Cut-away Browning 50 cal?

[Peter Laidler]

Thanks all, interesting as I hadn't ever seen one of these things before. We had a saying at Warminster to emphasise that training should be realistic and using the kit you're issued with (or at least, DP versions of it to save fatigue damage) and that was 'Don't practice to practice. Practice for real' Or something like that

[browningautorifle]

"Perfect practice makes perfect"... We too used actual worn weapons for cutaways, except the FN C1s. They were new weapons cut away. Once we tried them however, we discovered the live weapon with the body cover and gas piston spring removed worked better. The cutaways were then handed around as a curio.

[Flying10uk]

Was there/is there special restrictions on which soldiers are permitted to strip the Browning type of machine gun for cleaning and basic maintenance etc. I ask this because the Browning appears much more complex internally than say a Bren Gun and I would question if there may not be some difficulty in putting it back together unless there were some restrictions.

[browningautorifle]

The only things we didn't strip were the parts staked by the weapons techs, and there were damn few of those. Full detailed stripping was required by machine gun qualified personnel. That's why there was a 6 week course on the guns.

[tankhunter]

There USED to be one of these Browning 1919A4 Intructional Aids. In the entrance Foyer, of A.F Budge. But that was back in the day when the Firm was massive. & also used to trade in Ex Military vehicles as well.

After Tony Budge was declared bankrupt, & all the 'assets' were sold off. Ryton Arms was the only 'extention/ Diversification' Branch of the business. That He managed to buy back.
With the knowledge back then, that Deacts were going to be a Massive earner for him, & still enable a good living!

[Brit plumber]

Thanks for that BP but I have not seen a 2x scale version. All our training guns and cut-aways were standard service guns. We just learnmed the action by writing it down and exams every week! Your slo-mo doesn't illustrate the mech safety or the point in question BP

Should have said that they are standard to the US Army not the British. The video was just to illustrate the size of the beast.

When I look at the image of the first gun, the only issue I see is that the locking camm is probably missing and the locking block hasn't been forced up into the recess of the BB. The photo shows the recess above the locking block.

[Peter Laidler]

Yep......, that'd be a bit of a spoil-your-day episode, to leave the locking cam out of the gun. Especially a big 50 Browning. All your niughtmares would come true. Recoiling parts rearwards, cover upwards and sides outwards - all in an instance!

The tank gunners were permitted to basically field strip the guns PLUS a bit more as Tankie says. That definitely wouldn't include removing the locking cam (see para 1 above) or the gun buffer or cover components (easy to wrongly assemble). They could strip the muzzle parts from the barrel jacket which were retained using staked rings. Anyone seen or got one of the winding carbon cutters used to cut the carbon away from the bearing and cup? Shooters don't know what carbon fouling is until they have seen a 30 Browning that's been used for a weeks worth of live firing......

[Brit plumber]

[fjruple]

Brit Plumber--

I've been looking for one of those for the M1919A4 series of guns. The AN/M2 version are readily available.

Cheers

--fjruple

[Peter Laidler]

Hey......., that's the one! I haven't seen one for MANY years. When we had hundreds of Brownings in the last of our Centurions, Ferrets and early Chieftains we taught the Arms storemen to strip the muzzle barrel bearing and blast/recoil cup and dunk them in a large can of oil that was in the corner of the armoury. It saved the crews from cleaning them because after a few days in the oil, the carbon would be soft and easy to clean later in their own time.

Sorry if I've upset the health and safety apple-cart with the open drum of oil in the corner, bare hands dipped in to remove the bits, unguarded sharp carbon cutters.........

The Centurions could hold their own in any gunnery competition with/against the Chieftains. Don't know about their surviveability rate against Milan hits though