THE WEAPONS OF THE MOVIE PRIMITIVE WAR

A brief summary of some of the weapons used in the Vietnam War meets Dinosaur thriller ‘Primitive War’.

The exciting Australian-made film Primitive War, brought to life and directed by Luke Sparke, is set during the Vietnam War in 1968—with a thrilling science-fiction twist: dinosaurs. Based on the books by Ethan Pettus, this bold and original story brings a new edge to both the war and dinosaur film genres.  It's doing brilliantly in cinemas across Australia and the USA, soon to go global as well.

The Sabre team are proud to have served as the Armourers for this production. We worked closely with the Director, Producers, Main Cast, Stunts and Safety to select and plan the deployment and usage of many types of weapons in scenes. Plenty of our Sabre team members also manage to appear in the movie as specialist cast and extras manning some of the weapons as grunts, SF and chopper crews.

In the film a Green Beret Mike team go missing and a LRRP team are tasked by the mysterious Colonel Jericho and some CIA operatives to locate them and report back. The team find far more than they bargained for in the form of a Soviet experiment gone wrong and wide array of dinosaurs brought into 1968 Vietnam. Many reviewers rate this as a superior film to the latest offerings from the Jurassic World universe for its originality, gritty action-packed sequences and accuartely portrayed range of terrifying dinosaurs. Elite military units going up against the dinosaurs with a vast array of period accurate weapons is a winning formula for this movie.

The gun nerds will likely know the weapons when they see them, but this may help the Dino nerds identify some of the weapons used in the movie.

With bigger scenes requiring over 70 cast to be armed and deadly we had a large team of armourers on set across the principal filming. Much to their delight many of the team managed to score roles as extras becoming Nam 68 door gunners, pilots and grunts.

It was wonderful to work with our specialist technical advisor mate and partner from the USA Freddie Joe Farnsworth of 'Devil Dog Ltd' (who has worked on projects like Band Of Brothers, World War Z etc) who brought specialist knowledge of the US Military in Nam 68 to the production. We work with and recommend Freddie, Garcia and Devil Dog for top shelf specialist US military film advisory. Our great mates at Brigade Film Services Tracey and Peter were also alongside us to meticulously design all of the costumes and webbing needed to make the troops look and feel the part.

Here’s a look at some of the weapons featured in the film—used to dramatic effect by U.S Forces (Green Berets, LRRP, CIA, Army Grunts and Chopper Crews), Viet Cong, NVA, and elite Soviet advisors as they battle not only each other, but also a terrifying array of prehistoric predators.

The Weapons of Primitive War:

M16A1 Rifle:

Used by Miller, Leon and Major Wallace, Bishop, Ibex and Colonel Jericho as well as many of the soldiers in base and village scenes.  The standard issue rifle of US Forces in Vietnam. 5.56 x 45 calibre.

M16A1 Rifle with M203 40mm Grenade Launcher: 

Used by Eli and other soldiers in base and village scenes.  Whilst new and still in limited field trials in 1968 some SF, black op and LRRP units had early access to emerging weapon technology like this.

Colt Commando / XM177 E2 Carbine:

Used by Baker, Keyes, Xavier, Kendrick, Zimmer and some soldiers in base and village scenes.  The shorter carbine version of the M16A1 favoured by Special Forces units. 5.56 x 45 calibre.

M14 Rifle:

Used by Logan and some soldiers in base and village scenes.  A heavier hitting 7.62 rifle used widely by US ground forces earlier in the Vietnam War and only retained in smaller numbers by 1968 in its marksman / sniper variant. 7.62 x 51calibre.

AKM Rifle:

Used by Tolstoy, Sergei, Nikita, Con Nhen and other Soviet, VC and NVA soldiers in village, base and POW Camp scenes.  An evolution of the AK47 Kalashnikov family of rifle used by Soviet Forces during that era. 7.62 x 39 calibre.

AK47 Rifle:

Used by Aleksandr in the folding stock version and the standard timber stock versions by various Soviet and Vietnamese NVA soldiers in base, village and POW camp scenes. Standard Soviet and NVA rifle of the era.  7.62 x 39 calibre.

Colt 1911 Pistol:

Used by Baker, Logan, Colonel Jericho, Xavier, Major Wallace, Bishop, Ibex and Sofia, chopper crew members and other soldiers in the base and village scenes.  Standard US service pistol.  .45 ACP calibre.

M60 General Purpose Machine Gun:

Used by Kendrick, the chopper door gunners, tower sentries and various soldiers in base and village scenes. Standard US GPMG of the era.  7.62 x 51 calibre.

Makarov Pistol:

Used by Borodin and Sofia. A standard compact military sidearm option of that era for Soviet officers like Borodin for its ease of carry and concealment.  9 x 18mm calibre.

Ithaca Combat Shotgun:

Used by some US soldiers in the base and village scenes.  Issued in small numbers and useful for close quarter jungle and village clearing.  12 gauge calibre.

M26 and M67 Fragmentation Grenades and M18 Smoke Grenades:

Used by most of Vulture Squad and various other soldiers in base and village scenes. Standard hand grenades and smoke grenades of US forces of the era.

Claymore Anti-Personnel Mine:

Used by Vulture Squad.  A common anti-personnel mine of the era for US Forces to initiate ambushes, deny access to dead ground or approaches  Usually command detonated.

Satchel Charge and Demolition Block C-4 Plastic Explosive:

Used by Miller and Vulture Squad.  Explosives like this were used by US Forces for the destruction of enemy infrastructure, vehicles and buildings.

Combat Knives (M16 Bayonets, K-Bar, Camilus USN 2, Jet Pilot Survival Knife, M1942 machete, MA Golok style machete):

Used by members of Vulture Squad in close quarter battle and various other soldiers in base and village scenes. The machete is favoured in close quarter battle by Sgt Xavier.

Soviet KVPT 14.5 mm HMG:

Used by Soviet advisors in the turrets of some of their light armoured vehicles in base scenes.

Browning M1919 .30 Cal MG:

Used vehicle mounted by US troops in base and village scenes.

90mm and 105mm Main Tank Guns: 

Used by the tanks in base and village scenes.

WATCH THE OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR PRIMITIVE WAR HERE