DoctorCheney223
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- Henderson, NV
I bought this M60A1 project from the widow of Steve Preston's after he suffered from a catastrophic accident in his M-41 Walker Bulldog and passed away. I didn't go looking for it but it was offered to me and because it had all the proper release paperwork from the USMC and Department of Navy, I went ahead and purchased it. It was demilled according to the rules at the time in 1993 by cutting out the armor where the driver sits and making deep torch cuts into the hull and the turret. Included with the purchase was a NOS power pack and a conex full of spare parts.
Even with ALL the parts we received, I still had to search and locate more parts from various dealers. We used 3" thick still to replace the armor that was removed the hull where the driver sits. We didn't need to go that thick even though the original armor was a bit thicker but we figured we might as well do it as close to original as possible. All of the torch cuts throughout the hull and turret were "V" cut with an angle grinder and filled with LOTS of weld. After all the welding was done, we dropped the engine and had to source new wiring harnesses from from various parts dealers. Some of the sellers were only used to selling to foreign governments and were surprised to find out that we had a complete and ready-to-run M60 that was legal. The keyword being legal, so they sold us all the parts we needed.
The original main gun had a cut breech ring and the barrel was torch-cut in the breech portion. Just as luck would have it, another collector named James DeGroat actually had a registered M68 breech ring and barrel. I didn't say a word about me owning a M60 (that just happened to need a M68 ring and barrel) and told him that I wanted to add it to my collection. We agreed on a price and he drove it out to Vegas after the transfer paperwork was by the BATF. My staff went to work right away and got everything swapped over and rebuilt the cylinders to keep everything safe from the recoil. One of the guys that was on the restoration team was a M60 tanker in the US Army from 1976 to 1982. Brett was a real help putting it all back together and making everything work. The main gun is live and we fire 105mm rounds with a 26-pound inert projectile. It REALLY give a thump and kicks up all the dirt and dust around the tank.
One thing that I take away from all this is the safety and precautions involved in making tanks live again. There are no short-cuts or inexpensive ways around shooting tanks. I've heard various sides about Steve Preston's catastrophic accident and I don't know what did or did happen but it DID set the standard for how we do things. We never fire main gun from inside the turret. Everything we do is done from the rear deck on top of the tank via a remote detonator (M60 tanks had remote detonators in the event they lost all power, they could still fire rounds). This was our first live-fire tank restoration and again, it set the standard on how we do things. If any of you ever find yourself in the possession of a live-fire tank, PLEASE reach out to me and get all the information you need. I would have no problem with you flying out to Vegas to get understanding of how things work and why they work. There is no room for error in the big bang collecting game.
The first pic is what it looked like when we received it and the others are of us using it at our "FOB" and Big Sandy.
V/R
Ron
Even with ALL the parts we received, I still had to search and locate more parts from various dealers. We used 3" thick still to replace the armor that was removed the hull where the driver sits. We didn't need to go that thick even though the original armor was a bit thicker but we figured we might as well do it as close to original as possible. All of the torch cuts throughout the hull and turret were "V" cut with an angle grinder and filled with LOTS of weld. After all the welding was done, we dropped the engine and had to source new wiring harnesses from from various parts dealers. Some of the sellers were only used to selling to foreign governments and were surprised to find out that we had a complete and ready-to-run M60 that was legal. The keyword being legal, so they sold us all the parts we needed.
The original main gun had a cut breech ring and the barrel was torch-cut in the breech portion. Just as luck would have it, another collector named James DeGroat actually had a registered M68 breech ring and barrel. I didn't say a word about me owning a M60 (that just happened to need a M68 ring and barrel) and told him that I wanted to add it to my collection. We agreed on a price and he drove it out to Vegas after the transfer paperwork was by the BATF. My staff went to work right away and got everything swapped over and rebuilt the cylinders to keep everything safe from the recoil. One of the guys that was on the restoration team was a M60 tanker in the US Army from 1976 to 1982. Brett was a real help putting it all back together and making everything work. The main gun is live and we fire 105mm rounds with a 26-pound inert projectile. It REALLY give a thump and kicks up all the dirt and dust around the tank.
One thing that I take away from all this is the safety and precautions involved in making tanks live again. There are no short-cuts or inexpensive ways around shooting tanks. I've heard various sides about Steve Preston's catastrophic accident and I don't know what did or did happen but it DID set the standard for how we do things. We never fire main gun from inside the turret. Everything we do is done from the rear deck on top of the tank via a remote detonator (M60 tanks had remote detonators in the event they lost all power, they could still fire rounds). This was our first live-fire tank restoration and again, it set the standard on how we do things. If any of you ever find yourself in the possession of a live-fire tank, PLEASE reach out to me and get all the information you need. I would have no problem with you flying out to Vegas to get understanding of how things work and why they work. There is no room for error in the big bang collecting game.
The first pic is what it looked like when we received it and the others are of us using it at our "FOB" and Big Sandy.
V/R
Ron
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