BRP Firing pin in WLA M53

[Der Alder]

I've seen where some guys have swapped out their 2 piece WLA M53 firing pins for the BRP 1 piece FP. The 2 piece FP in my M53 has held up so far, but I know the day will come. I've been collecting spare parts and WLA no longer supplies parts for these guns anymore, including the FP's. I emailed them and they basically told me I was SOL. But I'd like some spare semi-auto FP's to have in my parts box.

That said, what all is involved in converting a WLA M53 to a BRP FP? Can you just swap them or is there machining involved? Anyone have any experience doing this?

[ww2gunz]

It seems that you have received some incorrect information. WLA is building M42/M53 semi autos and will also supply most of the parts anyone needs. Call 940-433-8013 and ask for Frank.

[42rocker]

ww2gunz
It's nice to see your posting about wiselite. They have had stuff for sale then it seemed that nothing was avaible with an effort on gunbroker to sell everything (I believe) then it seems like they are slowly going back into the parts supply field. Hope that all goes well and they get back on top of everything again in both rebuilding and parts as it would aid the mg42 market.

********** Also Welcome to the board ******************

Later 42rocker

[Mechwarrior]

I actually heard bad things about WLA, and if you think about it, they dumped on the home builders that got them started and decided to work for century making weapons for them. I also hear the stuff they sold on GB was seconds that did not pass the century "quality control". I say that because century quality is not all that. I owned an L1A1 built by them and it would only feed hunting ammo. At $20.00 per box of 20 rounds.......that sucked to say the least. My DSA will go through anything i put in it........bottom line, ya get what you pay for.

As far as converting firing pins, i don't know of the design of the WLA made bolt, but the BRP bolt was a breeze. I am sure it should be simple to swap, i would call BRP and ask Brian. He would be able to tell you for sure.

[Mechwarrior]

Thing is, what i heard about them, is from a very upstanding and reliable source. Not tying to bash anybody, just sharing info that was passed to me. If anyone would like, i can share the whole story here.

[blackreichswehr]

Mechwarrior, what's your story--half a fact is not good for the jury.

[Der Alder]

It seems that you have received some incorrect information. WLA is building M42/M53 semi autos and will also supply most of the parts anyone needs. Call 940-433-8013 and ask for Frank.

Oh really?...Well if the info I received is incorrect, then that incorrect info came directly from WLA via an email I received from them:
-------
On Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:55:55 -0400, ""

> I have a WLA M53 and would like to purchase the front firing pin and the
> longer rear firing pin.
> I can provide pictures or specs of my existing firing pins if needed.
>
> Thanks
---------

Dear Sir,

We are no longer manufacturing the firearm and do not have any spare
parts available.

Thanks,
WLA
-------
My reply to the above response from WLA (which I never heard back from):


Tony,

Given the reply from you to my question about purchasing a firing pin I
guess anyone who buys an expensive WiseLite Arms firearm and needs a simple
high wear part shortly thereafter is out of luck?

Nice to know that I spent over $2500 on Wiselite built firearm and even the
most simple high wear WLA semi-auto proprietary parts will not be supplied
shortly after it was manufactured.

WLA does not have even the simplest high wear spare parts in stock and has
no intentions of supplying its customers in the future with something as
simple as a firing pin just couple of years after manufacturing it? Or did I
read your reply the wrong way? You gotta be kidding me........?.
--------------
No response since after many months...

I only take the time to post this because I was told I was given "incorrect" info here.

*IF* WLA is now supplying parts for their guns again after *they* incorrectly told me otherwise, then I challenge them to look for the above time stamp correspondence, find the above email and reply to me now with the "correct" info. I'll let you know if I hear back. I won't hold my breath though......

[drooling idiot]

you'd be so much better off making your own 2 piece FP from material bought cheap from mcmaster-carr and an original front pin.

http://mg42.us/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=546 ... lar#p42238

I've been testing a duplicate of that for over a year now with great results. prototypes were made with 5/32" A2(?) steel rod with collars hard soldered on to hold up the ejector tube and limit the pin position, figured to get the finished pin machined from one piece for better durability and looks.

I've popped around 700 rds of .308/7.62X51 with it of every make i could find , but mostly SA and wolf for fun .
then moved onto 8MM , currently at around 400 rds of various makes and years only one dud , but a good primer dent. A lot of that i credit to the light mass of the 5/32" pin , it doesn't have much inertial to sap energy and is easy to temper with a B tank.

