A double tap to the left side of the head (or perhaps one to the head one to the chest) from a US Navy SEAL Team SIX member is reportedly what killed Osama Bin Laden.
Which means that most likely the gun used to blow away part of Bin Laden’s skull was the Heckler & Koch HK416 (at least that’s what I’m hearing via a corpsman in devgru [friend of a friend of a friend]). Which makes more sense for a breach into a dark room with an undetermined number of people than does a handgun:
An HK416, outfitted very similarly to this, is probably the last thing Osama bin Laden saw on this Earth.
Via Wikipedia:
The United States Army’s Delta Force collaborated with the German arms maker to develop the new carbine. During development Heckler & Koch capitalized on experience gained developing the Bundeswehr’s Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle, the US Army’s XM8 rifle project (canceled in 2005) and the modernization of the British Armed Forces SA80 small arms family. The project was originally called the HK M4, but this was changed in response to a trademark infringement suit filed by Colt Defense.
Delta Force replaced its M4s with the HK416 in 2004 after tests revealed that the piston operating system significantly reduces malfunctions while increasing the life of parts.[1] The HK416 has been tested by the United States military and is in use with some law enforcement agencies and special operations units. It has been adopted as the standard rifle in one NATO nation as well.
A modified variant is undergoing testing by the United States Marine Corps as the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle. After the Marine Corps Operational Test & Evaluation Activity supervised a round of testing at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms, Fort McCoy, and Camp Shelby (for dust, cold-weather, and hot-weather conditions, respectively), limited fielding began for 458 IARs to four infantry battalions (one per each Marine Expeditionary Force and one reserve) and one light armored reconnaissance battalion; all are slated to deploy to Afghanistan in 2011.[2]
Is this the model of gun responsible for blowing Osama Bin Ladin's brains out of his head?
However, if it was a handgun (as some assumed based on the ‘double-tap’ description, which is most commonly taught with handguns), it most likely would have been the H&K USSOCOM:
This handgun was developed under request from US SOCOM (Special Operations Command) and entered the competition with Colt for OHWS – Offensive Handgun Weapon System – first offensive handgun for US Military since the adoption of the Colt M1911 Govt. The request was issued in mid-1991, and the only other major competitor to H&K was the Colt company with its SOCOM pistol. By the 1993 H&K delivered first prototypes of its contestant, and eventually HK SOCOM pistol became the Mk.23 model 0 pistol, issued by US Special Operations command to its operators. The Mk.23 mod.0 is chambered for venerable .45ACP cartridge, which provides greater stopping power than a NATO-standard 9mm Luger cartridges. Mk.23 mod.0 is designed to safely and reliable fire most powerful .45ACP +P ammunition, either with ball (FMJ) or expansive (JHP) bullets. Mk.23 mod.0 is usually issued with quick-detachable silencers, made in USA by Knight’s Armaments Co, and with laser pointing module, which installs on the underbarrel rails.
As pointed out by N2L in the comments of another post,Team SIX members have to be able to double-tap a 3×5 index card at 30ft with this .45 ACP.
If you’ve ever been to the range with a .45 ACP, you know how ridiculously good of a shot that is.
Which officially makes Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) a much bigger badass than the world’s most infamous terrorist…(and, really, a bigger badass than pretty much anybody). Of course, Giffords was shot in the head with a .9mm, and Bin Laden was hit with a .45 ACP. Which is why I carry .45 ACP (Springfield XD 45ACP Compact) and not a .9mm.
We’ll probably never get an official confirmation on which weapon actually fired the fatal kill shot, but you can bet you ass that if we did know, you’d sell a gazillion versions of that model on the open market.
(NOTE: This post has been edited from it’s original version, before we knew more about the breach and the teams on this mission)
Related Posts
Email This Post
⋅
Print This Post
One big difference between the current H&K and the old Model 66 that Team SIX started with is, the H&K is designed to minimize muzzle flip. Another attribute is the noise suppressor on the H&K with the .45ACP round is very effective. Not only did the 66′s not have suppressor’s, I’m not certain the high velocity .357Mag round can be suppressed. Double tapping with the much lighter and faster .357Mag round was a remarkable feat.
to no 2 liberals I say, no to you bonehead!
Says a boney-assed wuss.
So the Teams are now using H&K 416′s and not the MP5?
Man, that’s a lot of firepower for CQB. Good thing these guys are such outstanding marksmen, the ricochet of a 5.56 round in an enclosed room could ruin your whole night(and next day).
A former Camp Lejeune “insider” reportedly told an ex-USMC armorer in Charlotte, NC that the 416s used by the dozen or so designated as “forward attack team” were highly tricked out by the best-of-the-best Marine Corps armorers at Lejeune, NOT thru Heckler & Koch – directly OR indirectly, as the USMC didn’t want their improvements known by H-K – or anyone. The rifles used absolutely, positively DID NOT come from the U.S. Army!
To help “hide their tracks” and make sure every shot was a kill-shot, the H-K 5.56mm NATO barrels were replaced with AAC (Advanced Armament Corporation) .300 Blackouts in the super-short length – for ease of maneuverability in close quarters.
The bullets were sub-sonic 220gr. soft-nose, fired thru specially-developed, full-suppress “cans”. That why in the White House recordings of the raid, you barely hear a “pop” with each shot. More of a throaty “chuff!”.
Less that 1200fps but from 10-15 feet away, that doesn’t matter. Inside a concrete cell, even a 5.56 suppressed report would have been deafening – even with the best hearing protection. And the massive 220gr. slug vs. the 62gr. from the standard M-4 / H-K 416 meant that one shot would stop a charging elephant!!! The SEALs couldn’t afford to have someone survive a decent hit; orders were that no one was to still be standing after even one round in them. “Double-taps” to every target was their ultimate guarantee. Plain and simple: ZERO males in the compound were to be “wounded”.
GO SEALS!
I would have loved to see Osama shit his diapers as that brave SEAL blew his skull open like the piñata at a Mexican birthday.
God bless all you SEALS,keep kicking ass!
I wish they would have cut off bin ladens genitals and stuffed them in his mouth,then mounted his head on a stick and let the entire armed forces piss on it.
Thanks for sending this evil shitstain to a watery grave.
sig p226 I bet!
I seriously doubt it, the p226 doesn’t come in .45ACP.
No, the p226 (9mm) is the issued weapon for Seal Team through contract. You do realize, these guys shoot to kill and can hit a quarter from 30ft. The bullet size is of no importance when youre getting hit in the head.
Tell that to Rep. Gabby Giffords (shot with a .9mm in the head)
Giffords did get pretty lucky, at least luckier than the other six. Good thing the asshat didn’t have a .45ACP, I don’t think she would have survived that.
The p226 in 9mm, or as I usually call it a pitiful portable picnic popper, may be issued to the SEAL Teams, but not to DEVGRU. It might be available to them, but they decide what they need for each particular mission. Marcinko fought that battle long ago, insuring his guys had weapons with man-stopping power. Some of the toes he stepped on that got him so much trouble were in Supply, as they wanted him to have the same equipment as everyone else, which wasn’t good enough for SIX. They wanted him to use MAC-10′s because they had them in inventory, he insisted on MP-5s, which they didn’t. He went over and around them to his superiors at the Joint Chiefs and pissed off a lot of brass in doing so.
Daniel is correct.
I believe the p226 comes in .40 S&W, .357 SIG, 9mm and .22LR, I personally own the 9mm variant. I just realized my p226 is 25 years old.
It is offered in those calibers/mm and is a popular choice by many LE agencies.
I’ve handled a few Sigs, but of course favored the p220 since it is chambered in .45ACP. I’ve always felt they were over priced and not quite as consistently accurate as most of the Colt 1911a1 variants I’ve fired. It just doesn’t seem to point as naturally as a Colt and seems bulky. We all have our preferences, though, but please don’t get me started on Glocks.
They are pricy. I paid $700-$800 way back in 1986. The p226 feels like an extension of my arm, so for me I find it incredibly comfortable. Most of the local law enforcement guys around here carry Glocks. I hate those plastic things, feels like trying to aim a brick. I got the SIG because it felt right and I think at the time it was the only one available without an external safety. I have a real personal problem with safeties.
Safeties don’t bother me, if they are not too clunky. The Colt has three, the first is the hammer. If it isn’t cocked, the other two don’t matter. If it is cocked, you have the grip safety and the slide lock, which is right where your thumb needs to be if you are going to fire. I almost always carry my Colt with a round chambered, hammer cocked, with slide lock active.
