd be surprised how much stuff you can find. Google just about any weapons system using the right terminology and you'll be greeted with brochures and high level datasheets galore.
samstave 8y ago
In ~1992/93 I lived in Reno Nevada. Around the corner from my house was a gun store, owned by this Chinese guy. I liked guns and military stuff (my brother is Colonel in USAF) and so I would go in there quite frequently. And I was on friendly terms with the owner... He had a huge cannon that you could pay him $500 to drive out into the desert and shoot [0] I was 17, it was early 90s and Nevada. He had just imported two shipping containers of new (mfr date 1968) Chinese made SKS rifles and was having a special on them, $99. I bought one - and was talking to the guy and he pulled out a three ring binder and said "want to see what that can do?" And he opened it up and he had effectively a catalog of pictures of the fatal wounds various weapon rounds would cause. (pictures of dead people) I was deeply disturbed. I never went back in there... (He also offered to sell me claymore mines which he had up on the top shelf all around the store... [THIS SIDE TOWARD ENEMY]) [0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/61-K_Automatic_Anti-Air_Cannon.JPG https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/61-K_Aut...
- gcb0 8y ago
  what's your expectations from guns exactly then?
  - samstave 8y ago
    I didnt mean it like that - I enjoy guns, and knowing how to use them, be safe with them etc... But pre-internet, actual printed out physical pictures which were developed in a 3-ring binder to a 17-year-old in 1992 was a disturbing dose of reality.
    - faces_of_death 8y ago
      I dunno. I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing. This kind of stuff has always been around, even pre-internet. Granted, high school kids in the 90’s enjoyed a bit more shelter, but it was also the heyday of hardcore punk and death metal, and I had tons of friends who reveled in repugnant underground media, especially the rarities that only boutique city shops could supply.
  - CydeWeys 8y ago
    The vast, overwhelming majority of guns in the US are bought for target shooting or hunting, and will never be fired at a human target. So I can totally see feeling blindsided by this.
    - gcb0 8y ago
      ironically how there are guns designed exactly for target shooting, for example, the models used by Olympic shooters are even cheaper than some rifles, yet all the people with a gun hobby will promptly ignore those and buy the ones specifically designed to kill people instead, while claiming the killing purpose of gun means nothing to them. sounds like the reasoning of someone buying a yellow hummer because they need a minivan.
      - CydeWeys 8y ago
        To use the car analogy, a lot of people buy cars that are fun to drive. They aren't buying said cars to run people over with.
- c22 8y ago
  This reminds me of the time I stopped in a knife store off the highway while on a road trip in perhaps Arizona or New Mexico. The shopkeeper approached me and asked if there was anything he could help me find. I jokingly said something like "whattya got that can kill a man?" Without missing a beat and completely deadpan he said, "Oh, you'll want to look at these over here," while leading me to a large case of butterfly knives. I couldn't tell if he was playing along with my joke or not, kinda spooked me.
RankingMember 8y ago
I was almost expecting to scroll down and see product reviews.
robodale 8y ago
"Tired of Sticky Infantry Concentrations Clogging The Movement of Your M1 Abrams Tank?"
- smacktoward 8y ago
  TANK COMMANDER (looking exasperated): “There’s Got to Be a Better Way!”
  - moron4hire 8y ago
    (opens a wooden cabinet inside the tank and a bunch of miniature soldiers, too many to fit in the cabinet, fall out on his face)
nate_meurer 8y ago
Check out the big weapons expos like IDEX in Abu Dhabi, or SOFEX in Jordan. Full of glitzy polished consumer-oriented display booths showing off the most advanced and modern ways to kill people and fuck shit up. Watch high-level military officials and politicians from despotic oil-world countries shopping for weapons like suburban husbands shopping for patio furniture at a home and garden show. Displays and sales pitches tuned to key in on bogey-men-du-jour. Worried by Iraninan-sponsored insurgency? We've got Just. The. Thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL_3Qg-SADY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL_3Qg-SADY https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdjypy/sofex-the-business-of-war-part-1 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdjypy/sofex-the-business...
- secfirstmd 8y ago
  True. I've been to a few and its surreal. The other weird site that is how much money is spent on crap, that's clearly crap. Even with my fairly limited military experience, it's easy to walk around a show and see so much expensive junk you know that a government will pay waaayy too much money for and some soldier will get stung with. Everything from cheaply made webbing that would fall apart in seconds, CBRN kit I wouldn't wear to a pub incase Guinness farts accidentally dissolved it, useless ballistic protection, overly elaborate radio systems that don't work, good awful weapons that jam even completely clean w/o rounds in them testing at a show...you name it. So much military crapware out there
  - nate_meurer 8y ago
    LOL, fascinating. Normally I frown on scammy purveyors of overpriced shit, but in this case I'm all in favor of it.
twic 8y ago
Perhaps you will enjoy this infomercial for the Bofors 3P round: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wewaCdSW4yc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wewaCdSW4yc
mikeash 8y ago
Ride the DC Metro, especially around the Pentagon, and you’ll see lots of ads for various military hardware. It’s always a bit surreal seeing a poster advertising a stealth destroyer or a fighter jet.

