Rambo: First Blood Part II is the 1985 sequel to 1982's First Blood. Sylvester Stallone returns as John Rambo, the former Green Beret who is given the opportunity for a Presidential pardon if he accepts a mission to confirm the existence of American POW's captured during the Vietnam War. The film proved to be a massive blockbuster and launched the character of Rambo into the popular culture. Directed by George P. Cosmatos, the film also starred Richard Crenna.
The following weapons were used in the film Rambo: First Blood Part II:
The M60E3 is the main weapon wielded by John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in the film. It is first seen being fired by a Soviet door gunner after their UH-1 dropped napalm on the waterfall where Rambo was fleeing. When using the machine gun, Rambo wraps the ammo belt around his left forearm in order to ensure a proper feed. When Rambo lands the chopper at the CIA base, h picks up the M60E3 machine gun from the chopper door and empties it in the command center to destroy all the high tech equipment and scare Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier). The E3 model was not introduced until the 1980's, making it unlikely that this machine gun was a holdover from the Vietnam War.
CIA operator Banks (Andy Wood) mans the M60 machine gun with the bipod removed door-mounted on the Huey sent to pick up Rambo. He is seen providing covering fire with it in the rescue mission to retrieve Rambo.
An opposing Vietnamese gunboat begins to blow apart the gunboat Rambo is on with dual mounted Browning M3 anti-aircraft .50 caliber guns, noted by their perforated barrel shrouds.
When Rambo and the POWs escape the camp in their captured UH-1, Lt. Col. Podovsky (Steven Berkoff) chases them down in his Mil Mi-24 Hind-D (which in reality was the modified French Aerospatiale Puma first seen in Red Dawn). The door gunners on his Hind begin firing at Rambo with their M60D machine guns mocked up with semi-similar muzzle brakes and spade grips to resemble the aircraft model DShK heavy machine gun
Mounted on the right side of the UH-1 is a GE M134 minigun which is electrically fired by Rambo at the controls when he strafes the POW camp and is then manned by one of the POWs, who manages to kill a Soviet Hind door gunner with it.
The weapon issued to John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) by his CIA controllers is a "faux" Heckler & Koch MP5A3, actually a 'chopped-and-converted' Heckler & Koch HK94A3 standing in for the MP5A3. He loses the weapon when he is forced to cut away his equipment when his parachute rigging gets caught up during insertion. When he is first seen loading it up, it is fitted with a 3x scope, but when he prepares for the drop, it appears to have been removed. Note that the HK94 in the film features the "slimline" handguard, rather than the more commonly seen "tropical" handguard.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe "Fake MP5", the Heckler & Koch HK94A3 Converted to full auto fire, shortened barrel and added third firing position on trigger pack - 9x19mm. This version was used in many films during the 1980s and 1990s. This weapon features the "tropical" (wide) forearm.Error creating thumbnail: File missingActual Heckler & Koch MP5A3 with original "slimline" forearm - 9x19mm, shown for comparison (Note barrel lugs, polymer lower reciever and paddle mag release).Error creating thumbnail: File missingRambo loads 9x19mm rounds into the magazine, which are clearly fired dummy rounds.Error creating thumbnail: File missingRambo loads the "MP5A3" (Actually a HK94A3 with barrel cut down), which is fitted with a 3x scope.Error creating thumbnail: File missingRambo looks through the scope of the H&K.Error creating thumbnail: File missingRambo prepares for the drop with the H&K in hand.Error creating thumbnail: File missingRambo tightly grasps his HK94A3 (you can clearly see the lack of a barrel lug in this picture, identifying it as an HK94).
Ingram MAC-10
When Co Bao (Julia Nickson-Soul) disguises herself as a prostitute to save Rambo, she uses a MAC-10 with a mock-suppressor to fend off the Vietnamese troops.
After his insertion back into Vietnam, Rambo meets up with indigenous agent Co Bao (Julia Nickson-Soul) who is armed with an AKM. Rambo later picks up a few AKMs throughout the film to dispatch several Vietnamese and Soviet soldiers. Vietnamese and Soviet troops are widely seen armed with AKMs as well. As in most Hollywood movies, the AKMs in the film are all Egyptian Maadi ARM copies of the original Soviet AKM (much like in Red Dawn). By the time of the film's setting, the Soviets were using the AK-74, not the anachronistic AKM.
One of the Soviet soldiers is seen with a genuine AK-47, likely a Poly Tech Legend AK-47 rifle, although this may have to be confirmed due to sketchy time era.
