www.MG42.us

Hi builders. In my kit, my upper and lower buffer cam piece are a mess, rivets in them and such. Did you clean yours up for your build or buy new? I noticed apex has new clean ones for sale on their site.

If you cleaned yours up, how did you go about it?

First congrats on your journey to rebuilding the iconic Mg42/M53.

Second w/o pictures to see how badly yours are damaged it is hard to tell what you are up against;

Though the vast majority of de-milled M53kits now just give you the buffer tabs attached to a small piece of receiver, then you merely drill the rivets out-(as I am sure you know) and assess the damage, sounds like you may have a kit like the ones Mg43.com use to sell, or some of the older Mg42 4-cut receivers, where sometimes the last cut went right through the buffer tab, then the answer is, IT DEPENDS.

Usually when doing a build most people are trying to save some money, I get that, but you do not want to try to salvage a piece that will cause endless headaches when you are in the final stretch. That said, a true craftsman can fix anything, maybe you are in that category, if like most of us and you are a weekend warrior, then the question is, can you can make that piece come back to spec. In theory if you have a good jig, and you re-weld it true, and there is not weld oozing out of the channel for the buffer tabs on the buffer to rotate, it should work. I would posit so long as the corners on the tab are still true, and again the receiver is welded to spec, I have seen plenty of tabs cut in half salvaged, even the recoil plate can be salvaged many times on those old 4-cuts.

Good luck!

Hi guys,

so I am fitting my buffer tabs now and have the same question.

Does the top buffer tab look set inside the buffer deep enough?

I don't think the bottom is.

Thanks

The overall length of the buffer tabs isn't critical, it's "the distance from the rear of the receiver to the foreward edge of the tab" that is important. Nobody want a floppy buffer/stock back there.
You weld them in "a little deep" (too far foreward), then machine off metal a little at a time from INSIDE, the front edge, until your buffer just barely twists into place with a little help. It will loosen up in no time.
Best of luck....Phil