Honestly I'm surprised that a military ordinance page is so clean and straight forward. It also feels a little strange to see marketing material for military weapons.

nogbit 8y ago

Surprised? You shouldn't be, it's a big business/industry and it's legal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companies_by_arms_sales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companies_by_arms_sales

AWildC182 8y ago

You'd be surprised how much stuff you can find. Google just about any weapons system using the right terminology and you'll be greeted with brochures and high level datasheets galore.

samstave 8y ago

In ~1992/93 I lived in Reno Nevada. Around the corner from my house was a gun store, owned by this Chinese guy. I liked guns and military stuff (my brother is Colonel in USAF) and so I would go in there quite frequently. And I was on friendly terms with the owner... He had a huge cannon that you could pay him $500 to drive out into the desert and shoot [0] I was 17, it was early 90s and Nevada. He had just imported two shipping containers of new (mfr date 1968) Chinese made SKS rifles and was having a special on them, $99. I bought one - and was talking to the guy and he pulled out a three ring binder and said "want to see what that can do?" And he opened it up and he had effectively a catalog of pictures of the fatal wounds various weapon rounds would cause. (pictures of dead people) I was deeply disturbed. I never went back in there... (He also offered to sell me claymore mines which he had up on the top shelf all around the store... [THIS SIDE TOWARD ENEMY]) [0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/61-K_Automatic_Anti-Air_Cannon.JPG https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/61-K_Aut...

gcb0 8y ago
what's your expectations from guns exactly then?
- samstave 8y ago
  I didnt mean it like that - I enjoy guns, and knowing how to use them, be safe with them etc... But pre-internet, actual printed out physical pictures which were developed in a 3-ring binder to a 17-year-old in 1992 was a disturbing dose of reality.
  - faces_of_death 8y ago
    I dunno. I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing. This kind of stuff has always been around, even pre-internet. Granted, high school kids in the 90’s enjoyed a bit more shelter, but it was also the heyday of hardcore punk and death metal, and I had tons of friends who reveled in repugnant underground media, especially the rarities that only boutique city shops could supply.
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  The vast, overwhelming majority of guns in the US are bought for target shooting or hunting, and will never be fired at a human target. So I can totally see feeling blindsided by this.
  - gcb0 8y ago
    ironically how there are guns designed exactly for target shooting, for example, the models used by Olympic shooters are even cheaper than some rifles, yet all the people with a gun hobby will promptly ignore those and buy the ones specifically designed to kill people instead, while claiming the killing purpose of gun means nothing to them. sounds like the reasoning of someone buying a yellow hummer because they need a minivan.
    - CydeWeys 8y ago
      To use the car analogy, a lot of people buy cars that are fun to drive. They aren't buying said cars to run people over with.
c22 8y ago
This reminds me of the time I stopped in a knife store off the highway while on a road trip in perhaps Arizona or New Mexico. The shopkeeper approached me and asked if there was anything he could help me find. I jokingly said something like "whattya got that can kill a man?" Without missing a beat and completely deadpan he said, "Oh, you'll want to look at these over here," while leading me to a large case of butterfly knives. I couldn't tell if he was playing along with my joke or not, kinda spooked me.

RankingMember 8y ago

I was almost expecting to scroll down and see product reviews.

robodale 8y ago

"Tired of Sticky Infantry Concentrations Clogging The Movement of Your M1 Abrams Tank?"

smacktoward 8y ago
TANK COMMANDER (looking exasperated): “There’s Got to Be a Better Way!”
- moron4hire 8y ago
  (opens a wooden cabinet inside the tank and a bunch of miniature soldiers, too many to fit in the cabinet, fall out on his face)

nate_meurer 8y ago

Check out the big weapons expos like IDEX in Abu Dhabi, or SOFEX in Jordan. Full of glitzy polished consumer-oriented display booths showing off the most advanced and modern ways to kill people and fuck shit up. Watch high-level military officials and politicians from despotic oil-world countries shopping for weapons like suburban husbands shopping for patio furniture at a home and garden show. Displays and sales pitches tuned to key in on bogey-men-du-jour. Worried by Iraninan-sponsored insurgency? We've got Just. The. Thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL_3Qg-SADY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL_3Qg-SADY https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdjypy/sofex-the-business-of-war-part-1 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdjypy/sofex-the-business...

secfirstmd 8y ago
True. I've been to a few and its surreal. The other weird site that is how much money is spent on crap, that's clearly crap. Even with my fairly limited military experience, it's easy to walk around a show and see so much expensive junk you know that a government will pay waaayy too much money for and some soldier will get stung with. Everything from cheaply made webbing that would fall apart in seconds, CBRN kit I wouldn't wear to a pub incase Guinness farts accidentally dissolved it, useless ballistic protection, overly elaborate radio systems that don't work, good awful weapons that jam even completely clean w/o rounds in them testing at a show...you name it. So much military crapware out there
- nate_meurer 8y ago
  LOL, fascinating. Normally I frown on scammy purveyors of overpriced shit, but in this case I'm all in favor of it.

twic 8y ago

Perhaps you will enjoy this infomercial for the Bofors 3P round: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wewaCdSW4yc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wewaCdSW4yc

mikeash 8y ago

Ride the DC Metro, especially around the Pentagon, and you’ll see lots of ads for various military hardware. It’s always a bit surreal seeing a poster advertising a stealth destroyer or a fighter jet.