Ancillary gear for the M60 GPMG

[kato13]

ReHerakhte 10-14-2003, 05:01 AM G'Day all,

I have a question for those of you who have experience with the M60 in US military service, but first some background info...


I aquired a peice of gear while in the Army Reserve here in Australia that is basically a heavy duty fabric bag with a metal zipper and 'stiffening' plate of sheet metal on the righthand side, those of us who have used it just assumed it was an ammo carrier for the M60 as it fits perfectly onto the side catch on an M60 and will hold a 100-rd link belt of 7.62mmN. There is some very faded printing on the outside with the only visible word being 'MAGAZINE' and what looks like the number 7.62 although only the 7 is clear enough to determine with the 6 very faint.


I have had this item for nearly 10 years and the guy I got it off had it for a few years before he gave it to me (when he was ending his time in the Reserve) but I never actually asked him where he got it from. It seems to be of the same type of manufacture as the US Army M1956 Load Carrying Equipment of the late 1950s/early 1960s. There are no maker's marks or tags and no other identifiers on the bag, only the words 'CONMAR' (in large font size) and 'MADE IN' (in smaller font size) and USA (in large font size) on the zipper e.g. CONMAR MADE IN USA. CONMAR is above MADE IN which is above USA.


I recently found it again after clearing some junk out of my shed and started to chase up its origins and have found that almost no-one in the military history community in Australia knows about it, who made it or when it might have come into the country. I have trawled through all the pictures I could find of the M60 in Australian and US service but have found nothing showing this ammo carrier/magazine in use.


So my question is this, do any of you have any knowledge of this item?

My curiousity has the better of me and I am very keen to find out the origins of this 'ammo carrier'. I am trying to get a friends digital camera to get photos done so hopefully will have some pics to post if it will help in identification.


Cheers,

Kevin

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MJGRIFF 10-14-2003, 10:10 PM Sorry partner but I never saw an "ammo bag" like the one your describing in our inventories. It might be a Vietnam era issue that didn't see much support and was sold off. I'll check around and post my findings.



Sua Sponte

Griff

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ReHerakhte 10-17-2003, 07:11 AM Thanks Griff, this thing is becoming more of a an oddity by the day. I should have some photos by this weekend to better illustrate what I'm talking about but so far, nearly every person I have contacted about this thing has said it's new to them. I have even been told by trhe curator of the Infantry Museum here in Aussie that he has been told by some senior infantry types that such a thing never existed!


Cheers,

Kevin.

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dawg180 10-18-2003, 03:20 PM ReHerakte,


You might try posting this over at www.ar15.com in the "NFA full auto" area. Also you might try www.1919a4.com which is pretty active on MG gear for all models. I swear the people who frequent those sites know EVERYTHING about every piece of gear ever developed!


Dawg


{edited}


Actually, hell, I have nothing better going on right now so I'll just repost your message over there and let you know what I find out!

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ReHerakhte 10-20-2003, 04:37 AM Thanks for the website suggestions Dawg, this thing is becoming more of a challenge by the day and so far nobody I have contacted seems to know of it.


I have included a pic to illustrate the carrier for those who are interested. Canteen is standard US style as issued to Aussie troops from the 1970s-1980s, the wooden ruler is marked off in blocks of 5cm.


Cheers,

Kevin

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ReHerakhte 10-20-2003, 04:39 AM I forgot to mention that the empty brass is 7.62mmNATO but this also gives me the opportunity to add another pic


The white material seen under the belt of empties is plastic shopping bags put in to bulk out the carrier.


Cheers,

Kevin

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dawg180 10-20-2003, 08:50 AM Reherakte,


Here is the reply I got from a guy by the handle "Delta6" on ar15.com. Hope this helps!


Dawg:

This bag you have is an early 100 ammo pouch for the M60. Very early guns, had a bracket riveted to the side of the gun and this pouch attached to it. Early feed trays did not have a hanger attached to them, they just had a set of rollers on the outside lip of the feed tray. When the gun was updated, the bracket was removed from the side of the gun and the hanger was added to the feed tray.


Here is the link to the thread in case you want to add any commentary, or ask more questions.


http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=...page=1#1322970

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ReHerakhte 10-21-2003, 04:09 AM Dawg, thanks for the info, this actually clears up quite a lot when combined with some info I got earlier today.

Basically what I was told today was, the Aussie Army had some of these ammo carriers but apparently they weren't too well liked so were typically left in storage and not kept as part of the normal kit for the gun.


Considering that every M60 I ever used over the time I was in had a bracket for attaching a smaller, metal ammo carrier and that this fabric carrier slots right into it, I would say that here in Australia we had the earlier style feed tray and it was never updated right up to the point when the -60s were replaced completely by the MAG58 in Aussie service.


Thanks again for your help, my curiousity has been satisfied!


Cheers,

Kevin

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