Oerlikon Gun spare part?

[Brad Deckard]

i have just opened a crate of Oerlikon spare parts wallets which I have had for a few years.

Inside these tool rolls I found three pieces of steel tubing.

These tool rolls are new old stock and dated 1941.

I have no idea why the rolls contained three tubes in each roll.. one big and two small in each.

Any ideas what they are for, were they part of the manufacturing of the rolls process?

any ideas..

Brad

[Colin Alford]

Brad,

This is only a guess as I do not know the normal contents of this tool roll.

The tool roll for the 2" Mortar has a metal-reinforced pouch which houses the bore brush. I presume that the purpose of the reinforcement is to protect the bristles from being damaged during rough handling.

The modern Canadian tool roll for the C6 GPMG contains a gas cylinder cleaning brush with soft nylon bristles. The brush is approx. 6" long by 1-1/2" in diameter. The bristles are very often squashed and the brush mangled by rough handling while packed in the tool roll.

Could the tubes in the Oerlikon tool rolls be designed to protect cleaning brushes?

Colin

[Brad Deckard]

Thats very interesting, I have a few spares and assorted tools for the Oerlikon, I will dig them out and look at the brushes.....

You may be right as the small ones are about 20mm brush size, and the big one could take the action cleaning brush....

I will check this and get back to you asap....

[Brad Deckard]

I checked the brushes.. They do not seem to fit.. The bore brush is too big for the small one and too little for the big one..

The action brushes also dont fit right.

I have most of the brushes in the Oerlikon kits and these dont fit any.

Could they be spacers which were left in the pouch when the factory made them, eg to get the correct size pouch hole inside the roll?

Im thinking the internal material is laid on top of these steel proformers and stitched around them, like a tool roll , but having said that why leave them inside?

Its a mystery..

Brad

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Brad Deckard

Could they be spacers which were left in the pouch when the factory made them, eg to get the correct size pouch hole inside the roll?

If I understood the original post correctly that all of the spare parts wallets have the tubes in them, it doesn't seem likely that even the dopiest of workers could get it wrong on 100% of a crate lot (unless they were trying...).

[Brad Deckard]

Yes they are in all the rolls... one big two small diameter.

[pekelney]

You can look at the detailed contents for the US version of the tool roll at:
https://maritime.org/tech/drawings/20mm/

FYI, USS Pampanito submarine museum is restoring an Oerlikon and is looking for some of the tools, and parts for a Mk 24 twin mount:
https://maritime.org/pres/20mm

rich