M14 Tecnhnical Manuals - What the Numbers show

I printed this in the GCA a few years ago. For those who are not members, I recommend you join. I will often submit information to the GCA several years before it becomes available on line. Most of my articles are in areas nobody has ever researched. It is a benifit to the GCA membership.

The Technical Manuals from the 1960’s and later can be understood if you know how to dissect them. Let’s take the M14, M1, and M1 Carbine as examples. The patterns will be:

9-1005-OOO-XX The O's and x’s are variables depending upon the weapons each manual covers and levels to which each manual applies.

The different M14 manuals will make it easy to understand all manuals released from the early 1960’s to present; the format has not changed. The M14 has a much larger variety of publication formats:

TM 9-1005-223-10
TM 9-1005-223-12
TM 9-1005-223-20
TM 9-1005-223-34
TM 9-1005-223-35

The formula for these manuals shows the following information:

TM 9 – The 9 being ORDNANCE, the responsible agency.

1005 – The 1005 covers all weapons up to and including 30mm.

223 - The 223 is the ITEM IDENTIFIER; 223 is for the M14 only and is not used on any other manual within the 1005 series.

10, 12, 20, 34, or 35 - This is the LEVEL DESIGNATOR for the manual. Later in this article I will identify each designator as it relates to military levels of maintenance and repair.

The following are item identifiers for just a few weapons of interest: (Again these identifiers will apply only to these weapons and will be found in the third group of digits and will always have three digits in the identifier’s format).

210 - M1 Carbine
211 - 1911A1 .45 Auto Pistol
222 - M1 Rifle
223 - M14 Rifle

If we want to find an M14 Technical Manual it will always be TM 9-1005-223-xx. This next area confuses some collectors when it comes to Technical Manuals. First we have to understand how different levels of maintenance/repair are designated.

LEVEL DESIGNATORS

Level 1 - Individual soldier or crewman (remember some vehicles/weapons etc are crew served). Think of this as the operator or user. If the manual covers the operator/user only, it will be shown as 10 in the last two digits.

Level 2- Organization, or as we like to think, Unit Armorer or Motor Pool as it applies to vehicles. This level is slightly higher and the unit armorer is authorized to make more repairs than the operator. If the manual covers only the Organizational Level it will be shown as 20 in the last two digits.

Level 3- Direct Support, this is usually the Maintenance Battalion within a Division. This level is very close to the highest level, but not quite. Usually the need for mobility limits the very large equipment needed for the highest types of repairs. Direct Support Units travel to the field areas with the combat division and may change locations with each move. If a manual covered only level three (I have never seen one) it would be shown as 30 in the last two digits.

Level 4- General Support, this is usually the highest Level of Maintenance within a combat theatre. A general support unit usually is not assigned to any one combat unit; it exists on its own. It is usually stationary and far in the rear compared to lower levels of support. General Support can do almost everything the Depot can due, except manufacture a firearm. General Support is also set up to repair more units in a given amount of time than the Direct Support. If a manual covered only level four (I have never seen one) it would be shown as 40 in the last two digits.

Level 5- Depot Maintenance, this is the highest Level of Maintenance within the ordnance system during the 1960’s. Depot Maintenance covers complete rebuild plus something none of the other levels have. SPEED. A depot is better equipped to repair 2000 rifles within a limited time than any other level. The depots stock massive amounts of spares to support the other levels of support. The depot can be located overseas or here in the US. In the 1960’s some manufacturers like Springfield Armory and Watervliet Arsenal, producers of weapons, also performed the Depot Maintenance functions in certain areas. If a manual covered only level five (I have never seen one) it would be shown as 50 in the last two digits.

As you can see I have included level designators I never seen. That is just to illustrate the format, not to confuse. Most manuals apply to more than one level. So when you see the last two digits as follows:

10-This manual applies only to level one, the operator/user
12-This manual applies to both level one and two
20-This manual applies only to level two
25-This manual applies to levels two, three, four, and five
34-This manual applies to levels three and four
35-This manual applies to levels three, four, and five
All high level manuals I have seen are multi level manuals.

As you get into other areas you will see 14, 23, 24, and possibly other combinations. When you see a specific level, only that level's tools and gages will be included. So now when you see a manual ending in 10 you will know there are no high-level depot tools covered in that manual. Some manuals also had a P, P/1, or P/2 at the end of the number sequence. The various P’s stand for Parts Listings, which differentiated the manuals from those lacking the parts listings. By the late 1980’s all Technical Manuals had the parts listings, although I am not sure whether the P exists in the sequence of more modern printings.

Remember also this system applies to Trucks, Radios, Missile Launchers, everything within the responsibility of the US Army. The Navy and Marine Corps had some different formats during the past, but also had standard Army manuals.

Also keep in mind that sometime in the 1960's the General Support Organizations were elminated. Thus only 4 levels exist today.