finished up my M53 project
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 5:10 pm
I built a M53 from a couple kits as a dummy gun and re painted my Yugo lafette tripod as well . The gun has a bolt and small section of recoil spring for when you open top cover. The trigger group is welded into the receiver. the inside welds on the cut receiver are not filled nor is the cut rails welded. A block on both sides of the front of the bolt is welded to the rails and the butt stock forward section is welded to receiver the wood will come off. The barrel will come out but otherwise its a serious dummy gun. I painted the M53 with high heat flat black and then for several days soaked it down with WD40 which gives it a sort of blued look. I had someone mix a color for me but it came out wrong so I had some color here that was real close to the green on the tripod so I mixed it up and sprayed it. I parkerized the hardware and whole center section of the top tray. Assembly was not as bad as I had thought but i will warn all of you that disassemble a top tray make sure you take the springs off before you remove the rear section. I stretched both springs and had to make a set which is no fun from some I had laying around here I need to get two new originals as these work but do not hold well. As to the help I was trying to get on assembly the guys came through and I gave it a shot. The two left side rollers can be installed as well as the front right before you slide the tray in to the rails. The last one has to be slid into place and then moved as slide the tray in wilt screwdriver you can put the bottom washers all in with grease they will stay there. I am glad i had mtric taps and dies because it made the screws go much easier to chase all the threads first and grease them when you assemble it.
