PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-603
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 603
FEBRUARY 2003
PS 603
FEB 03
21
Small Arms…
PS 603
FEB 03
20
Machine Gun Mounts…
Check Total Price First
Dear Editor,
As you noted in PS 592, active duty Army units are supposed to have
their rifles and machine guns gauged annually, while Army Reserve and
National Guard are required to have theirs gauged every 2 years.
That's fine under normal conditions, but since 9/11 many Reserve and
Guard units are doing much more training with their weapons. All of that
additional firing means more wear and tear on the weapons. Problems
develop that only gauging can catch in the early stages.
If that gauging has to wait 2 years, those problems aren't going to be
caught in time to prevent damage to the weapon and possible injury to
the soldier. So I suggest that Guard and Reserve units consider more
frequent gauging if they do much firing.
James Secord
Equipment Concentration Site 125
Ft Bragg, NC
The small arms experts at TACOM-Rock Island agree with you totally. The
1-year gauging requirement for active Army and two-year requirement for
Reserves and Guard is the
minimum
gauging required. Ideally, a unit should
get their weapons gauged and inspected after every firing/training cycle and
must
do so before being deployed.
a new platform
assembly costs
$1,400!!! we can
get a
whole
new mount
for
just $200!!
S
ometimes it's cheaper to replace
your whole TV or VCR rather than
just replace a defective part. That's
sometimes the case with machine
gun mounts, too.
For instance, the MK64 ammo
box tray assembly, NSN 1010-01-
151-6242, is a repair part for the
ammo box mounting tray assembly,
NSN 8140-01-156-7371. If you
want just the box tray assembly, it
costs more than $900, while you
can get the whole ammo box
mounting tray for a bit more than
$200.
Or look at the M142 mount,
NSN 1005-00-854-4463. Its plat-
form assembly, NSN 1005-00-121-
0779, costs more than $1,400. But
you can get the whole mount for
around $200.
The moral of the story is check
the price of the entire assembly
before you order a repair part for it.
Sometimes you'll get a better deal
just ordering a whole new mount.
he’s right.
always
check
to see if it’s cheaper just
to buy a whole new mount
instead of a part.
MK64 tray costs more than
whole tray assembly
M142 platform
assembly is more
expensive than
whole mount
From the desk of the
Editor
since we’re a
reserve unit, we
don’t need to have
you guys gauged
for
at least
another year!
we don’t
care what
kind of unit
this is!
you’ve fired
the heck out
of us and we
need gauging
now!
yeah!
we’ve got
problems
only gauging
can catch!
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