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M60 and sewage don't mix


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I carried and used an M60 for the first 5 months of my tour in RVN. I was handed it the first day in my unit as that was how a gunner got rid of carrying that 26 pound thing in the heat. That same day I was sent up with a Sgt. to knock out a sniper in Cho Lon which was the Chinese section of Saigon. We had to crawl in a drainage ditch filled with sewage (human type). We got up in position and the M60 would only fire once, then jam. Lift the cover, clear, load the belt and fire one round. Start all over for your single shot machine gun.

After a good cleaning, the first it may have seen for a while, it worked when called upon on in the following months. I never trusted it though and always glad I had a 1911 as a back up. The photo is sometime between March 68 and July 68.

 

http://crayonmedia.com/wayne/Vietnam/ARMY4.jpg

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You did a courageous job IMO sir. Thank you! I don't think any gas-operated MG would of fired either......

No thanks needed, but I appreciate it. After I got used to the M60 platform, I could have passed it on after only a month or so. Losing many men replacements were a constant, yet I liked the fire power. I was forced to give it up when I got my stripes and led the squad. In all honesty, upon reflection, that gun belonged in aircraft (Hueys) where it got good cooling and dust and mud weren't part of the equation. What I do remember is the following, walking though the bush I had a C-ration can clipped onto the left side with only around 30 belted rounds hanging down. Also the Huey guy's told me about putting a nickle behind the buffer to increase the rate of fire. I asked for a cleaning kit at one time as I wanted to clean the barrel and was told throw the barrel down a well and we will get you a new one! Later I found out the Govt. paid $600 for extra barrels. Somebody was getting rich, and at $84 a month it sure wasn't me :o

Edited by 11Bravo
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Cool post. Enjoyed reading it. Thanks for everything.

Eric

Found another picture, Sent home as a Rambo type for my Dad. I always hold him he didn't have the balls to be Infantry when he served in the Navy WWII. That was a funny jab I threw at him as he spent 13 days in a lift boat and was wounded in the invasion of Italy.

http://crayonmedia.com/wayne/Vietnam/army14.jpg

Edited by 11Bravo
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Very Good Story - Glad I did not have to go through that - As a Navy Officer I did not get to shoot the M60 much . ...But -

 

The M60 is still in use - Fast forward to late 2012 - Trainer for Navy Security forces

 

 

 

 

http://photos.imageevent.com/blinde/workpictures/websize/Brian%20w%20M-60.jpg

 

Or 2008 - Norfolk

http://photos.imageevent.com/blinde/workpictures/websize/ESS%20-%2013SEP05%20-%20DAY6%20_69_.JPG

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Funny thing during the time I was in the Regular Army and later in the National Guard even though I was an aviator in the units when in the field I was the one they came and got when a M60 malfunctioned. Seems I was the only one that regularly fired machine guns even if mine were antiques. Mostly it was operator error or poor maintenance causing the problem. We had a few M60s but the majority were M60Ds.

Never liked the M60, my earliest experience with belt feds in the Army was with the excellent M240 coxial gun on M60A1 tanks. Only problem I ever had with one was a runaway on a night range, wasn't a problem with the 240 but the electric solenoid used to fire it. The gunner controlled the firing from the opposite side of the tank from where the gun was mounted. I believe that gun fired over 3000 rounds without skipping a beat, being dark no one wanted to reach up in that confined space where the gun was and try to grab the belt. :)

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You did a courageous job IMO sir. Thank you! I don't think any gas-operated MG would of fired either......

No thanks needed, but I appreciate it. After I got used to the M60 platform, I could have passed it on after only a month or so. Losing many men replacements were a constant, yet I liked the fire power. I was forced to give it up when I got my stripes and led the squad. In all honesty, upon reflection, that gun belonged in aircraft (Hueys) where it got good cooling and dust and mud weren't part of the equation. What I do remember is the following, walking though the bush I had a C-ration can clipped onto the left side with only around 30 belted rounds hanging down. Also the Huey guy's told me about putting a nickle behind the buffer to increase the rate of fire. I asked for a cleaning kit at one time as I wanted to clean the barrel and was told throw the barrel down a well and we will get you a new one! Later I found out the Govt. paid $600 for extra barrels. Somebody was getting rich, and at $84 a month it sure wasn't me :o

 

We used small fruit juice cans in El Salvador on our M60Ds in a similar fashion in 1989. The flexible fed chutes caused constant stoppages just as they did in VN. We were chastised for it by the MILGP commander with him telling us to use the issued equipment. I arranged a test for him to show the differences in the two methods needless to say after constant failures with the fed chutes and none with the apple juice cans he left us alone after that.

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You did a courageous job IMO sir. Thank you! I don't think any gas-operated MG would of fired either......

No thanks needed, but I appreciate it. After I got used to the M60 platform, I could have passed it on after only a month or so. Losing many men replacements were a constant, yet I liked the fire power. I was forced to give it up when I got my stripes and led the squad. In all honesty, upon reflection, that gun belonged in aircraft (Hueys) where it got good cooling and dust and mud weren't part of the equation. What I do remember is the following, walking though the bush I had a C-ration can clipped onto the left side with only around 30 belted rounds hanging down. Also the Huey guy's told me about putting a nickle behind the buffer to increase the rate of fire. I asked for a cleaning kit at one time as I wanted to clean the barrel and was told throw the barrel down a well and we will get you a new one! Later I found out the Govt. paid $600 for extra barrels. Somebody was getting rich, and at $84 a month it sure wasn't me :o

We used small fruit juice cans in El Salvador on our M60Ds in a similar fashion in 1989. The flexible fed chutes caused constant stoppages just as they did in VN. We were chastised for it by the MILGP commander with him telling us to use the issued equipment. I arranged a test for him to show the differences in the two methods needless to say after constant failures with the fed chutes and none with the apple juice cans he left us alone after that.

It's a funny thing when something in the field is made to work, then the "Brass" complains? A bit off topic, but I remember a few things we developed for survival. We were a Mech unit with our M113s and took to carrying PSP plates on the tracks side (shown in first picture). Helped as reactive armor to maybe help with the RPGs. At night positions we put up a cyclone fence in front of the track, same reason. Then the motor pool made up extended laterals for the track driver. In this way he drove from on top of the track, in this way a mine wouldn't screw him up as the rest of us were always on top. Prior to that the driver sand bagged the floor under his seat, and he sat on his flak jacket to protect his family jewels. Edited by 11Bravo
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