PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-574
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 574
SEPTEMBER 2000
PS 574
45
SEP 00
PS 574
45
SEP 00
PS 574
44
good, thorough cleaning is the best favor you can do your M16-series rifle
or M4/M4A1 carbine. But if you use a firing pin or cotton swab to do that
cleaning, you’re doing your weapon a disfavor.
The firing pin’s job is to strike the cartridge primer hard enough to ignite the
powder that propels the bullet. And that’s it—it has no other job.
If you use the pin to ream the bolt or bolt carrier, the pin is blunted, burred,
cracked or bent. If that happens, the pin can’t do its job and you can’t fire your
rifle or carbine.
To clean the carbon from the bolt and carrier, use a couple of drops of CLP, a
worn bore brush and a pipe cleaner.
Use pipe cleaners to clean out tight areas like the carrier key or trigger
assembly.
What happens if you use a cotton
swab for cleaning? The cotton
comes
off the swab and mixes with
lube and carbon. That mixture hard-
ens and does an excellent job of
plugging the carrier key. Your rifle
or carbine fires once and stops.
M16-Series Rifles, M4-Series Carbine . . .
Rub out corrosion with the new
cleaning procedure that will be added
by Change 9 to TM 1-1520-238-23-1.
See your AMCOM logistics assistance
representative for an advance copy.
Never file or sand the launcher. The
launcher’s plating can be hazardous if
it gets in your lungs. Don’t lube the
inside of the rails. That attracts dirt.
Another good check is to make sure
the SAFE/ARM switch stays where
you set it. If the switch flops back and
forth because someone’s stepped on it
and broke it, you have no way of tell-
ing what the switch is set at. If the
switch won’t stay in one position, tell
your repairman.
Feet are killers for the launcher, es-
pecially for the environmental protec-
tive cover’s connectors. So stay off the
launcher. Also take it easy with the
latching handle. One good hit from the
side can break a handle and make the
launcher NMC. Pull the handles slowly
but firmly.
Feet kill de-ice plugs
Does SAFE/ARM switch stay where it’s set?
well, now
i can say
to
heck
with
hellfire
problems
!
you got
that
right
!
hey,
soldier, don't
put that swab
in your bolt
carrier!
Use pipe cleaner
in tight areas
Take it easy with latching handle
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