Semi MG08

[1851NAVY]

MG34nz's restoration of the chrome MG08 was truly inspiring as I've been working on a semi auto 08 for a while. I bought the parts almost piece by piece so it's not matching but it is mostly late war DWM. I lucked into a few choice items on the net and found a decent ZF12 sight at the Creek last October. Most of the parts were bought from a board member here. It's a combination of a few guns - I used a 1910 Russian lock and barrel so it's 7.62x54r, Vickers connecting link (headspaceable), fusee spring and steel feed block (converted to 7.62x54r) and a Chinese fusee cover. I picked up the trench mount at the last WW1 event (IMA I believe) and made the legs for it. The right side plate has an integral denial island and there is a second denial island welded to the bottom plate. At this point it's ready to fire although time hasn't allowed it. The helmet belonged to my great grandfather - Prussian pre-WW1.

[42rocker]

Looks way to cool. Having that piece with family piece really special flavor to it.
Good Job Good Luck with the first time out.

Later 42rocker

[www.Prussia.us]

Wow, anytime there is an MG08 you have my attention, but especially having your great-grandfather's helmet that is totally outstanding. Half of my family is from Prussia, so I TOTALLY appreciate your heritage.

Now to the build (looks great), what did you go with as to semi-auto internals, Lonnie's or Midwest's?

[mg34nz]

That looks great, well done! I love the trench mount.

MG34NZ

[1851NAVY]

I went with Lonnies parts but had to do some modification on the trigger bar - the 1910 and 08 are a bit different in that area.


Prussia - is there any way I can get some info on my great grandfather from overseas? I don't know much about him or his unit and have always wanted to research it. We also have the horsehair plume that screws into the top of the helmet and his sword. If you can point me in a direction that would be very appreciated.

[IMBLITZVT]

Very Cool!

Prussia, he is the other guy from your state. So you might see it at your local range!

[bmg17a1]

Several people have called me about semi 08 conversions asking about Lonnie's approval letter for his design. I have asked a number of people but they don't know or have never heard that he does. Can you tell us if there is an approval letter for His design?

Bob Naess

[1851NAVY]

Bob,

I can't answer that question - not sure.

[IMBLITZVT]

Several people have called me about semi 08 conversions asking about Lonnie's approval letter for his design. I have asked a number of people but they don't know or have never heard that he does. Can you tell us if there is an approval letter for His design?

Bob Naess

Its been coming for years... but to my knowledge, nothing yet. Every time I talk to Lonnie its about done but I think someone needs to help him do the final step. I know he has had lots of health issues too.

The other MG08 semi being worked on is using the Russian lock with the 8mm Conversion to allow it to headspace and work with Dennis's design. The real issue I see with Dennis's design is that small box on the bottom means you can't mount it to the MG08 Sled anymore. Or I guess you could cut the cradle to clear the box. OR even better buy my spare cradle to cut so you don't have to modify yours.

[bmg17a1]

>It's been coming for years... but to my knowledge, nothing yet. Every time I talk to Lonnie its about done but I think someone needs to help him do the final step. I know he has had lots of health issues too.<

Yeah, not a good situation, and there will be no letter of approval. I put together one of his 1910 conversions a couple year ago and it was ten minutes worth of work to assemble FA parts and run FA. No way ATF would ever approve it.I will not do another one.
Dennis is evolving his 1910 design using the exterior mounted box so the conversion will fit the 08 mounts and also looking to do an applicable design for the 08/15s which will not accept the 1910 system.

Bob Naess

[alpencorps]

here a German Semi-Auto conversion,
made by a Gunsmith in munic,

[www.Prussia.us]

I went with Lonnies parts but had to do some modification on the trigger bar - the 1910 and 08 are a bit different in that area.


Prussia - is there any way I can get some info on my great grandfather from overseas? I don't know much about him or his unit and have always wanted to research it. We also have the horsehair plume that screws into the top of the helmet and his sword. If you can point me in a direction that would be very appreciated.

Great question, It depends, many records have been lost. I believe you can contact an auxiliary organization that has some troop rolls, if your German Language skills are proficient you will have better luck. It is so strange, too many Germans lack national pride, and do not respect the state of Prussia. That state was both the shield and backbone of Germany, if not for Prussia, Germany as we know it would have been demolished by Sweden, Russia, Poland, Austria, and France at some point over the past 300 years.

