The Automatic Weapons Firing Unit Part 8: Care and Maintenance of the Gun

[Music] [Music] e [Music] if you expect your forter to fire us fast in the accurately as this in combat you'd better expect to spend plenty of time taking care of it when the enemy gives you a breather this means taking the gun down completely it isn't hard and it doesn't take long if you learn the right way to do it right now when taking the gun down the first little bit of insurance you're going to take out is to make sure the gun is unloaded first put the safe or fire lever at safe to open the breach pull the hand operating lever all the way back then put it in the rear catch depress the gun until you're able to move the upper deflector tube out of the way now you can take a look through the boore and make sure it's clear swing the tube back and put its pin in place I didn't know it was loaded is a sad excuse before you can take the gun apart you have to uncock it put the hand operating lever in its front catch trip the extractor release lever to close the breach flip the feed control lever to the right put the safe or fire lever at single fire and step on the firing pedal then return the saf of fire lever to safe and flip the feed control lever to the left Elevate the tube to around 45° so you can work on The Recoil assembly loosen the set screws on the securing nut then back the nut off with a spanner now take out the bolts that hold the anchor bracket in place hold the recoil cylinder so it won't swing down before you want it take the anchor bracket off and swing The Recoil cylinder down you won't be able to get it down unless you've backed the securing nut all the way off put the recoil cylinder aside you're going to work on it later the bridge block takes a little longer first open the left side cover with its special key then release the latch and take the bottom cover off now you can see what you're doing by tapping a brass drift through this hole in the right side of the bridge casing you can force the outer crank and crankshaft out hold the bridge block to keep it from falling take out the bridge closing spring case as it falls free then pull the crankshaft out and you can remove the breach block and inner cranks now close the side cover the next thing to come off is the barrel raise the the gun stay and lower the barrel into it screw in the gun stay plunges to lock the casing down so when the barrel comes off the equilibrators won't Force the casing up notice that you do the actual tightening with the inner plunger while the outer one serves as a lock now take the Locking Bolt from its bracket and stick it through this opening to keep the breach ring from sliding out the rear end next lift the top cover that hook at the base of it the tube catch locks the Barrel in place now you can take the barrel out the men at the breach end cradle it in their supporting wrench while the men at the muzzle use theirs to twist the barrel a half turn to unlock it as it comes out make sure you don't Dent or strip the threads or you'll never get it back on again rest it in some sort of a rough cradle like this so it won't roll around while you're working on it now comes the autoloader to get this off first take out the large through bolt here at the rear of the breach casing if it's tight run the nut out over the end of the bat BT and tap on that to get it free hitting the bolt itself will bur the threads and you'll never get the nut back on use a drift if you have to to knock the bolt the rest of the way out now take out the deflector tube pin and move the tube down so you can swing the whole rear cover open unscrew both of the retaining bolts that fasten the autoloader to the the gun with this special tool push in unlock and remove the bolt which connects the loading tray to the breach ring now the whole loader assembly will slide free move it about 6 in to the rear and get the two lifting hooks the larger one has two lugs and a hook which fit like this on the rear of the loader assembly the small one just has a hook which catches in the front end of the autoloader before you start lifting make sure both tools are hooked on securely get a good firm hold on the handle be sure of your footing this thing weighs a couple of hundred pounds and dropping it won't do the gun or you any good to release the breach ring close the top cover take out the Locking bolt and put it back in its bracket now you'll be able to slide the breach ring to the rear and lift it out of the gun to get the cartridge case extractors off the breach ring poke the shaft through with a screwdriver the extractors lift right out finally take out the extractor you're operating on now you're ready to begin cleaning and oiling the gun the first thing to do is to break the breach assembly down into separate parts with this special tool Bear Down on the spring retainer and turn it about a quar turn then you can lift the retainer out take out the firing pin spring and the firing pin will drop out easily pry off the outer cocking lever and shake the breach block until the inner cocking lever drops up remove the check plunger and check plunger spring now the bridge block is completely broken down you should take the bridge block down clean it and oil it every day if you do this you'll never find it picking up much dirt if it ever does get very dirty wash the parts in dry cleaning solvent before you oil them dry them thoroughly use Mo on the firing pin this is aircraft Machine Gun oil a light oil that won't gum up even at low temperatures all the other parts of the breach block take sae30 oil in temperatures above freezing if it's colder than that use S10 when you've got all the parts well lubricated put the BRD block together again the check plunger spring and check plunger go in first then slip the inner cut in lever into the slot in the bottom of the bridge Block it's held there by the outer cocking lever turn the block over and put in the firing pin firing pin spring and the retainer push in on the retainer with the special tool and turn it a quarter of a turn until it locks oil the outer crank and crankshaft put a light film of oil on the closing spring case oil the tooth end of The Recoil cylinder rub oil on all unpainted surfaces to keep them from rusting now comes the barrel a pound of soda ash or twice as much Sal soda in 2 gallons of hot water is used to clean the gun if you can't get soda ash you can make GI soap and hot water do or just hot water if nothing else is available the tube gets its first workout with a wire brush which scrapes away most of the salt deposit left in the barrel after firing be sure you clean the whole length of the barrel follow this up with a cloth threaded through the eye in the end of