compass question

L

lc609

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Jan 14, 1999
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In Immediate Action, the Prequel to Bravo Two Zero, Andy McNab describes taping a (presumably)sylvia type compass to the stock of his M-16, with tape covering the face, so he just turns the rifle flat and takes a bearing.

I have a copy of FM 21-26, and it recommends keeping your compass 1 meter away from your rifle during use (of the compass), to prevent accuracy problems. Many people just sling their rifle when takeing a bearing. That is not usually a meter's distance between the rifle and the compass.

couple of thoughts about this:

1. Technique is BS, but the book has lots of other good fieldcraft in it.

2. The metal in the rife will pull the needle a predicitable nuber of degrees from mag north, allowing the user to make adjustments.

3. The technique works.

Please tell me what you all think of this stuff and which of these three thoughts is accurate.

thanks

pat
 
Good question!
And I don't know the answer.

But I think if you are shooting an azimuth to obtain a direction of travel according to your map, then you should get some distance between any ferrous metal and your compass.

But if you are shooting an azimuth from terrain-feature to terrain-feature, I don't think the rifle would be a problem.
Try it and let us know.

Good luck,
Allen.
 
heat and the presence of other ferrous metals will affect magnetism. i think that the presence of such a large ferrous object would throw off the compass no matter what. The heat form the rifle (depending on how close to the action or barrel you have it) would also add another variable to your bearing.

i tend to think that keeping the compass on or near it would be a bad idea....

toast


------------------
"One must practice ceaselessly." -Miyamoto Musashi
 
I am no expert, but I would tend to believe that the compass would be affected by being taped to the rifle.

Regarding techniques, mine is to carry the compass in the left breast pocket (I'm right handed), attatched by a lanyard to the pockets' buttonhole. This is the normal "just walking around" mode.

When I leave on patrol my compass comes out of the pocket but the lanyard remains attatched. I shoot my bearing one handed using the lanyard tention between button hole and compass for stability.

Between uses I simply tuck the compass down the neck hole of my shirt. That way I simply pull on the lanyard and the compass slides up into my hand, ready for use. With practice, this move becomes very quick.

While shooting the bearing, the rifle is held one handed, but I use a patrol sling (similar to GSG-9 sling) that adds some stability.

An advantage of this is that you never have to look down at your compass. Instead, your head is up throughout and you have good situational awareness.

Just my ramblings!
 
Here is the text:

"The slings had disappeared long ago from the 7.62mm Galils, following our example. The sling swivels had also been taken off or taped down; they were designed to move, and therefore they made noise. Every man had four or five meters of paracord, so if we had to do any river crossings, they could tie thier weapon securely. As a navagation aid, I had taped a Silvia onto the stock of my weapon [I think later on he said he had an Armalite, or m-16],with the big arrow covered up to avoid a fearsome luminous object moving through the jungle. If I was moving forward as a lead scout, I knew the rough bearing I wanted to go on, and the compass supplied an instant reference. As the patrol commander, with the scout in front of me, I could also give an immediate indication of direction if required."
Immediate Action, Andy McNab, 1995, p426

Another thing I thought, is that the lower reciever and (I_THINK_) the buffer tube of the M-16 are aluminum. Does this change things at all, since aluminum is non-ferrous?

Jeff? Doc Ron? Javahead? Anyone?

thanks again,

pat
 
Also, in SOG, MAJ John Plaster mentions that SOG troopers wore wrist compasses on their left wrist, so that they could take a bearing without their weapons interfering, because the weapon is held in the right hand. Lots of other good field craft here too, like keeping mags on the left side of your LCE and grenades on the right (which hand do you reload with, and which do your throw with?).

thanks again,

pat
 
AS far as aluminum goes.I saw no indication that the readings of my compass were affected in anyway before or after installation in my CRK buttcap which just happens to be aluminum.I don't know how it would be affected being in the buttstock considering the distance from the receiver.I would take a test reading away from the rifle and one taped to the buttstock and see if there is enough variance to be concerned.I'm not sure just how convient that mounting location could be,unless you have a tac sling and the rifle is hanging in front of you.Otherwise you have to take it off your shoulder to take a reading.
 
Mr. McNab says that the only time they use slings is for CQC so that they can transition to a handgun.

I have another book with several pictures, and more than 75% of the pictures show no slings. There are 6 pictures of troopers with ARs that have slings, but most don't. One picture shows one guy with,and one guy without. The main exceptions seem to be GPMGs and sniper rifles.

If this is just used to stay on bearing, then maybe it is worthwhile. I need to buy an AR and a non-hinged Silvia.

pat
 
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