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5/22/2025 6:48:34 PM EDT
After almost nine years of searching, I finally found one of the absolute hardest parts to find if you want to make your 249 look retro neato, a complete early top cover/feed cover/neato thingee.  I just received it today and I'm posting some pictures before I clean it up.  It might look grungy and rough but that's nothing more than over 30 years of dust and funk from sitting plus the fact that it's bone dry.  It should shine up almost like a new penny with some cleaning and lubrication.  

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Now, this isn't the earliest issue version.  That one had a loaded indicator but it was soon pulled out of service (or at least had their indicator parts removed) and replaced with this version which saw service in the Gulf War.  I don't know the exact year the railed covers were adopted but, as the MG's were updated with them, it's believed that the non-railed covers were supposed to be destroyed, leaving very few of them floating around.  

You can tell by lack of wear on the feed pawls and the yellowed but still totally present paint on the rear sight that this jobber saw very little use.  I'll spend this evening cleaning it up and feeling like a kid on Christmas morning.  Perseverance pays off!

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I found most of the rest of the parts years ago but this bit has been a long quest.  Here's my 249 looking mostly retro minus this top cover:

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5/22/2025 8:48:55 PM EDT
[#1]
That’s pretty sweet. One of my biggest regrets is finding one YEARS ago that had been converted to semiautomatic. It was $250 and that was a lot of money for me at the time. But I could have done it and I passed. The gun was in rough condition but restoration was my thing at the time.

That one was the worst pass I’ve made.

Enjoy your beautiful gun.
5/29/2025 12:10:47 AM EDT
[#2]
That's rad!  I need to find an original handguard.  Where did you get that one?
5/29/2025 12:37:31 AM EDT
[#3]
Very nice, OP.  Now you need a Humvee to go underneath it.
5/29/2025 11:34:58 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote History
Originally Posted By Elcunning:

That's rad!  I need to find an original handguard.  Where did you get that one?
View Quote



I found it in Europe.  I have another but it's missing the internal springs that hold the cleaning kit in place and, while it's in very good shape, it's not in unissued condition like the one pictured is.  The springs are available online for about $12 each (you need 2).  If you're interested, shoot me a PM and I'll send you a few pictures.
5/29/2025 11:35:30 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote History
Originally Posted By backbencher:
Very nice, OP.  Now you need a Humvee to go underneath it.
View Quote


Nope.  Out of my price range!
5/29/2025 11:48:32 PM EDT
[#6]
Also, the cover cleaned up just as well as I expected.  It looks almost new.  I'll post some pictures of it assembled to the rifle before too long.
5/30/2025 1:54:25 PM EDT
[#7]
Glad you were able to find one man. Looks sick.
"That pistol just kept saying, let go of my ears, you don't know what you're doing." - thehellbringer

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