The M14 rifle features prominently in the U.S. Marine boot camp scenes in the film. Once the Marines arrive in Vietnam they are issued M16s. It is with an M14 rifle locked and loaded with full metal jacketed 7.62x51mm NATO ammo that Pvt. Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio) uses on both Gunnery Sgt. Hartman (R. Lee Ermey) and himself.
The M16 rifle appears in the film as the standard-issue weapon of most of the US Marines in Vietnam. The film takes place during the Tet offensive in 1968, it would be technically accurate since the M16A1 rifle were introduced after 1967. Cowboy (Arliss Howard) has his M16 with two magazines taped together "jungle style", as this is where this practice originated prior to the introduction of higher-capacity 30-round magazines for the M16. During his encounter with the VC sniper, Pvt. Joker's rifle jams on him, something early M16's were notorious for due to poor maintenance habits and faulty ammunition.
The Doorgunner (Tim Colceri) on the helicopter that takes Joker (Matthew Modine) and Rafterman (Kevyn Major Howard) to join Pvt. Cowboy's (Arliss Howard) 1st Platoon repeatedly fires an M60 machine gun at random Vietnamese they pass. The M60 is also the weapon Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin) carries throughout the film. Pvt. Joker can also be seen firing an M60 when their base is attacked at the start of the Tet Offensive.
The VC sniper (Ngoc Le) that "wastes" Eightball (Dorian Harewood), Cowboy (Arliss Howard) and Doc Jay (Jon Stafford) is armed with a Czech made Sa vz 58. It should be also noted that the Sa vz 58 series rifles were commonly used by the Việt Cộng and the North Vietnamese Army alongside the more predominant AK-47 and SKS rifles; all used the Soviet 7.62x39mm round.
Crazy Earl carries a lever action Daisy Red Ryder BB gun in addition to his M-16 throughout the movie, as carried by his character in the book on which the film is based, The Short Timers,although we never see it closely:
Several Marines carry M67 hand grenades on their flak vests as well. An interesting note about this is that during the late-1960's (when the events of the film take place), the M67 was just starting to see use among frontline US military units, and beginning to phase out older designs such as the M26 hand grenade mentioned above.