AlpenCorps, That is a very nice looking weapon, our laws are quite different, but how does your run semi-auto (basically, you do not have to disclose any secrets).

Also how common are they in the Fatherland?

[alpencorps]

hello,
The conversion cut the Triggerbar, see pic..
A further amendment prevents the exchange of full auto parts with semi auto parts
see picture with extractor and Feddblock..
from the outside to detect the conversion only to the little piece under the bottom plate.
Receiver ist original, only aapprox 5 mmx 12mm Slot is machined in the bottom plate.
Needed to held in place the small, rear part of the Triggerbar with a screw.

[alpencorps]

Also how common are they in the Fatherland?

I dont know, may bee 5 or 10 guns?

with one owener im in contact...

[www.Prussia.us]

Vielen Dank, Alpencorps

It is tragic there are not more semi-auto MG08s in the Fatherland where they were made, it seems all the collectors in the world want German military guns.

German military guns are to gun collecting what Impressionist paintings are to the art industry regarding market demand.

[1851NAVY]

Fired pretty well at Newville! Didn't take a round count but was very content (and broke) after the weekend.

[mg34nz]

Looking good, great to see you have had it out for a bit of "exercise"
MG34NZ

[messerschmittfan]

I went with Lonnies parts but had to do some modification on the trigger bar - the 1910 and 08 are a bit different in that area.


Prussia - is there any way I can get some info on my great grandfather from overseas? I don't know much about him or his unit and have always wanted to research it. We also have the horsehair plume that screws into the top of the helmet and his sword. If you can point me in a direction that would be very appreciated.

Do you know what city he was born in? Normally the churches in Germany have a good inventory of records. The problem of Prussia is that it was disappeared after WWII. A good portion of it is now Poland. It was given to the Soviets by the UN in 1946/47 to administer and by 1953 Stalin had moved the Polish boarder west and he incorporated the eastern part of Poland into the UdSSR. If your grandfather was born in a part of Prussia that is Brandenburg in what used to be west Prussia there is a chance you could track his history. If he was born in east Prussia then the chances are slim to none as the Poles destroyed a lot of the old records. I was a Foreign Area Officer for East Germany in the Army and then later an advisor for 28 years for the Headquarters in Heidelberg, having just retired and returned home to Arizona. My advice to you would be to check the relatives and find out where he was born. If you have his family name with the correct German spelling you could do a search on the Internet for the origins of the name. Once you have zeroed in on a town or group of towns you could write the churches in that area for assistance. I found information on one of our German relatives this way but it was in Baden Wuerttemberg. If he was a staff officer or a General staff officer you should be able to locate his history quickly as that would be entered in the church records as that meant a lot to the Germans back then. The churches have a lot more power in Germany than they do in the USA. Normally they have at least one translator in the larger cities that can translate the Old script into English. Remember that the written German language is different in both print and hand before 1945. Since then they have used the "latin/Roman" western script before it was the Germanic and Sütterlinschrift There are a lot of English family names in the middle of Prussia as the Prussian king gave land grants to English Officers for their assistance at the Battle of Waterloo. I hope this has helped somewhat. Harry

[1851NAVY]

Harry - yes - that's a great help!

I had forgotten my parents had his sword, drum and cap as well. I have studied the hat and sword and there is nothing marked as far as regiments or numbers. An interesting note - you mentioned the spelling may be different - it was. Our family records show his name was Oscar Heintz. When I disassembled his helmet to clean off some of the green oxidization of brass, under one of the parts - where it was invisible unless disassembled - was scribed "Oskar Heintz". We had been spelling his name wrong for a century. It occurred to me that the last time anyone had read those words was likely the day he scribed it on the helmet himself.

The hat is marked "Militair Offecton (? not sure of script spelling), D.David, Berlin, Gips Str 23" and is in very nice condition. The sword is an 1851 model made by Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Co and is excellent condition also.

Thank you for the information - it is greatly appreciated!

[www.Prussia.us]

Fired pretty well at Newville! Didn't take a round count but was very content (and broke) after the weekend.

Very nice! Good thing you are not in NY, or the Stasi would have shut you down for having more than 7 rounds in that belt.