Gun questions

Question
Hi Charles

I asked you a couple of questions last night about guns and was given a prompt response saying you "don't answer homework questions". While I admire that stance and appreciate the quickness of your reply, I can assure you that as a 25 year-old man who hasn't set foot inside a school for the past seven years, homework is the least of my worries! :-)

The questions I had were genuine questions, which arose during a conversation a friend and I had at a bar. I assure you they're not homework questions (I don't know which subject at school would be teaching how many bullets a gun can hold!).

Here are the questions again, in case you accept the misunderstanding and wish to try answering them.

1) Some handguns hold six bullets, others hold different numbers, but which gun would you say can fire the most bullets before needing to be reloaded? In other words, what's the highest capacity of a magazine and how many bullets does it hold?

2) In World War I and II, how easy was it for soldiers to check how many bullets were still loaded in their gun? Was there an easy way for them to count their ammunition?

Many thanks again,

Chris

Answer
Hello Chris. Yes, I can answer these questions. However, my purpose as an expert is to help identify different firearms and give background history on them. There were so many firearms used during WWI and WWII.The Germans both in WWI and WWII used bolt-action rifles and double-action revolvers as well as simi-auto pistols. The United States used and manufactured several different bolt-action rifles in bolt wars. With the outbreak of WWII, they used an abundant supply of simi-auto rifles,shotguns and pistols. The Allied Forces also were either supplied or manufactured there own firearms for the war. Now, here is the answer to your question of 'How did they know they were low on ammo in any given firearm during battle?' Is this correct? If so, the answer would be when the last round was fired, the action would remain open on the last round. Some individuals may have been able to count as they fired so as to reload or be ready to reload when the assault stopped or as they found themselves clicking an empty gun. Bayonets found there way into infamy during both wars just for this reason. Empty your firearm and reload with a fresh(filled) magazine or stripper clip.Highest capacity of a magazine? Thompson(TommieGun) magines could hold up to 50 rounds of .45 ACP cartridges. This firearm was used extensively in both wars. The Browning BAR .30-06 caliber could be fed from a clip or belt fed. Some belts were several yards long. How many rounds? Approximately 300 to a belt.
 My Unit in Nam saw one firefight during the 2years 9 months 14 days I was there. We carried 6- 30 round clips 5.56mm(223 cal.) each among other items. When you are just lying on the ground and firing short bursts every 15 -30 seconds, I personally did not count my rounds, but my clips. The fighting ended as sudden as it started and I still had 2 clips and possibly(I really don't remember) half a clip.
 I came home with such severe depression that I was given a medical discharge. No medals. Just medication for the rest of my life. Try it sometime. You might like it.
 I hope this time your questions were answered. I will gladly offer my expert information to you in the future, but only on matters as I mentioned in my opening of this e-mail. Charles Gage