rivets

[Jason]

rivets it will be. when I did the rivets on the 1919 I purchased a muffler gun and made a set out of one of the chisles that came with the gun but couldent make it work right. what I ended up doing was starting the rivets with a larger ballpeen hammer and finished shapeing them with a small ballpeen hammer. It was really quite easy after a couple of practice rivets, and I assume it should be no problem on this project.

Now welding may be a diffrent story

[Otis Cambell]

I've never tried a muffler impact gun - always heard it's too fast and hits too hard for rivet setting.

I was thinking of using Plinkers 1919a4 rivet jig with Tankers set of backing wedges along with building some spacers to insert into the rails. I've heard Tanker is also looking at building some MG-42 spacers. Haven't tried it yet but seems to fit this application.

[Jason]

for the rivets on the 1919 I used grade 8 bolts cut a little shy, then used the nut to tighten against the other side of the box. It worked good, but on this one l'll try something else. maybe try one of the bucking bars you are talking about.

[Otis Cambell]

Either way should work fine. Even with the bucking bar wedges I found myself setting one rivet at a time then adjusting the bucking bar wedges for the next one. Considering the limited access inside the MG-42 receiver, the only real advantage I can see for the wedges is the ease of adjusting the nut to load the back pressure against the preformed rivet head and when repositioning the wedges . Just my opinion.

BTW - Just as an option, Plinker also offered a bucking bar wedge system similiar in design to Tanker's

[TOM R]

tanker is making mods to go with his existing system to fit the 42 using my sa rec. waiting for him to post an update

[Bullwinkle]

Original Mg3/42 rivets can be purchased from Robert at http://www.robertrtg.com/ he carries lots of MG 42/MG 1/2/3 parts. I know the rivets are more $$$. But if you need other parts and to do "One Stop Shopping" Robert is your man.

Hope this helps