The M18 claymore mine is maybe not a household name but I would bet it’s close to it now a days thanks to Hollywood , books and people with hands on experience in the population. The M18 is a command detonated mine that is directional. You set it up and aim it in the zone you want to blast to cover. When fired it projects about seven hundred 1⁄8-inch-diameter (3.2 mm) steel balls into the kill zone at 3,937 ft/s . very nasty. The effect range is 50 yards with a max wounding range supposedly out to around 250 yards.
I would argue it came to fame during the war in Vietnam where it was very effective.
My Dad was a Vietnam war vet and told me a story about the Claymore that is pretty impressive. One night while on watch with another soldier watching outward, a NVA soldier had crawled close to the razor wire and was about to pick up one of the claymore and turn it around to face back into the American line. Dad was beside the other guy who had the detonator. Dad said once the communist grabbed the claymore with both hands and lifted from the ground, the other guy hit the clacker. The mine went off when about 5 inches from the communists face.
After sun up, Dad and a few other went out to inspect the remains and report back. The attempted trickster was a giant red smear. There was an unexpected bonus though. He had a partner a few yards beyond him who had been watching him from behind a fallen log. He must have just had his head up enough to see over the log when the mine went off. Dad said it looked like some one had taken a sword and sliced the top of his head off from the bridge of the nose up. One of the other soldiers puked when Dad mentioned the exposed brains looked like scrambled eggs with ketchup. Dad was a huge fan of the Claymore. So much so that he had to have his own. That’s what you are looking at in these photos.
Countless books written about Vietnam by veterans tell stories about how effective the m18 was. I don’t doubt there are more than a few stories about it from the ongoing forever wars.
The mine comes with everything you need in the handy M7 bandoleer “Claymore Bag.” You get the electrical hand held firing device, or as Dad called it, the” clacker”, which in Vietnam required 3 squeezes to get the desired result. You get the legs to stick the mine in the ground and point it. You get the electrical wire for the firing device to the mine and a device to test the firing device to make sure it works.
It all packs up into the bag nicely. The flap even has instruction on how to use the mine printed on water proof fabric. Because its the military.
I have no experience with one other than this one which sadly doesn’t work. I’m sure Kevin ( Hognose) would have lots to say about them if he were still with us. Dad told a few stories about them and how some of the locals would steal the C4 out of them to use as a fire fuel but his interest in the more technical minutia of the mine was non-existent. Maybe Howard got to use one against the haji or fellow Marines and will chime in.
The design is very popular because of its effectiveness and being command detonated. I supposed it makes the hippies of the world feel better since it’s unlikely a kid could accidentally step on it like older pressure mines. As far as I can tell around 20 countries use or produce their own copy of it,. Including Vietnam. When guys you used to blow up with it are impressed enough to adopt it, you know you had a winner.
Scattered Shots 
Claymores are wonderfully universal weapons. Originally designed based upon lessons learned in the Korean War as a weapon to stop human wave attacks without giving your position away. A medium machine gun when employed correctly is more effective on a human wave, but once you fire it, your position is exposed and the enemy by doctrine will dump everything he has to silence machine gun positions.
The movies don’t capture how powerful the claymore is. The firing wire is 18 meters long, which is about 60 feet. If you run the entire wire out and you are directly behind the weapon, you better have cover or be in a prone position, otherwise you’re in a world of hurt. You can safely use it closer that 18 meters if placed against raised roadway or trail embankments that keep the backblast directed away from you. Claymores are so powerful they can stop or destroy military trucks if detonated close enough
When operating in small patrols without an M240 or M60 GPMG, the claymore can be used to initiate linear ambushes in place of the GPMG. The GPMG is placed at one end of the ambush main line on a tripod to provide enfilade (beaten zone along long axis of the enemy column). Ambushes are by doctrine initiated with the most casualty producing weapon, so the Patrol Leader is next to the GPMG and will slap the gunner to have him initiate the ambush.
If the patrol is initiating an ambush but doesn’t have a GPMG, the PL can emplace a claymore mine in the same manner as a GPMG, directionalized in enfilade. This can be a risky proposition if the PL isn’t situationally aware of his terrain and position of his men, since the claymore by design fires in an arc. To the best of my recollection, the technical spec was 700 steel balls, out to 250 meters in a 60 degree arc, with up to 50 meters as the most casualty producing area. The PL must ensure the arc doesn’t encompass his positions, with extra attention to the left of right security positions, which can be 50 meters past the end of the main ambush line. Not all roadways or trails are straight, so PL has to be aware. Sometimes terrain can help, such as setting up on the side of the road that has a higher embankment.
They can also be used daisy chained for a demo ambush if you don’t have enough men to engage a larger enemy unit.
OB and I captured several claymores during raids in 2002. They appeared to be foreign knockoffs, since they had black casings with round detonator wells as opposed to our green casings with 90 degree angled wells. We destroyed most captured ordnance with C4.
Claymores no longer require 3 “clacks”. Once you flip the safety bail, the first clack will set off the weapon. If it fails, you can try a couple more times before you move to your alternate weapon. Misfires are normally caused by wear in the firing wire from being repeatedly employed and recovered without use. Not every ambush patrol is successful, so you have to recover your claymore for the next mission.
The claymore bag is coveted and highly useful piece of equipment for soldiers. They are commonly used as toiletry/shaving kit bags. I know i still have one in my storage somewhere containing a shave kit, soap, shampoo, wash cloth, mirror, tooth brush/paste, floss, TP packets, etc.
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Dad had several good stories about using the Claymore in Nam, I think I;ve told most of them already.
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Your dad fought in the jungle, so I’m sure the claymore was bread and butter for him and his platoon. It’s an awesome and versatile weapon system.
Your claymore is missing the angled det wells. They are split to fit the wire above the cap, then screwed back into the claymore.
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