The bane of my shooting existence

I swear, half the reason that I keep this gun around is because it keeps me humble.



See those little rachety teeth about half an inch above the circular barrel opening? Well those are notches on the .30 barrel of the Browning Model 1919A4 machine gun that is driving me slowing but inexorably insane. And to get down to it, those notches are a major part of the pending insanity.

You see, in order for this wonderfully simple yet incredibly complex gun to fire, the barrel has to be just the right distance away from the bolt face, that distance being set by the operator, who turns that barrel one notch at a time until the setting is juuust right. Get it just a little bit wrong, and the gun goes "click" instead of "Rat-tat-tat..". Get it wrong enough and the gun goes "KA-BOOM!" and pieces-parts go flying every which way as the top cover blows open or even clean off the gun.
If you'll notice, there are no tick-marks or other labels to indicate when the barrel is lined up right. No, that would be too easy and no doubt deprive the ghost of John Moses Browning of more than a few chuckles as frustrated gunners have cursed and fiddled with that setting ever since the first World War. Instead, the setting is determined by pulling the bolt back about 3/4 of an inch, turning the barrel until you reach a setting where it will not completely close under spring pressure when the bolt is released, then going back one notch to the point where it just closes. Then you back it off two more notches for a .30 setting, or 4-5 notches for a .308 setting, and hopefully you're in business. Done right, you get a satisfying roar as the gun fires at a rate of 550 rounds per minute, give or take. Done wrong, and you look like a horses' ass as the gun does...well, nothing. (Or it goes "BLAMMO!" You'd rather it do nothing...trust me there.)

I've just spent the last half and hour re-setting the headspace on this one.Why half an hour? Because despite the fairly thorough cleaning that I gave it at Aaron's place last week, when I slid the barrel and other internals out of the gun, (and to get the barrel out, everything else has to come out, too) I kept finding more bits and pieces that weren't quite clean/lubricated enough, so I had to keep side-tracking to tend to that stuff before sliding the whole mess back together again. I guess this is what happens when you try to clean a gun, drink beer, and watch Burn Notice, all without getting any dirt or cleaning solution at all on Aaron's wife's basement carpeting.

Anyway, the reason for my annoyance with this setting is that, while out with the gun and Aaron last week, a bullet lodged in the barrel forced me to strip this gun down in the field, and while reassembling the smoking-hot components, I screwed up the headspace and could not get the gun to fire again no matter what I did. Granted the parts were all very hot and difficult to work on, and Aaron's constant yelling about how the Germans were coming while he videotaped my cursing and fumbling certainly didn't help, but it still shouldn't have happened. While I was fairly comfortable working on this gun on my gun room workbench, I failed miserably at trying to repair it under field conditions...on the ground, in the sand, with the parts all hot enough to fry eggs on and covered with hot oil.

So there was a lesson learned here, and it's one that all shooters should take something from no matter how complex or simple your gun is: Know your equipment, and know it intimately enough that you can fix it when it goes down, not on a toolbench or kitchen table later, but right then and there under operating conditions. The same holds true whether you're trying to lay down suppressing fire with a GPMG, shooting an M-1/M14 in a rifle match, or firing a CAR-15, a shotgun or your favorite pistol in a true self-defense situation. Hopefully it'll never quit on you, and if it does, with any luck it'll only be during a practice session, but Murphy's a bastard and you should be able to diagnose and fix simple problems when and where they happen, because if you really need that gun, the need doesn't go away just because the gun stops working. Can you clear a jam in your carry gun instantly and by feel if need be? if it's more serious than a stove-pipe or double-feed, can you withdraw and quickly tear it down to remove a broken case or replace a broken firing pin right where you are? Do you know what tools you need, and which substitutes will work in a pinch? And do you carry or at least keep handy the small spare parts that you're most likely to need?

If the answer to any of these questions is "no" or "I'm not sure..." then you might want to buy a manual and the requisite parts and tools and make such drills part of your practice sessions. Your life, or that of someone else, may depend on it someday.

In real life, it probably will never come to such a scenario, but is that a gamble that you're willing to take? A shot missed due to a malfunction or a breakage is just as bad as one missed due to poor marksmanship. We all practice marksmanship. But when's the last time that you've practiced realistic stoppage and repair drills?