---
title: Clean weapons shoot straight
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/clean-weapons-shoot-straight-1944/
description: 'Army conservation poster: a helmeted rifleman fires from cover in jungle foliage while a Japanese officer with a raised sword falls, hit.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Clean weapons shoot straight

**Content note:** Shows a Japanese soldier with a raised sword, shot and falling, in the printed wartime style of the sheet. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Clean weapons shoot straight, 1944 US poster: Army conservation poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/clean-weapons-shoot-straight-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/clean-weapons-shoot-straight-1944.jpg)

# Clean weapons shoot straight

Army conservation poster: a helmeted rifleman fires from cover in jungle foliage while a Japanese officer with a raised sword falls, hit. An inset panel lists small-arms cleaning and handling rules beside two cans of oil and rifle-bore cleaner. The picture ties clean weapons to surviving a charge; the panel carries the practical instructions.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Clean Weapons Shoot Straight
Get this Straight too . . .
Daily care of SMALL ARMS
is the IMPORTANT THING!
Clean and Oil Regularly . . .
Always clean after firing and for three successive days thereafter.  Never let a weapon remain wet or dirty.  Clean and oil at once to prevent rust.  (Don't forget the clips and magazines.)
Handle and Ship Carefully . . .
Don't drop, bang, or throw weapons.  Never tinker or try unauthorized repairs or adjustments.  Before storing or shipping, apply Compound, Rust-Preventive, Light.  Store in a dry place.  When shipping, rack weapons individually in crate.  Never throw together.
USE THESE  THEY FIT IN YOUR CARTRIDGE BELT
[can label:] POISON NOT TO BE USED AS FOOD CONTAINER 2 OZ. PL OIL, LUBRICATING PRESERVATIVE SPECIAL USA 2-120 PG NO (28-024) 44 4073
[can label:] POISON DO NOT USE AS FOOD CONTAINER 2 OZ. CLEANER RIFLE BORE USA 2-117 SHAKE WELL BEFORE USING PG NO (28-024) 44-40 700-2
U.S. ARMY SAVE CONSERVATION PROGRAM
ARMY CONSERVATION PROJECT NO. 120-O-20.
[imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944—O—619350]
DISTRIBUTION—Continental: AAF (2); AGF (2); ASF (2); C in barracks (6), in tents or hutments (1); F in barracks (6), in tents or hutments (1); Overseas: Special Distribution
```

[← Clean up oil spots: look where you step](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/clean-up-oil-spots-1944/) [Cold facts: wise GI's winterize →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cold-facts-wise-gis-winterize-1944/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written.
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms.
- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
- [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)