The XM16E1 assault rifle are used by the soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division including Lt. Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson), First Lieutenent Charlie Hastings (Robert Bagnell), Second Lieutenent Jack Geoghegan (Chris Klein), Sergeant Ernie Savage (Ryan Hurst) and most United States Army soldiers. Later on the film during the Ia Drang battle Joe Galloway (Barry Pepper) uses one as well. These were actual XM16E1's used on the film for the heroes.
A Korean war era M1 Carbine is carried by the South Vietnamese (ARVN) advisor dressed in Tigerstripe fatigues. He appears in the scene in which the NVA scout is caught and interrogated. Viet Minh soldiers also use them against the french during the intro.
A Colt M1911 is used by Command Sergeant Major Basil Plumley (Sam Elliott) as his main weapon since he prefers the .45 to the XM16E1, which he calls a "Piece of Plastic". It is anochristic to see the first model of the M1911 being used by Plumley since the M1911 was replaced in 1924 by the improved M1911A1 which was the sidearm of the US Military in the Vietnam War, World War 2 and the Korean War. It could be that the M1911 was used to make Plumley more "Badass". As if a Sergeant Major that fought against a entire regiment of heavily armed NVA and a Vietcong Battalion armed only with an M1911A1 was not badass enough.
Various US soldiers can be seen carrying M79 grenade launchers in a few scenes. Specialist Galen Bungum(Blake Heron) uses one since he is the grenadier of Sergeant Savage's squad.
The .38 caliber revolver pulled out by Maj. Bruce "Snake Shit" Crandall (Greg Kinnear) is most likely a Smith & Wesson M-13 Aircrewman, an unsuccessful lightweight aluminium-cylindered revolver designed for US military flyers. This was part of a generally badly thought-out push to make things from aluminium in the 1960s, also resulting in the M551 Sheridan's lightweight aluminium armour which could be penetrated by machine gun fire and a number of disasterous fires on warships with aluminium superstructures.
A pair each of GE M134 Miniguns are seen mounted on the gunship Hueys that rip apart PAVN soldiers at the climax of the film, and one is also on display on a table near the beginning of the movie.
As the American soldiers are heading off for battle you can see a South Vietnamese soldier holding up an M1928A1 Thompson with a 20-round magazine.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingM1928A1 Thompson .45 ACP with 30-round box magazine.Error creating thumbnail: File missingHooray! The American troops and a ARVN soldier with a M1928A1 Thompson cheer the rest of the 1st Cavalry when they go to the Ia Drang Valley to chew bubblegum and kick ass. They're out of one, but they're fine for the other as long as Mel is with them.
Browning M1919A4
Two Browning M1919A4s can be seen mounted on French jeeps on the intro sequence.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingA variant of the Browning M1919 developed during World War 2, this model is designated the M37, with the ability to feed from either the left or the right of the weapon - 30-06. This example is shown without a tripod, only the pintle mount. This the MOST likely .30 cal machine gun to be seen firing from armored vehicles.File:Vlcsnap-30185.jpgA french soldier fires the Browning M1919A4 at Viet Minh forces.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Browning M1919A4 can be seen mounted on the jeep on the left.
MAT-49
Various French Soldiers use MAT-49 submachine guns during the opening Scene. Various North Vietnam soldiers and Vietcong soldiers use them during the rest of the movie, probably scavenged from French and South Vietnamise troops during the Indochina war.
A Viet Minh soldier during the intro sequence and a Vietcong soldier later on can be seen using Karabiner 98k rifles.
It should be noted that acording to one of the Armorers of the film, Steve Karnes, the Kar98ks used in the movie came from Israel and were chambered to 7.62mm NATO.
A Viet Minh soldier uses a varient of the M1 Bazooka, the M1A1 Bazooka with one forward grip and a modified rear sight to destroy a French jeep during the intro sequence.
While it seems that a Viet Minh soldier using a Bazooka could be a anachronism, the French army widely used the M1A1, M9A1, and M20 bazookas during the Indochina War. The Viet Minh widely used scavanged French weapons during the Indochina War, and the PAVN and Vietcong also widely used them during the Vietnam War.
During the scene where the men of the 1st Cavalry division perform a bayonet charge against a NVA position(which actually didn't happen in real life) a small crew of PAVN soldiers man a DP-28, a varient of the Soviet Degtyarev light machine gun.
An ZB26 is used by a Viet Minh machine gunner during the intro sequence in the Indochina War. Acording to Steve Karnes, The Movie's Armourer, the ZB26 used in the movie was sold to the Chinese and converted to 7.62x39 later in it's life. It also has Chinese Characters on the side of the receiver.
When the American Soldiers charge the NVA position, a two man crew of NVA soldiers man an MG34 Light Machine Gun before they get killed by the Huey Helicopters. One NVA soldier also mans another MG34 in the same scene.
During the Intro of the Movie set during the Indochina War, a French Officer uses his Siderarm, a Browning Hi-Power pistol, to kill several Viet Minh soldiers before being killed himself.
The use of the Browning Hi-Power pistol by the French Army in the movie is a error. The Armourers couln't get French MAB pistols and since Hi-Powers were at the region the Armourers used those Hi-Powers instead.
