PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-596
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 596
JULY 2002
A
rmorers, firing blanks from your M2 machine guns requires a bit of extra care
if you don't want to cause yourself grief later.
You must install all of the blank firing
attachment (BFA), including the cartridge
guide assembly. The guide, which goes in
the feed tracer, compensates for the short-
er blank round. Without it, the M2 jams
and gunners start hollering for you. If the
guide is missing, order one with NSN
Remember, you won't find anything on
the BFA in the M2 TMs. It's covered by
its own manual, TM 9-1005-314-12&P.
The cartridge stop must be removed to
install the BFA. If the stop's removed in
the field, you can bet your paycheck it
won't make it back to the arms room. And
without the stop, the M2 can't fire real
ammo.
So stop disappearing stops by remov-
ing them in the arms room and keeping
them there. Then they don't have a chance
to disappear. When the M2 comes back to
the arms room, remember to replace the
cartridge stop.
M2 Machine Gun…
PS 596
JULY 02
51
M249 Machine Gun…
PMCS
for Extractor Changed
Make sure cartridge guide
assembly is installed
Store cartridge stop
in arms room
Get out your
pencil, armorers.
The PMCS for the
M249 machine gun
has been changed.
To replace the
extractor, order
gun extractor
parts kit, NSN
This
information
will be in
Change 7 to
the -23&P.
On Page 2-10.1 of TM 9-1005-201-
23&P, scratch out the sentence on the
extractor that says “mandatory
replacement after 20,000 rounds or,
as a minimum, every three years,
whichever occurs first”.
Write in its place:
“There is a mandatory
replacement for the four
components of the extractor
group, listed below. If any
one of the four component
parts fail, you must replace all
four components: the cartridge
extractor, extractor pin,
spring, and straight pin.”
oh, my.
nobody
prepared me
for firing
blanks…
…I think
I’m blanking
out.
Extractor pin
Straight pin
Spring
Cartridge
extractor
596. 50-51 (C)
5/24/02
12:02 PM
Page 1
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