www.MG42.us

The barrel is staked to the extension to prevent turning.

My M53 looks to be a mix of black oxide and parkerizing finish. Not sure what the correct finish for the MG42 should be. Parkerizing is easy enough to do at home, just need a stainless container big enough to hold the parts, and heat the solution to 200°. Black oxide is a little more hazardous. One ...

OK, I took this to the next step tonight. As I mentioned, my pawl was a bit sloppy, bit moved fine and didn't hang up. Pushing up on it, as it would move being upside-down, it comes very close to slipping off the guide pin. http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q272/thoriated/metalworking/wornpawl.jpg ...

What type of set up are you using??? Setup??? :shock: :lol: It's an 8 year old "point and push the button" digital Kodak DX4330. Good close ups are mostly about bright lighting and a steady hand. Take a dozen pictures from different angles and distances, then crop and post the one that turned out. ...

Sounds like you need better sand.
A quick search turned up this home-brew recipe;

http://castinghobbyfaq.bareboogerhost.com/kbond.shtml

It uses fine sand and a bit of clay. Says it works like cookie dough.
There are commercial resin based sands that hold shape and fine detail better.

The only thing holding the pawls in is the spring under the depressor plate. The guide pin you have pictures of just keeps it from flopping side to side. Yours looks a little beat, but it's not missing anything. Here is my M53 pin. http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q272/thoriated/metalworking/m53pa...

I noticed the nubs on my stocks but didn't give it much thought. The cross section clearly shows the dowels are inserted to reinforce the cross grain in the corners. End grain also stands up to impact better, so the dowels can absorb the bumps taken by the ends.

When did 8mm mauser become hard to find? :lol: Not sure. I was kind of amused myself when I saw that on the video. 8MM is certainly cheaper. Does a post sample need to stay one caliber? I'm not really up on SOT rules. Maybe he felt it would be safer to stick with the NATO caliber for replacement pa...

Getting a bit off-topic, oh well. :) I'm certainly no expert, but it seems the parkerizing is more of a matte porous looking finish. Zinc phosphate is a light gray to charcoal gray. Manganese is darker gray, with a brown to greenish tint. Black oxide is a smooth deep black, with bluish highlight und...

Du-Lite is a commercial name for hot alkaline black oxide. It's a mix of sodium hydroxide and sodium nitrate in water, heated to 285°. More difficult and hazardous than parkerizing, but gives that classic black "gun blue" look. Shiny or matte depending on the surface prep of the metal. I'd like to g...

Hopefully not all Pakistani ammo has primers like a lot of the .303 have! I shot through a can of the Pakistan ammo a couple of weekends ago. Had of couple of fail to fires, but the primers weren't hit. Maybe a weak spring or a dirty chamber. The gun wasn't mine, I just had the great opportunity to...

I believe the Browning M2 also holds the barrel back if I'm not mistaken. So that's why these things are so fast. WOW! Systems where the barrel travels the full distance with the bolt are called "long recoil", vs "short recoil" like the '42. Many older MG's also pull the cartridge from the rear of ...

The MG42 also uses gas assist to operate. The recoil booster traps the muzzle gases so the front of the barrel acts as a piston to get the necessary power to force the rollers through the cam. Different size orifices in the booster can adjust the amount of gas assist to work with different power amm...

did some more reading and discovered you really do need this piece, seems they decided to lengthen the rear of the receiver. Why the change from existing designs and to what advantage i don't know yet. Would a lengthened receiver and extended buffer allow the use of an original length recoil spring?

Along with the big parts I posted above, I got this in the small parts bag. I'm a noob to this too, and spent the last day searching this site to figure these out. From right, the front sight and booster detent/catch with spring holder and mounting pins. Tripod and grip mount. The large pin is for t...

When I ordered mine they said "2 weeks". It took about 4. I think I'm going to order another, just because.

I ordered a kit from CFS early in December and it was waiting for me when I got home today. It has the cam, but the barrel bushing is toast. No rear receiver pieces. Barrel is a bit grungy but rifling is strong. Not bad for $200.

Another new guy here. I got my kit from Centerfire today. It has the cam, so you don't need to worry about that. The only receiver piece is the barrel shroud, and the forward barrel bushing that the recoil booster/flash supressor threads to is torched. The rear cut is flush with the back of the barr...