PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-701
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 701
APRIL 2011
21
PS 701
APR 11
Dear Editor,
In my work as a TACOM logistics assistance representative at
Ft Campbell, I visit many arms rooms. I often find the arms rooms don’t
have enough scrapers for their M240 and M249 machine guns. That will
leave gunners in a real scrape.
Without the scraper, you can’t clean the carbon out of either machine
gun’s gas system. The carbon plugs the gas system and eventually the
machine gun stops firing. And it won’t fire again until that gas system is
cleaned, which you can’t do because you don’t have a scraper.
So when a scraper goes missing, immediately tell your armorer.
He can order the M240 scraper with NSN 4933-01-033-1504 and
the M249’s with NSN 1005-01-131-1914.
Andrew Guilliams
TACOM LAR
Ft Campbell, TX
Editor’s note:
Excellent advice, Andrew—now a few tips on using the scraper:
Use it as soon as possible after Fring. The longer carbon sits, the harder it is to
scrape off.
Don’t use CLP in the gas system. CLP cleans off carbon, but it also collects
carbon during Fring. Clean the gas system with the scraper only—no CLP.
If you can’t get off all the carbon with the scraper, tell your armorer. He can use
dry cleaning solvent to dissolve the carbon.
E
conomizing is great, except when it hurts your mission. And
your mission will suffer if you try to save money by using cheap
batteries in your thermal weapon sights.
Alkaline batteries are cheap and do great in stuff like your TV
remote control. But you don’t want to use them in the sights for
your weapons. Lithium batteries can last up to 10 times longer
than those cheap alkalines. That difference can be life-saving
during a long mission. And because lithium batteries last so
much longer, you don’t need to carry lots of spares.
You
M240, M249 Machine Guns…
No Scraper
Leaves
You
in a
Scrape!
Thermal Sights
Need
Lithium
oooh,
I feel
terrible.
my gas
system is all
plugged up!
and to make matters
worse, I’ve lost the scraper
to clean your gas system!
hit the road, you
weak sisters!
I use
only
lithium!
now I’m
getting
indigestion.
Clean out carbon as soon as possible after firing
Order lithium AA
batteries with NSN
Small
Arms…
701.20-21.indd
1-2
3/4/11
1:41 PM
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