Mad minute: Difference between revisions
Reflinks: Converting bare references |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
'''Mad minute''' was a pre-[[World War |
'''Mad minute''' was a pre-[[World War II]] term used by British riflemen during training to describe scoring 15 hits onto a 12" round target at 300 yd (274.3 m) within one minute using a bolt-action rifle (usually a [[Lee-Enfield]] or [[Lee-Metford]] rifle). It was not uncommon during the Great War for riflemen to greatly exceed this score. Many riflemen could average 30+ shots, while the record, set in 1914 by Sergeant Instructor Alfred Snoxall was 38 hits.<ref>Ian V. Hogg, ''The Encyclopaedia of Weaponry'', Sterling Publishing, New York 2006.</ref> It was rumoured that a company of assaulting German soldiers reported that they had faced machine gun fire, while in fact it was a rifle squad of ten men firing at this rate. Annually, a group of British owners meet for a mad minute competition.{{citation needed|date=April 2011}} |
||
In the [[Vietnam War]], the term was used to describe a drill involving intense automatic weapons fire, intended to flush out infiltrators or ambushes.<ref>[http://www.mindef.gov.sg/safti/pointer/back/journals/1998/Vol24_3/2.htm V24N3 - Battlefield Innovation<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
In the [[Vietnam War]], the term was used to describe a drill involving intense automatic weapons fire, intended to flush out infiltrators or ambushes.<ref>[http://www.mindef.gov.sg/safti/pointer/back/journals/1998/Vol24_3/2.htm V24N3 - Battlefield Innovation<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
||
Revision as of 00:31, 11 August 2012
Mad minute was a pre-World War II term used by British riflemen during training to describe scoring 15 hits onto a 12" round target at 300 yd (274.3 m) within one minute using a bolt-action rifle (usually a Lee-Enfield or Lee-Metford rifle). It was not uncommon during the Great War for riflemen to greatly exceed this score. Many riflemen could average 30+ shots, while the record, set in 1914 by Sergeant Instructor Alfred Snoxall was 38 hits.[1] It was rumoured that a company of assaulting German soldiers reported that they had faced machine gun fire, while in fact it was a rifle squad of ten men firing at this rate. Annually, a group of British owners meet for a mad minute competition.[citation needed]
In the Vietnam War, the term was used to describe a drill involving intense automatic weapons fire, intended to flush out infiltrators or ambushes.[2]
"Mad Minute" has remained in military parlance as a term to describe any short period of intense weapons fire.[3]
References
- ^ Ian V. Hogg, The Encyclopaedia of Weaponry, Sterling Publishing, New York 2006.
- ^ V24N3 - Battlefield Innovation
- ^ http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA194507&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
 | This military-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |