PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-556
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 556
MARCH 1999
Roller moves?
Ejector spring back?
When the bolt is to the rear, keep
your fingers away from the front of the
bolt, like when you’re trying to push
out a stuck round. The bolt can spring
forward and smash your fingers. Fol-
low the procedure on stuck cartridges
in work package 0012-00-01 in TM 9-
1005-224-10.
If you can’t pull the bolt to the rear,
do not keep jerking on the charging
handle. That’ll damage the bolt and
the receiver. Make sure the safety is
not set. If that’s not the problem, tell
your armorer.
Don’t jerk charging handle
Safety
Be very sure the bolt is forward be-
fore you remove the grip assembly or
buttstock. If the bolt is locked to the
rear, the op rod guide comes flying out
when the buttstock comes off.
Make sure
bolt’s
forward
before
removing
buttstock
Extractor
—Use your thumb to press
up and in on the extractor. It should
not depress easily, but should spring
back smoothly. If it doesn’t, it needs a
new spring.
Ejector
—Use something with a
blunt point to press in the ejector. It
should not depress easily, but it should
snap back. If the ejector doesn’t have
much spring, your armorer needs to
replace its spring.
Bolt face
—Firing pin hole out-of-
round or pitted? The firing pin will
have trouble doing its job.
fire slow and the cover’s feed cam will
wear out fast.
Locking lugs
—Worn, burred,
cracked, chipped? Burred lugs hang up
the bolt. Worn or chipped lugs break
off and can ruin the barrel socket.
Lugs worn, burred or chipped?
Clean bolt after firing
The bolt plug assembly should be
screwed on so its hole lines up with
the hole in the bolt. The plug’s head-
less straight pin should be inserted so
that the cam actuator moves freely.
PMCS
Bolt plug pin
—Give the bolt a
shake. If the plug pin falls out, the bolt
plug’s bad. Get it replaced.
Cam actuator roller
—Does it
move? If it’s frozen, your M60 will
Once the bolt is clean, put it together
right:
The long end of the firing pin goes
in first.
The small hole in the guide fits on
the short end of the firing pin.
The spring goes in the guide.
The cam actuator’s roller end goes
on the bolt first.
¥
¥
¥
¥
Put it together like so:
aww, man!
this bolt is
stuck
!
basically
,
you didn't take
care of
bolt
basics
!
Extractor spring back
M60 Machine Gun . . .
f the bolt in your M60 machine gun
is bad, your firing will be, too—it’s as
simple as that. That’s why you must
pay attention to bolt basics.
Cleaning
A dirty bolt has trouble moving. It
hangs up and won’t extract or eject. So
clean it with CLP as soon as possible
after firing. The longer you wait, the
harder carbon becomes and the harder
it is to remove.
Hole pitted or out-of-round?
PS 556
39
MAR 99
PS 556
38
MAR 99
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