A Vietnamese pirate is seen armed with an Valmet M78/83 rifle in a tree. The M78/83 differs from the original M78 in that the clubfoot "RPK-style" butt-stock was replaced with a factory Dragunov-style thumb-hole stock. These were seen unaltered in the films Commando and Predator. At least one Vietnamese soldier is seen with one of these when chasing Rambo later on in the film.
A Vietnamese river pirate is seen armed with an Heckler & Koch HK93A2 rifle while watching from a tree. It is far more likely to be an HK93 over an HK33 because Stembridge gun rentals had many in stock at the time and they were easier to acquire over the selective fire HK33 variant.
Seen as the sidearms of all the Vietnamese officers is the Zastava M57, the Yugoslavian copy of the Soviet Tokarev TT-33, which was in short supply at the time. The Chinese Norinco Type 54 would be more accurate for them to use for the film, which would be noted by a frame mounted safety switch (which these all lack).
CIA operator Banks (Andy Wood) pulls out a SIG-Sauer P226 pistol and holds it to Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) when he tries to stop the chopper from leaving Rambo. It is noted as a P226 by its double stack creases on the frame. The P226 was a brand-new pistol on the American firearms market in 1984-85, when the film was made, so it is likely that Rambo: First Blood Part II is the very first movie to feature this gun (it was previously stated on IMFDb's RoboCop page that RoboCop was likely the first movie to feature a P226).
A Vietnamese pirate can be seen wielding a Remington 870 shotgun with a wooden for-end, extended magazine tube, and folding stock. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) fires a few rounds at the pirates with the shotgun.
The prison guards who oversee Rambo at the beginning of the film are armed with what appear to be Remington Model 31 shotguns. It's also possible that these are Winchester shotguns.
Rambo disposes of an enemy boat by pulling a fake RPG-7 (which appears like the armorers of Red Dawn, who did this film, brought it with them from that film, albeit more convincingly dressed up) out from under a compartment in the gun boat. In promotional material for the film such as the poster above, the RPG-7 is shown with a PGO-7 scope, yet only has iron sights in the film.
When Rambo crashes his chopper, Podovsky's Hind flies over to confirm the crash. Rambo plays dead until the Hind is in range, then fires (with the safety on) an M72 LAW launcher through the windshield and blows them up. It should be noted that the powerful back blast of the LAW would have likely killed or wounded all the POWs in the back of the chopper.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingRambo readies the M72 LAW.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe shot of Rambo pulling the trigger on the RPG is hilariously reused to show him fire the LAW, despite the entirely different shape and mechanism. (If you can tell, this is a shot of him firing the RPG-7 at the pirates earlier in the movie, not the LAW.)Error creating thumbnail: File missingRambo fires the LAW through the hole in the windshield and takes out the "Hind".
Rambo's Survival Knife
While not a gun, we let Rambo's knife stay because, well, he's Rambo and his knife completes him. Like in the original First Blood, Knife-smith Jimmy Lile was asked by Stallone to design a knife for the movie.
Another non-firearm Rambo gets away with, his Hoyt Archery compound bow which has been well know as the "Torque Bow" because of the high explosive arrow tips he looses from it.
When Rambo, Co Bao, and the POW run through the rice paddy field, Vietnamese soldiers drop 81mm M29 Mortars across the field at them but don't score a hit.
The Soviet uniforms are American-style 'Duck Hunter' fatigues (dyed blue to resemble Soviet uniforms). Also - due to service patches Soviet soldiers are meant to be from VDV (Airborne troops corps), but they incorrectly wear black berets (the VDV uses blue-colored berets). Also the VDV shoulder patches are not 'trimmed' prior to sewing onto the sleeves.
Mil Mi-24 Hind
The "Mil-24" is an Aerospatiale Puma originally modified for the movie Red Dawn, but the mock front ends built for Red Dawn were removed (primarily because they hindered pilot vision and rendered the aircraft difficult to fly.) The Wings and rocket pods were maintained, however since they did not affect the aerodynamics of the helicopter.
The helicopter flown by the Russians as well as Rambo appears to be a late model Bell UH-1 Huey. In the context of the film, this was most likely supposed to be a South Vietnamese leftover from the war (due to the VPA making use of former ARVN weapons and vehicles after the Fall of Saigon in 1975) on loan to the Soviets). However, this particular model appears to be one that was not introduced until after the war. The Huey in the film is armed with an M60E3 door gun, an M134 minigun, and dual rocket pods.