The advice I always give people includes putting the gun in your hand and deciding if the ergonomics suit your particular hand size. If it doesn’t feel right at first, it never will.
I have a family member that is an FBI agent and they carry the Glock 22. Whenever he comes to visit he always wants to handle my Colt. He had never handled a handgun that you could point like a finger and the sights would be dead on.
My problems with the Glock are many, starting with that schtoopid trigger, followed by all the Kabooms they have, concluded with the fact that Glock doesn’t notify owners or dealers of a factory recall, you have to find out on your own.
A german newspaper is reporting that the Navy Seals used a Heckler & Koch MP7A1 to kill Bin Laden.
I doubt we will ever know what was used, but the HK PDW makes a lot more sense than a p226.
I dont understand why they didnt just use m1911s in my opinion its a way better handgun
You’re seriously questioning Seal team six and their ability to choose a sidearms? Troll.
My favorite handgun is a Taurus 38 Spl stainless , with 3 ” barrel and 125 JHP at 1250 f/s ; the modern Taurus
have same material and heat treatment of this 357 counterpart , so the above handload this ABSOLUTE
security shoot !
In pistols the best caliber is the .40 S&W , favorite of police forces in world wide !
Tom, don’t you know the internet is where ST6 gets its information? Personally, I’m betting it was a special 9mm that was used to dispatch OBL, if you subscribe to the idea he was waxed, though the idea that he is sitting atop a Yankee baseball bat singing like a little bird in the bowels of a USN carrier seems more realistic…
Let me leave you all with a hint hk45c
It’s been confirmed by a few sources already that it was an HK416
Hi guys – the MK23 is a relatively dated handgun. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a HK believer (carry a P30 myself) and the SOCOM is bad ass, but there are several modern choices that DEVGRU might go with. I believe that Research is accurate that the more recent accounts suggest that SEAL teams are favoring the silenced HK45c these days. I understand the Unit still prefers the customized 1911, but I don’t know anyone personally that could confirm any of my hearsay, just logic and unconfirmed accounts. This article was very enlightening if you are inclined to believe these two chaps (and I am so inclined) http://pistol-training.com/articles/hk45-interview-with-ken-hackathorn-and-larry-vickers. I only mention these things as there was a debate here on the handguns used by special operations groups – it’s irrelevant here because I’d believe that Robbie is probably correct in that the primary CQB weapon was used. Either M4 or HK416 is short enough to effectively deploy indoors, more accurate than a handgun and offered more rounds in the mag before reloading – all critically important factors on a mission like this that required speed and accuracy. I doubt if a transition to the secondary weapon was necessary if there is any truth to the story we’ve been told (I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I’d still like to see the pictures of OBL with X’s over his eyes). I don’t think it’s true we will “never” know what weapon was used, we just won’t know anytime soon. In fifty years I’m sure the future equivalent of the Military or Discovery channel will have a special on it . . . I hope we are all here to see it, including the US as it was founded.
PS – sorry for the late reply to this, I know it is not a new thread. Just came across your blog and saw this post. Subcribed to your blog, keep up the great work.
Gabby was shot with training 9mm ammo bought at wally world…a personal defense round would have been a different story.
It was a combination of using poor quality ball ammo and lucky trajectory that saved her life.
As you say, if he had used a quality JHP round, it would have been far worse for her.
A team guy said it best when he said “people always say it’s only a little 9mm, but when I shoot two to your chest and one to your head your not going to know whether it was a 45 cal or a 9mm.” It’s about shot placement not caliber gents. Me personally I don’t want to get shot with a 22cal much less anything bigger. Who’s willing to take a shot of each caliber in the arm to determine which hurts worst? Yea ME EITHER!!
Sure, shot placement matters, but so does stopping power. I watched a video of a CHP traffic stop and it was obvious it was a “blue suicide.” The suspect pointed his gun at the officers without firing and was shot at dozens of times and hit with 12 9mm rounds. He never went down, only dropped to one knee briefly. The incident didn’t end until a rifle round was put in his head.
The 45ACP has a 100 hundred year history of being a man stopper. It puts them down, even if they survive and the quicker the fight ends the less shot YOU will get.
