FM 23-45 Basic Field Manual
30
In order to avoid serious injury to personnel, the precautions outlined should be
carefully observed.
■56. Blank Firing Attachment.—
a.
Never attempt to use the muzzle attachment unless the cartridge stop attachment
is in its proper place in the feedway.
b.
Always remove the muzzle attachment before removing the cartridge stop
attachment in order to eliminate the possibility of firing ball ammunition with the
muzzle attachment still in position.
c.
See that the muzzle attachment is cleaned inside before using.
■57. H
OT GUN.—
a.
To avoid serious burns, care must be exercised that the barrel and jacket are not
touched with bare hands. For moving the gun or disassembling a hot barrel, the
asbestos mittens should be used.
b.
If the barrel becomes overheated after protracted periods of firing, the gun should
be cleared immediately on suspending or ceasing fire. The heat of the barrel will cause
the gun to fire without pulling the trigger, if a round is left a short time in the chamber
of an overheated barrel.
■58. S
AFETY PRECAUTIONS ON THE RANGE.—Safety precautions for range firing are
included elsewhere in this manual and are not repeated here.
S
ECTION X
AMMUNITION
■59. General.—The information in this section pertaining to the several types of
cartridges authorized for use in the Browning machine gun, caliber .30, M1919A4,
includes a description of the cartridges, means of identification, care, use, and ballistic
data.
■60. C
LASSIFICATION.—
a.
Based upon use, the principal classification of the ammunition for this machine
gun is—
(1) Ball, for use against personnel and light materiel targets.
(2) Tracer, for observation of fire and incendiary purposes.
(3) Armor piercing, for use against armored vehicles, concrete shelters, and
similar bullet resistant targets.
b.
Other types provided for special purposes are—
(1) Blank, for simulated fire.
(2) Dummy, for training (cartridges are inert).
■61. L
OT NUMBERS.—When ammunition is manufactured, an ammunition lot number
which becomes an essential part of the marking is assigned in accordance with
pertinent specifications. This lot number is marked on all packing containers and on
the identification card enclosed in each packing box. It is required for all purposes of
record, including grading and use, reports on condition, functioning, and accidents in
which the ammunition might be involved. Only those lots of grades appropriate for the
weapon will be fired. Since it is impractical to mark the ammunition lot number on
each individual cartridge, every effort will be made to maintain the ammunition lot
number with the cartridges once they are removed from their original packing.
Cartridges which have been removed from the original packing and for which the
ammunition lot number has been lost are placed in grade 3. It is therefore obvious that
when cartridges are removed from their original packings they should be so marked
that the ammunition lot number is preserved.