Try -
4.92" OAL
.44" from front of pin to start of front collar
.98" from rear of pin to start of rear collar

These dimensions will prevent the pin from being assembled back-wards,won't setting off "soft" primers, and MOST important no more possibility of OOB because the energy of the hammer will be absorbed by the firing pin holder unless the bolt is locked.

None of the commercial designs have adopted the front collar to stop OOBs and some designs will let you install the rear pin in backwards causing a run away.

[Mechwarrior]

Here's the info i have and wish to pass on; like i said, i am not on anybody's side and don't really care either way but, after you spend thousands and then don't get good customer service........that's not cool.

I suggest switching to the BRP 1 piece firing pin, mine works great.

I have to post this in 2 parts because it is 2 big to post as 1.

Anyway here's the notice as follows;

Part 1,

Because there have been a number of posts talking about Wiselite Arms selling off parts in the last week or two, I thought it prudent to warn the membership about dealing with Wiselite arms or purchasing their parts.

We stopped offering products from Wiselite for the second time due to horrific and abusive customer support and more than one member here has reported significant problems dealing with them on the phone, and as a result stated they would never purchase from them again. A couple days later I found out what they were talking about, when one of their staff that appears to run the place wrote me an extremely derogatory email, stating I was wrong, when in fact I was correct. After I proved it in the following email things went downhill from there.

I emailed the owner "TONY" directly about the issue a number of times and to this days I have never received a response, which is no way to run a company, especially were they were offering the parts to the weaponeer community.

There have been far too many shipping errors from them, and in one case I had to intervene in one shipment when they shipped a machinegun receiver to a customer rather than a semi-auto receiver. I was the one that identified it was a machinegun based on questions from the customer due to the condition of the parts. The WLA "staff" was oblivious as to the issue, and it was me that saved them, and protected them from having a major legal problem.

[Mechwarrior]

Part 2,

Despite that, our members as well as I had more and more problems with the staff, and their projects slipping from weeks to 6 months, to never happening again. So it was the Weaponeer Members who were screwed in the end. Last I heard, they no longer had a C2/SOT FFL Licenses, and were dumping their remaining inventory of seconds (lesser quality parts) onto the market, especially Gunbroker.

Members can make up their minds if they wish to deal with a former Century Arms firearm manufacturer (they lost their contract with Century Arms) that is dumping its parts on the market that did not pass quality control for Century firearms.

I’m the owner and founder of Weaponeer.net, and I'm also a full time product tester and reviewer, and I cannot and WILL NOT recommend ANY products and/or services formerly from or currently from Wiselite Arms. I have not seen nor heard anything that would change my mind on that fact; in fact it's been entirely the opposite.

If you wish to take the chance and deal with them anyway, weaponeer.net will in no way be held responsible for their actions, products or services.

[42rocker]

Mechwarrior

Thanks you for your statement of your being the "owner and founder of Weaponeer.net, and I'm also a full time product tester and reviewer" It lets us know your background.
For what I have seen wiselite has had some major ups and major downs. We have seen folks post about great help from them to others that were just plain bad. Myself I have a receiver that will need to be re-welded before it can be used.

For all said and done it's a shame that we have a producer that has helped and yet has had their down times. I hope that things redo and reset and get better.

Later 42rocker

[Mechwarrior]

42rocker, i am not actually the owner of weaponeer, the info i shared is from him. I am a site sponsor, moderator, and builder from weaponeer..........right now i only build for myself. I am in the process of purchasing a lathe to start making parts to sell. It goes way beyond parts though, i am not gonna say right now what i am going to offer but, it will be welcomed by all. My background is construction, but i have for years had a passion for machines, it started out with engines. I used to build engines for specific purposes such as hauling and racing. After i got my first rifle at the age of 26, (it was an sks) i fell in love and moved away from engines and onto rifles.

The first rifle i built was a galil. I had a great time doing it. But after a while i started to question, was that building, or mearly assembling parts which is also done in a factory setting by fairly unskilled labor?

So i went 1step further, i decided to build a design of my own using a surplus bolt and barrel from a pps43. I wanted a rifle that shot the same caliber as my favorite pistol, my CZ52. I even made my own receiver from a pipe. It looks and shoots great. I used an extra AR15 butt stock, buffer tube, and firing pin, fal lower and fcg, pps43 bolt and barrel, also the mag well, and the rest i made myself, everything was modified in one way or another to work together.