There is not as big a difference as you think, when good 9mm JHP is used. If he was hit 12 times and never went down, either the hits were not center chest or he had a vest on. If someone is hit in the lungs or heart with a 9mm, they WILL go down in a few seconds at most.
There are examples (if you search) of people shot with 45 acp in the chest who don’t go down like you say. I saw a guy on a show called Alaska Coast Guard who was shot in the chest accidentally with 30-06 and he WALKED upright with help, to the helicopter door. Are you going to say that 45 acp is more of a stopper than 30-06 ?
There is a huge difference between a 9 and a 45, especially if you are using the same type of round with each.
I know what I saw in the CHP video and what the after action report stated. No body armor and out of nearly 40 rounds fired only 12 were hits at about 50 feet, that was the real problem, they were just spraying.
At close range I would rather be shot with a 30.06 than a 45, the 06 would pass through like a 9 because of the high velocity, the subsonic 45 would expend its energy inside the target without passing through.
All rounds are lethal if the shot placement is accurate, the 45 is a man stopper even if the person survives.
According to an article in the New Yorker, the SEAL team members mostly carried the Heckler and Koch MP7 machine pistol or a short-barreled M4 rifle with standard 5.56 NATO ammunition. They wore suppressed Sig Sauer P226 pistols, most likely 9mm. According to the article, the weapon that killed bin Laden was the M4 rifle, with an initial 5.56 mm round to the chest, then one to the eye.
It was an official Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. It has a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time. Wow it’s great.
People don’t know info like that…ask a seal
Their sidearm on that day was the SIg P-226 in 9mm.
They use different equipment depending on the specific needs of the mission, but the Navy SEALs equipment for the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound included:
?MH-60 Helicopters
?5.56mm M4 Carbine
?5.56 mm M16 Assault Rifle
?9mm SIG Sauer P226 pistols
?Thermal Imaging
?Facial Recognition devices
?Helmet mounted video cameras
?a Navy SEAL dog
This is from the Navy Seal Government official webpage
OMG, the seals use 9mm?????????? What a shocker!
Isn’t shooting bad guys with 9mm like shooting cape buffalo with a 22 CB?
Shoot em with 45 ACP in the little finger and they drop dead in the blink of an eye.
LOL
Hey, no ass, if you can handle a little math here is the Stopping Power Calculator. I’ll make it even easier for you, converting the pitiful portable picnic popper 9mm into inches makes it .354. It isn’t even close compared to a 230gr 45ACP in the same form factor…or not.
i use the heckler koch hk 45 and love it.
the standard load-out for the Teams is not top secret – the armorers are the secret and the training – 2K – 3K rounds downrange a day during training evolutions is the secret.
the P226 Navy or now the Mk25 with the rails is the standard sidearm – 9mm. Not that anyone will know – or care but chances are the last thing bin laden saw was a 5.56mm round headed towards his head and chest.
Where do you get your information?
“Of course, Giffords was shot in the head with a .9mm, and Bin Laden was hit with a .45 ACP. Which is why I carry .45 ACP (Springfield XD 45ACP Compact) and not a .9mm.”
How absurd! Hitler killed himself with the little puny 32 ACP and you are going to tell us that 9mm is inadequate? Pleassssssseeeeeeeee. If you want to carry 45 then fine, its a great choice. But don’t spread disinformation that 9mm is insufficient. Giffords was extremely lucky and perhaps even with a 45 shot at exactly the same trajectory, she might have survived. Your reasoning shows that you don’t know as much about guns and bullets as you think!
What bullshit.
It’s clear you don’t know as much as you would have us believe.
What is wrong with you people? Hk416 is standard issue for the team, and was used on that nightbto take Osama down. They also have hk mp7 as standard issue but was not used by the team that night. Standard issue side arm is the Sig sauer p226, although they tend to take their personal couple in field which is usually the hk45.
9mm, .22, .357, .45, 25mm, 5″/54, …
Quit arguing, guys.
Here’s the truth: no gun is perfect. Pick any gun you want, and if you search long enough, you will be able to find a case of someone surviving a hit with it.
And if you’re standing between your children and a bad guy, any gun is better than no gun.
You have to find a gun that you like and are comfortable with, not one that someone else says you should have. Because if you don’t like it and aren’t comfortable with it, you’re not going to practice with it.
And here’s another truth: a .45 that just sits there and collects dust will be less effective than a .22 that you regularly practice with.