MG42 Catastrophic failures

[Bigdibbs88]

Hi Guys-

I have a buddy building me a semi MG42 at the moment. He is pretty experienced with building them, I'd say hes built 20+ if I had to guess. We got on the topic of shooting it, and he says i should shoot it as little as possible as he's never had a semi go for more than ~400 rounds without some kind of failure requiring something more than just parts replacement....i.e. rework/welding etc. This kind of surprised/dismayed me so I just wondered if any of you share the same opinion? I'd be grateful for any tips that you may have discovered along the way to strengthen common failure points.

Thanks,
BD

[messerschmittfan]

My guns have both more than several hundred rounds through them. One is a welded receiver, the other is on a Wiselite receiver. Have two more being built on modified Wiselite receivers (shortened so I can use on tripod). All have BMP version 2 bolts. No problems with them after they were broke in. The first 100 rounds were the hard ones. Harry

[JBaum]

Not trying to knock your buddy, but he sounds like a car mechanic I know.

2 weeks to fix you car for every week you got to drive it.

I found another mechanic, and drive more, fix a lot less now.

[olli]

I have no experiens in welding recivers, but I agree with jbaum on this one. Im a car mechanic myself And that said, not all car mechanics know how to weld

Thansk for the manuals by the way jbaum, really nice work. Ill take them to the next guncomunity meting and show them around, you just might get a few more orders....

[JBaum]

That would be appreciated Olli.

I spent several years as a mechanic myself. Lots of Corvette and Plymouth work. Not every who has a license should drive, not everyone with a camera is a photographer, and not everyone who owns a gun should shoot.

[www.Prussia.us]

Well to be fair maybe this builder was employed by Century Arms,,,,,,,,

Just kidding we all know that Century-builds provided great priced, ARs, AKs, HKs, FALs, etc., for those that could not build their own, but one just has to be a bit careful on the secondary market where the warranty has elapsed.

Maybe he was just being dramatic

[Abominog]

Home built FALs are known to suffer catastrophic kabooms due to improper locking shoulder. Ditto for G3/Cetme with bolt gap problems. Inevitably, when one knows something but not enough, the result is failure. Building 20 of anything that doesn't work demonstrates a hack mechanic. Even the WL/ Century M53s suffer consistent problems, problems that had been identified by one of our members, yet WL elected to not make the necessary changes.

[oakrodent]

Sounds like a hack job if it has an out of battery around 400 rnds. I have had 1000s of rounds threw mine with no problems, I have seen the aftermath of a semi auto have an out of battery, btw it was a WL, very scrarry looking. Glad I wasn't the on pulling that trigger.

[fritsch]

Wow, no bueno. Mine's a welded together M53, and I've had maybe 3-4,000 rounds through it without any welding or repairs needing to happen. The charging lug came off the bolt once, but that's the bolt.

[Blanksguy]

I believe that the only one that I saw come apart was down at Knob-Creek about ten (+) years ago. Was a registered Post-86 MG42 (not SA42) made up on a cut/DEMILed receiver where the welds were starting to crack around the "Trunnion" (Cam-Piece) cut-out.

This was probably due to hammering of the barrel against the "Trunnion" (Cam-Piece) due to weak recouperator-spring-set. Bob Naess up at Black-River-Militaria is a good source to repair these (or to use as a POC for any MG42 related "challenges" from rebuilds, to repairs....to even SA42 builds.).
Might want to give him a call (or e-mail)......

Regards, RichardS
US Army, Retired
Blanksguy2001@outlook.com