MG42 Form 1 approved, Now shooting Safely!

[Waffentag]

Hi, My form 1 was just approved. I have been reading up on the MG42 and want to make sure that I am safe. I am doing the reactivation myself, it should be fairly easy. The barrel is plugged and the barrel gate is welded shut. I have two spare barrels in 7.92 and the 7.62 conversion kit form RTG guns. I have been in contact with Bob Naess and he will rebuild the recuperater spring for me. I have read up on how to check recuperaoter spring. I have also have links on how check the head space. I have the MG3 tripod and will use it, that bipod is shakey. My plan is to check the headspace, the recuperator spring first. If they check out, I will fire a few single rounds, then a few more in a belt.

After, I know that it is "reavtivated". I will send the recuperator spring off to Bob and order a bolt stabilizer and some spared parts.

So, what have I missed safety wise? What else? What is a good spare parts list?

Thanks in advance Pat

[JBaum]

I would recommended that you don't shoot the gun without the bolt stabilizer in the bolt.

Don't shoot it with a WWII bolt. Buy an MG3 bolt, or at the least use an M53 bolt. The quality of a 70+ year old bolt is not to be trusted. Old steel can crystalize and become brittle, especially steel that was made under war conditions with material shortages by labor who may not have been enthusiastic about doing their job correctly. A shattered bolt is the unnecessary result.

Get a ruptured case extractor made for the 42. It's worth every penny when you need it.

Lubricate the rails (a little grease is fine). Know how to properly lay in the belt and close the top cover so that you don't bend the pressure plate. Make sure the ejection port door is securely held open by the spring. Clean the crud (if any) out of the trigger grip and oil it. It needs to move freely without the potential of sticking and causing a runaway gun. If the gun does runaway, open the top cover (no danger in doing this, it just stops feeding the next round).

CLEAN the chamber. I use a cordless drill with a cleaning rod and an oiled brass brush. A small amount of corrosion or dirt is not tolerated by a gun shooting 25 shots per second.

Shoot quality ammunition. 50 year old surplus ammo doesn't get it when a one hundredth of a second hang fire can mean an out of battery explosion. You wouldn't go to a junk yard and siphon gas from old cars for a $40,000 BMW, so don't do it to your gun.

For spares, get a trigger grip (with contents), a few barrels, a bolt or two, a spare extractor, ejector, and ejector bar, or two, an extractor changing tool, and a good split sling (not the cheap reproductions - they're so cheaply made, you won't trust it to carry the gun). The sling is necessary for when the barrel gets hot and you can't hang onto the barrel shroud to carry the gun (although the bipod can be used as a handle, if necessary). The Yugo slings don't let you carry the gun right side up, so unless you want to shoulder-carry a cold gun, they're just decoration.

Having someone along who is familiar with the 42 is very helpful when you learn to operate the gun.

[Blanksguy]

........it's a "PITA".....but after sitting that long (knowing grease gets hard.....)......I would order a recouperator bolt/nut-set from RTG-Parts........remove/disassembly/grease the recouperator springs/pins and then reassemble with the new bolt/nut-set.

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

[Waffentag]

Thanks, So that all makes sense. Since I will be shooting both 8mm and 7.62, is it a better plan to just order the complete MG3 recuperator set and MG3 buffer from RTG as opposed to sending the original MG42 recuperator off to have the springs replaced? Will the MG3 buffer fit right into the Original stock?

The cost is about the same.

Pat

[JBaum]

An MG3 recuperator tube is longer than an MG42 recuperator and won't fit in the MG42.

Have you tested the gun and the recuperator springs need replaced, or are you just doing it because you think it's the thing to do? By all means replace them if they need it, but not all MG42 springs need replaced simply due to age.

[Waffentag]

Thanks, I ordred a deluxe gunners kit from BRP with a yugo spare bolt, broken shell extractor etc. I got the bolt repair Kit from RTG Thant had the bolt stabilizer and other extra items,
I will test the bolt return spring before I send it off to Bob for repair.
Pat

[Jaredrlewman]

I'm just a little confused on what the form 1 was for? Did you mean a form 2?