Then i did a Bren MK 2. That was the first documented build i did. It was made from a so called "un buildable" parts set. That one really tested my skill, as i have no lathe and no mill. I am the dremel master. It sounds funny but that thing has hepled me to preform miracles.

I have some CD's that i am trying to sell copies of. They are Blueprints for the .50 Browning.....but they are much more then that. Also .50 manuals and much more. And 1 that is 191A4 blueprints. I will be offering "My Bren Gun Saga" as well. It is my build that has a ton of pics and details. It is for the poor man.

[Mechwarrior]

Also, just did my own tutorial on the M53. It was also a poor mans build. Thought about offering a CD on that as well, most of it can be viewed for free right now on weaponeer.

I do like this site a lot as well. I know a lot of guys are all over the place. I only go to weaponeer and here. I would say those 2 sites are the best ones out there. Everyone is friendly and very helpful. I like that.

As far as WLA, i know every business has ups and downs, but, i do feel that unless a company shuts its door completely, they should stand by there product and offer customer support, especially when the product is a lot of money to begin with.

I will also say this, Brian at BRP Guns was very helpful twards me with my build. He told me he quit building receivers because guys who did not fully understand the mechanics of the system ended up abusing it. and then they would send it in for repairs. Since he honored his product, he would fix it at his own expense. Just 1 out of battery explosion would damage the receiver, rails, camming piece, and possibly more. But the cost to fix that was too much. But he would because he honored his products. Well, since he could not make money doing that he had to quit. The only reason he still offers parts, are to keep the ones he made in the first place running. That says a lot to me about his company.

I tried to convince him to cater more to the home builder, which would allow him to sell more parts without the liability if the weapon failed. He is a great guy. He did not even get mad at me when i called him the 15th time to ask a question. In fact, he tried to talk me out of building 1 from the stampings because he did not want to see someone spend all the money and not be able to get it to work. If 1 measurement is off, it affects several parts in the system.

[PortHolio]

I'll back you up Warrior.

#1 I just got a Wiselite RPD that won't fire most of the time from light firing pin strikes on all types of ammo. The protrusion looks OK, so my fear is that the headspace is too big and it's barely hitting them. The gun is beautiful and I'm afraid I'll get a play out of the Century book - argue with them for awhile, they grudgingly agree to repair it. They find it's "beyond repair" and send you some ugly POS of the bottom of the pile that may or may not work.

#2 Brian at BRP has the best customer service I've seen in any business. I would like to see him run Century, maybe things around there would change for the better.

[42rocker]

Brian at brp is good.

Later 42rocker

[chopperhead]

#1 I just got a Wiselite RPD that won't fire most of the time from light firing pin strikes on all types of ammo. The protrusion looks OK, so my fear is that the headspace is too big and it's barely hitting them.

I have the same problem, anyone know of a fix? Will a BRP single pin bolt work in a wiselite mg?

[noonxnoon]

Glad I never did send my WLA 53 back to the company to fix some minor problems...I was uber paranoid about getting it back or waiting a year for it...

[42rocker]

chopperhead
Best thing that I think that you could do is to call Brian at brp and ask him if it would fit or not. I don't think that he would steer you wrong just to make a sale.

Later 42rocker

[chopperhead]

chopperhead
Best thing that I think that you could do is to call Brian at brp and ask him if it would fit or not. I don't think that he would steer you wrong just to make a sale.

Later 42rocker

Thanks, after further tinkering the bolt is not engaging all the way. It is about a 1/4 of an inch from seating properly in the barrel. Now when I test the bolt and barrel outside of the gun itself I can not find any reason the bolt is not going flush with the barrel. It goes in and locks fine. This was causing my light pin strikes. I am having a hard time seeing what the problem is when bolt and barrel are in the gun. This problem seems to be intermittent. The last time out, after a 50 rnd belt I could not get another round fired because of the bolt situation.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[42rocker]

chopperhead
May or may not be helpful with this. I had a fitting issue that caused problems with the barrel bolt lock up. Some of the extra weld on the inside stopped everything from fitting just right. That's a re-weld of course. After double checking everything and taking off as little as possible on the inside I was able to fix the issue. If yours is a re-weld check this out. Good Luck.

Later 42rocker