the cleaning rod and dip in the soda ash mixture always rinse out the soda ash solution with plain hot water and another rag end up with a clean cloth to dry the barrel out completely you're really out of luck if you let one barrel get rusty stick on another clean cloth and douse it with sae30 make sure you oil every spot inside the tube or you'll still get some Rust clean all the caked oil and dirt off the outside of the barrel by giving it a good rub down with dry cleaning solvent now you can inspect it for flaw or other defects and know that a crack in the metal wasn't hidden by a Gob of mud when you're finished with that coat the whole barrel with a thin film of oil before you put the barrel back on cover the threads with graphite grease when you finish wiping out the inside of the breach ring smear plenty of graphite grease on its threads too you'll want the tube to turn easily and fast if you're changing Barrels in a hurry to do a good job of oiling the autoloader you first have to slide out the loading tray coat it with sae30 don't forget this tray slides back and forth every time the gun is fired if it's not lubricated the wear will be terrific oil the rest of the autoloader and then slide the tray back into place coat the different parts of the breach ring with oil but in all cases be sure it's a thin coat of oil remember it's lubrication you want not gummed up parts when this is done fit the extractors into the slot in the breach ring hold them in place with one hand and fit the operating arm into its hole in the side then slide the extractor shaft through to hold the assembly in place before you start to reassemble the gun the inside of the casing must be cleaned out and a Fresh coat of oil put on clean off these slides that the breach ring moves on here too there is plenty of friction and a bad job of oiling will mean plenty of wear make sure you oil the whole slide putting the gun back together isn't hard all you do is reverse the procedure of taking it down the first thing to go in is the breach ring slide it forward in the breach casing and fit the Locking bolt in place to keep it from sliding out again then open the top cover next comes the autoloader carry it with the specially designed holding Hooks and and fit it into place Shove It Forward against the bridge ring so you can couple the two together swing the casing cover up and put the large through bolt in its hole you'll probably have to tap it with the copper hammer to get it all the way through then tighten the nut put back both autoloader retaining screws and tighten them now put in the pin that holds the upper deflector tube in place this bolt couples the autoloader and breach ring you may have to fish with your free hand to line up the loading tray press the bolt in and turn it until the arrows are lined up and it locks now you're through with a locking bolt so take it out and put it in its bracket now the tube goes back in the gun lock the front supporting wrench around the hexagonal section of the muzzle with the rear wrench cradling the tube carry it to the gun once again be careful not to Dent the threads as you guide the barrel into the breach ring turn it a half circle and it's locked in that's all there is to it now close and latch the top cover to lock the Barrel in place so it can't work loose during firing unscrew the gun stay plunges and Elevate the gun to 45° so you can replace the breach assembly lower the gun stay to the ground out of the way hold the extractor releasing lever back so that the breach block and inner cranks can be slid all the way up into the closed position then push the outer crank and crankshaft through one side of the breach ring fitting the closing spring case in position as the crankshaft comes through you'll find you have to tap the crankshaft the last little bit of the way home now fit the bottom cover in place and close the side door lock it with the key the last thing to go back on is The Recoil cylinder fit the end of the Piston into the lugs on the breach ring and swing the cylinder up against the gun put on the anchor bracket and screw its bolts up tight screw the securing nut against the anchor bracket and tighten it with a spanner then screw in the set screws to keep the nut from jarring loose while the gun is fire to test the length of recoil set the recoil recorder at minimum fire one shot from the gun look at the recorder again it should be between 7.4 and 8.3 here it's 8 which is okay if the recoil is not within the required limits here for instance it's 9 in the gun may have a weak or broken recuperator spring which means you'll have to change barrels or it may be a bad recoil cylinder and you'll have to replace that you've already seen how to make both changes but before you make either of them change the recoil liquid it might be as simple as that set a drain can underneath the recoil cylinder and depress the gun to zero take the Locking nut and adjustment plate off now you can turn the counter recoil adjusting nut all the way out so that the liquid in The Recoil cylinder can drain out cut the safety wire that is threaded through the drain plug and bend it out of the way unscrew the drain plug when the last of the liquid has drained out screw the plug back in tighten it securely with a wrench now Elevate the gun to a about 25° at this angle you'll know the liquid won't overflow until there's enough in the cylinder pull the safety wire out of the filling plug so you can unscrew it it'll take a little more than a pint of recoil liquid to fill the cylinder until it overflows use a funnel with a flexible tubing so you get around and under the barrel to the filling hole pour the liquid in slowly so the air will have a chance to escape from the cylinder as the liquid goes in when it overflows you know you have enough put back the filling plug now work the liquid throughout the whole recoil system by elevating and depressing the gun a few times ending up with a barrel back at 25° with the liquid worked into the system more must be added to bring it up to the filling plug level again when it again overflows put back the filling plug this time for good tighten it well and check that the drain plug is tight don't forget to reset the counter recoil valve by first screwing it all the way in and then opening it a third of a turn finally put the adjustment plate back over the end of the valve and tighten its locking nut to keep the adjustment during firing now you've seen how a good gun section takes care of its gun it's not hard if you get in the habit of doing each job when it should be done it will keep your gun ready and may make the difference between this [Music] combination and [Music] this much more preferable don't you think for