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So I picked up a few of the Australian WWII Vickers cloth belts with brass tabs that have the green die in them and a Guiette Mfg loader. I was told that I could use these in my MG08 and Colt Vickers. I have loaded a few rounds of 30.06 and they seem to go in fine but I worry about damaging the belts. I was told that I should soak the Vickers belt, get the green die out and load with the 8mm or 30.06 and let dry and this would allow the belt to stretch without damaging it. I would like to know if anyone has tried this and if it works or if there is a better way.

TIA,
David

David,

I have used the Vickers belts in 8mm in my Vickers and 08 Maxim. Just loaded them and shot them. No problems at all. If the green belts are new some of the dye will come off.
Richard

The green dye is an anti-fungal treatment which keeps the belts from rotting. You don't want to remove the dye as it hurts nothing and doesn't affect any of the properties of the cloth or belt. You don't want to wet the belt as that won't help anything but will cause corrosion to start around the brass strips and rivets. You don't need to do anything but load the belts and give them some time to stretch. I load them and roll them up than pack them in an ammo can for a week or two. The first time you load them they'll be very hard to load and they may require some help when firing to remove an occasionally tight round from the belt. Load the belt up again and it will get easier to load and unload. Thats all you need to do.

You will get advice that says something about soaking the belts in transmission fluid and letting them dry or soaking in kerosene or oil or whatever but don't soak the belt in anything. Oils of any kind will kill your belts by attracting dust which will help wear out the stitching as well as dragging dust and grit into your gun. It won't make the belts work better. Water may help the belts stretch some but as the belts dry they will shrink and many times the shrinkage is unpredictable and excessive. Just use the belts dry.

Hope that helps

Frank

You people just don't realise how jealous I am when you speak in a 'matter of fact fashion' about live firing German maxim..............................

Mark

Mark, You just are going to have a country were you are a Citizen and not a Subject. I mean we are not the "land of the free" that we once were but we are still better than most! However it does seem we are following the UK quickly to the land of Big Brother and those that are more equal than others. I mean even our gun club thought we need video cameras at the range to keep an eye on people!