I hope you both beat eachother...Off.

'Cause you're both idiots.

Unless your doll (or doll maker) was actually in Mogadishu to witness it, I'll take the word of the encyclopedia link...

Advice given as per a doll accessory ... everytime I think I've heard and seen it all another gem pops up :)

And I'm going to take the word of Mark Bowden and the inteviewed soldiers that were there

They probally refered to it as an m14 just because its simpler to say it that way. They are correct in a way, it is a m14 at its core, but the "sniper" classification is an m21, and the updated version with the new stock is called a m25. So no one is really wrong, and m25 is a type of m14.

But it's not totally unthinkable that it was an M14 being used (IRL); there are, to this day, M14s in Navy SEAL inventory, and probably in other SF inventories as well.

A National Match M14, or otherwise accurized rifle, would do nicely in the hands of a proficient marksman (keeping in mind, in this scenario, they're shooting man-sized targets at a few hundred meters).

And one last advantage the M14 would have in this case is they were originally capable of selective fire, whereas the M21/M25 were not.

So my original question still stands (and I doubt it can be answered).

In the book they mention that Shugart was packing an M-14 and that the rest of the operators made fun of him for using an "antique". Later it became apparent to some of them that he was probably one of the smarter guys because his weapon had greater stopping power compared to the 5.56 ammo everyone else was using. So it probably was an M14 unless the guys had just reffered to it as such by accident.

It was, infact an M14.

Mark Bowden ran a series of news publications before actually writing BHD about the conflict in Mogadisu. They contained alot of 'raw' interviews with the Soldiers. Never once was Stugarts weapon refered to as anything but an M14, by anyone.

Just as a quick question, how exactly do you spell Shughart/Shugart's last name.

I assumed the way I put it was right, but now I see an extra H, and different publications sometimes run different spellings.

For the record, in the movie he has an aimpoint on a brookfield mount. Good luck ever finding the mount. Not sure if that was factual, but they had very good consulting for that movie. And it was Shughart, not Gordon, that carried it (at least that day). Also, it's spelled Shughart... http://www.medalofhonor.com/Somalia.htm

M14/21/25, it doesn't matter, they are all essentially the same gun, just differing levels of pimping/parts. You will never find out *for sure* off of the internet, no matter how long you look -so I'm going to go with Bowden too... also, back to the flick -the 21 and 25 have adjustable cheekrests, which the movie m14 didn't seem to have...
http://www3.telus.net/nashorn/bhd1.jpg

m-21 is simply an m-14 with a scope attached to it....thats it.

Look at it this way, regardless of whether it is an m14/21/25, it is most definitely NOT a "light fifty" (M82)

i remember from reading the book, it was a modified M14 from what i remember :tup:

Yeah guys lets put this one to rest, if your so interested go buy the book....

what the movie may have shown is not always what he used in real life, and unless anyone has hard evidence or knows someone that seen Shugart that day(which i doubt)
then we dont know,
but in the movie i beleive it was a m14, becuase in the special features it shows everyone training and i think he said what gun he used, so if anyone has the dvd then watch the special features and see what its is