www.MG42.us

Anyone have experience with the MG08/15?

A new toy, 1917 Erfurt,
It comes on a bipod with the the 100 round drum, one, belt and a hose, I have a bit of a wait. I ordered the "Devils Paint Brush" book. I have a few original WW2 manuals. Any thoughts on other stuff, books, accessories that I may need? Any tips on shooting it? I saw that at one time, a tripod adaptor was made? I was wondering if I had an adaptor made, what would be the best tripod to use (MG42 Lafette, Mg3, Mg3AA or 1919?)

Thanks Pat

Back a few years guys were using Bren tripods because they were cheap and everywhere. Now they're not. There are still tripods for the MG3s and some guys have made up adapters for them too. You can adapt to any tripod if you're handy. I had mine on a bren tripod. They work just fine on the bipods too.
You'll need belts. Most of us have been using vickers belts because they were available and worked well. They're not so available anymore but you can still find them if you look.
The locks are something you'll want to stock up on. Having 2 or 3 working locks can save you a lot of pain and heartache when you're at shoot and something breaks. Its a lot easier to swap out a lock than to try and swap out a firing pin or spring.
The firing pin springs aren't really strong so ammo with hard primers probably won't work. The romanian stuff worked really well in mine and so did the Portuguese.
Once you get the thing in your hands you'll have more specific questions.
If the gun was ever a Dewat its likely the feed lever on the feedblock has been broken off and either replaced or fixed. The fixed ones can be a source mysterious issues. Guys tend to weld them back together at a 90 deg angle which looks good but keeps the feedpawl from pushing the round over far enough.

You should enjoy the gun if you like tinkering and fiddling. If you're more an M16 type who likes an MG that just works without effort it will be a good way to suffer.

Frank

Thanks, that is great info, I have an MG3AA tripod and and I adpted a 1919 pintle to work with an Mg3. If I adapt that, I will have a couple of options. Does anybody have recommendations on manuals, which ones?

Pat

The single best operating manual for the MG 08/15 would be HDv 368. There is also a parts book with everything listed and named, and a very well illustrated picture book. See www.Germanmanuals.com for details and pictures of each.

I'd suggest Johns manuals too and I'm not connected in any way. His translations are top notch and quality of the manuals is excellent. Even if you can read German finding an original manual will be difficult and very pricy.

At one time IMA sold the socket for the bipod as a separate piece for those who wanted to adapt the guns to other mounts. I don't know if they still do but its worth looking into. I've seen more than one gun sitting on an AA mount with one of the IMA sockets.


Hope that helps
Frank

I contacted IMA to and ask about buying the socket for the bipod as a separate piece or a complete BIPOD.
They replied promptly telling me that the Bipods were out of stock.

Maybe my local gunsmith can fabricate an adaptor that will fit onto where the Bipod attaches on the MG08/15 and then to my MG3 AA tripod?

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated,

Pat

Does anyone have a link or photos of the MG08/15 ammo Cans?

I will get the drum with my gun, I have seen the drum cans, but I can not seem to find photos of the regular ammo can?

Thanks Pat

Well, Form 4 Trust mailed 1 April 16, Approved 2 Jan 17. I will test it out this weekend, I have some New Romanian Steel Cased Ammo. I was thinking of sticking with 8MM, maybe get some Prvi and shoot it then reload?

It came with the Drum and a 250 round Cloth Belt. Which is impossible to load by hand. So, I ordered the Repro Water can and a couple of Aluminum 250 Belts from IMA. Just when I got to the point where I knew what I was doing (mostly) with the MG42:) Now, this new challenge, learning all about it is fun.

Any thoughts or advice on running the MG08/15 is appreciated.

Thanks,

Interestingly enough, my 08/15 has misfeeds on the 170g ammunition (Romanian/Hotshot/etc.), but eats the 190+g stuff (PPU/Portuguese/etc.) like candy. The 170g is shorter in OAL than the 190+g, so that may be contributing. I'm using Vickers cloth belts.

Thanks, I got the aluminum belts, I thought that I would give those a try since you can load them without a loader.

Hope that you will share a few pics of your "new toy, 1917 Erfurt" sometime. Love to see it.
Tripods well cost of a simple Bren tripod is now about the same as an mg42/53 these days. Wow think about that one for a minute.

Good Luck and Enjoy. I just got a Vickers parts kit and can't wait till I get her finished and go to the range with her.

Later 42rocker

Some photos

What a Great Display. Thanks for Sharing.

Later 42rocker

Thanks, picked this up to go with it,

Waffentag great collection with all sorts of quality pieces. Can you post more images of the ammo box - I suspect its a WWII example.
Happy New Year.
Mark

Greetings, I am not a new member, I have not been on the forum for a while, I have been working on getting the 08/15 running. Have it on an MG3 tripod, which much better.

Good news is that the turk belts worked and ammo worked that did not work before the Bob Naess Lock Modification with the M1910 springs and firing pin for hard primers.

Still trying to stop the water leaks, I got the barrel sealed with a washer gasket combo like what Adco sells. Once that was fixed, the steam port leaked.

I’ll post video once I figure out how?

Some photos, will try video next