[Waffentag]

A Form 1 is the correct form for me to request the Reactivation on a Trust. The ATF website details the use of the various forms.

Pat

[Waffentag]

I have a 308 headspace gage, is there a way to make that work or do I need to buy 7.62 NATO gage.

Pat

[JBaum]

You get to decide if it works for you.

For the real details:

http://www.fulton-armory.com/%5Cfaqs%5C ... %5C308.htm

and

http://how-i-did-it.org/762vs308/chamber.html

[Waffentag]

Thanks John, Got it, I am ordering the 7.62'gages,

The GO gage tells me if the headspace is too short or not. I read that headspace that is too short is worse than too long in the MG42. So, the 308 gage is shorter and will not accurately test for a too short 7.62 headspace. Am I right?

This explains a lot, back in 1981, I was stationed in Germany and bought a Browning FN/LAR at Rod and Gun Club. It was labeled on the receiver "308 Match". The club got these right from the Factory in Belgium. I also had a Voere hunting rifle in 308. I reloaded for both and noticed that the FN/LAR would stretch the cases. I had to keep my brass separate and readjust my case sizing die for each a rifle. I suspected that the FN was either a flawed rifle with the chamber cut too deep or that it was cut deeper intentionally as a military rifle. Now, I suspect that it was really in 7.62 NATO and they just labeled it 308 match to comply with some European law?

Thanks, this helped a lot. I have been reloading for 34 years and never really understood how very differnt the two rounds are. Those articles we're great.

[Waffentag]

Ok, Help, I tried Brownel, Midway, where can I find a 7.62x51 Go and No Go gauge?

Pat

[Waffentag]

Problem solved, but more questions?

A gunsmith buddy had go, no go field gauges for both 8mm and for the M60.

I have two German WW2 8mm barrels and one 7.62 MG3 Barrel, and three bolts, two are WW2, one is a yugo.

All combinations tested good with the Go gauge, all were also a go with the no go and field gauge?

I must be doing something wrong!

Pat

[Waffentag]

With approved ATF Form one in hand, today I completed the reactivation by removing three welds on the barrel gate. Good news is the the barrel recuperator is fine. It quickly lifted the weight of the gun when i tested it. I put in a new Yugo bolt with bolt stabilizer. That was good advice on not using the WW2 bolts, the one that came with the gun had cracked soemtime in the past. It willon in the gunners Kit for dispaly only.

It was a bear to cock the gun. Wih the bolt stabilizer that came with the yugo bolt, so I swapped out the stabilizer and bar for the one form RTG guns. Then it worked fine.

I will make up some dummy rounds to test cycling.

I still do not want to fire it until I verify the hedspace.

Pat

[JBaum]

There are two types of bolt catches. One is flat on both ends, the other is flat on one end, pointed on the other. Which did you have, and if it was the pointed one, did you have it in right?

Tell me how you tested the headspace. It is done with the bolt and barrel out of the gun.

[Waffentag]

The ejector bar, later style and MG3 stabilizer from RTG worked. It could be that I had the earlier style in wrong? I will check later

For head space, I did it with the barrel out and used the complete bolt head. The problem is that all barrel and bolt combos, were a go with the the respective 7.62 or 7.92 gauges and barrels.

Pat

[JBaum]

and the bolt rollers went fully to the outside of the barrel extension grooves, even with the field gauge inserted?

[Waffentag]

John could I email you some photos tonight of how the bolt looks with gauges inserted? Please send me a PM with your email.

Thamks Pat

[JBaum]

My email is posted at the bottom of every message I've posted on here. Send pics if you want.

[Waffentag]

Thanks John, Your emails were very helpful!

I will give it a try this weekend.

A quick question to all, I want to save my original German WW2 barrlels,

Who has the best price on 8mm and 7.62 barrels?

Pat