Grease groove in WWII .303 bullets important or not ?

[bombdoc]

The RAF Chinooks in Afg had an M60 bolted to the tailgate, which I understand were the only M60s in UK hands. The RAF insisted that this was because the MAG/GPMG were not type approved for use with a Wokka, (and of course they HAVE to be different..)

I had a major strop with the squadron regarding the ammunition on the M60 which sat in an open can at the side of the mounting. I was curious to see what the batch date was and pulled the top of the belt out the can, and the rest followed in a single rusty lump.. with a couple of inches of water in the bottom of the can! Apparently it is not the practice of the air gunners in the RAF to clean or check their guns and ammunition.. that is the job of the ground armourers. This comes from the days of WW2 when the air crews would just dump their stuff on the pan and walk away for eggs and bacon..

I pointed out to the crew that it was not the armorers that would suffer if they had unserviceable ammunition and got attacked!