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Marines oil ammunition aboard ship prior to Tarawa.
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Marines oil ammunition aboard ship prior to Tarawa.
Some doubt about the oiling of ammunition. Looks like loading BAR magazines. Cleaning rod, rags and oil can is incidental to loading the magazines.
Maybe left overs from cleaning their weapons and will pack them after charging mags, I for one would not be oiling rounds going to a sandy environment landing flat on the beach on a 2 way rifle range would fill those mags up so they won't function one iota.
So I am counting nine mags with 20 rounds a piece thats a lot of weight & the BAR what was the combat load for a BAR gunner.
BAR = 20.84 lbs (loaded)
12 x 20-rd mags = 18.36 lbs (in cartridge belt)
miscellaneous few pounds for cleaning kit, sling, belt.
+ grenades, knife, and the equipment only the BAR gunner carried.
Found this at http://www.45thdivision.org/Pictures...combatload.htm
sources listed on the site above. 98.6 lbs is the reported total combat load for the BAR gunner.
Not often you see the leather tool case for the BAR in a pic.
I think I have one or two of those oil cans around here. Often wondered about their ancestry as no markings.
Holdovers from WW1. Marines got all the old gear...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarge1998
Oiling ammo, pretty funny. Not very likely.
I recall reading for a short time at the national matches(1903 rifle) they were dipping the tips of bullets into oil, concept similar to molly coated bullets. This devolved into soldiers dipping the whole 5 round clip in oil. Brass cases failed to grip the chamber walls , bolt lugs cracked and people were injured which ended the practice. Our above caption is most likely the caption writer not knowing what he is talking about.
In early development of the garand there were thoughts of lubricating cases with wax also the experimental m1924 Garand rifle had a internal oiling pad. see page 64 of Canfield's garand book. Bob S. can expand on this further.
Agreed, it raises pressures radically...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Rochester
---------- Post added at 02:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:08 PM ----------
I remember those stories too, and the practices all went by the wayside.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Rochester
Early BAR as the early cut-down
fore-end with cut checkering is visible plus the trigger housing has the magazine guides attached, rebuilt BAR from pre war period
ammo for the BAR comes in 20 rd boxes or five round stripper clips (there is a magazine loader for clipped cartridges).
I have seen M1 rifle ciips unloaded to load BAR magazines with 16 rds per magazine when boxed or clipped ammo was not available
I had a couple, they're hard enough you could stand on them and not bend them.Quote:
Originally Posted by RCS
I had a Marlin Rockwell, those early guns were a Machine Rifle and beautiful. By the time they came out with NESA they were plow parts...rough as guts.Quote:
Originally Posted by RCS
photo shows magazine guide to load with five round M1903 stripper clips into the BAR magazine.Attachment 110962
never a common accessory to find
Yes, extraction was a major problem in early autoloaders. Garand's Primer guns had oil pads in the mag well, and Pederson's rifle used waxed bullets. JCG solved it with his turning bolt that "unscrewed" the casing. It was a major plus in the 1931 competition that killed the Pederson and led to the adoption of the Garand.
A few BAR specific items I have left. The magazine on the left is a new Ohio Ordinance product as are several other parts, several I picked up on line or gun shows.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../WL1Rs8r-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../FoqIxTl-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../2sYTOnH-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../C9QMFCk-1.jpg
Early wood 1918A1 butt stock, Seymour case hardened follower for magazine thought to improve feeding but became a spare part.
Very rare Model 1918A1 bipod using during early WW2 until replaced by 1918A2Attachment 110964Attachment 110965Attachment 110966Attachment 110967Attachment 110968Attachment 110969
I made the mistake once of not patching out dry before I shot. Although I didn't notice anything whilst shooting, It took me forever to get the bore to look clean - like burnt grease on a frying pan that doesn't come up no matter how hard or what you scrub it with. After a week I finally discovered JB bore paste.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Rochester
I would imagine oiling bullets has a similar effect of burnt oil.