www.MG42.us

Those that have the '08, have you seen this from Dave?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be1uGSoVczs[/video]

Unmodified gun, unmodified PKM belts, 8mm ammo. This is just interesting as all hell to me, since (lack of) good belts always added to the list of reasons that kept me away from getting an '08 so far. Now, this seemingly solves the issue in general and since I also specifically already have a brazzillion PKM belts stashed for my PKM's anyway.....well,,,,,,,, Problem solved??? ;-)

Curious what you other MG-08 'Fachmänner' think on the matter??

Bubba.....Ya' GOTS to have an opinion. ;-)

-TomH

Long video but very nice picture!

Nothing new on the PKM belts. From what I hear it just depends on your MG08... some like the PKM belts, some hate it. Most people suggest the Vickers brass tabbed belts over the PKM belts.

PK/SG belts have long been used in Maxims usually with a bit of effort to open the front of the link so the 7.92 neck will fit through easiy for loading and extraction.
Nothing beats the 54r converison in an 08 or 08/15, however, so for me PK belts are passe, and I never really was a fan. But I also have a large stash of all sorts of different belts that will run well in variious Maxims and can choose whatever I want to use.
I'm not the guy to call on this, but lots of guys use the PK belts which offer some of the same benefits as the 54r conversion such as loaders and plenty of belts.

Bob

As far as pk belts I run them but I am running mine in 54r. Converted one of my 08's to 54 r and couldnt be happier. Get a russian maxim parts kit and get in touch with Bob. It is essentially just swaping out some modified russian parts with the german ones. Runs like a champ and if you want to go back to 8mm, just put your german parts back in. Plus you get to use the russian loader that was designed for the belts.

IMBLITZVT wrote: Most people suggest the Vickers brass tabbed belts over the PKM belts.

Not sure why the Vickers belts are always the first recommended.

I found many sources online recommending the Vickers belts. I ended up with many blistered thumbs/fingers forcing the 8mm cartridges into the .303 slots. You have to get them in all the way or the rolled edge binds in the feed block. After all the effort, I found out the cloth Browning belts work, and as a bonus the 1918 loader works with 8mm! Browning belts are a lot cheaper and easier to find too.

bmg17a1 wrote: Nothing beats the 54r converison in an 08 or 08/15, however, so for me PK belts are passe, and I never really was a fan.
Bob

Been looking into the conversion myself. What are Russian parts kits running that you guys are finding? Am I off or would the 8mm conversion with parts and labor run about $3K?

bbigbore wrote:Not sure why the Vickers belts are always the first recommended.

I found many sources online recommending the Vickers belts. I ended up with many blistered thumbs/fingers forcing the 8mm cartridges into the .303 slots....

Just run the 303 belts in your German belt loader... solves all the issues you are having...???

As far as the 7.62 conversion:

Russian Lock $50-$150
Russian Barrel $100
Russian Feedblock $300-$350
German or Chinese recoil plates $250
Vickers Connection arm $50?
Or skip the last two if you can get Russina recoil plates $300

Thats about it and some labor you should be able to handle... The only hard part is finding that feedblock. If you must buy a complete kit to get the parts, you will pay a lot more but you can recover a lot of the cost selling off the parts. Either way, if you are doing it yourself... under $1k.

A bit of info that was left out about using the Russian 1910 parts for the 54r conversion is that barrels and feedblocks require modification to fit 7.92 Maxims, middling feedblock mods for the 08 and serius feedblock mods for the 08/15.

Bob Naess

bbigbore wrote:

IMBLITZVT wrote: Most people suggest the Vickers brass tabbed belts over the PKM belts.

Not sure why the Vickers belts are always the first recommended.

I found many sources online recommending the Vickers belts. I ended up with many blistered thumbs/fingers forcing the 8mm cartridges into the .303 slots. You have to get them in all the way or the rolled edge binds in the feed block. After all the effort, I found out the cloth Browning belts work, and as a bonus the 1918 loader works with 8mm! Browning belts are a lot cheaper and easier to find too.

Whaaat? Why would you try loading the Vickers belts by hand with your thumbs?

The only good way to load these things is with a belt loader, either one of the flat pan type loaders, or with the German 1916 loader, or with the converted 1919 type made by the guy on the 1919 boards. I have loaded these belts with both the flat pan loader or the German type loaders. Either work well, but the German loader is much easier to use.

Loading almost any cloth belt by shoving the rounds in with your thumb is going to get old really fast...

The cloth Browning belts may or may not work depending on your gun/setup as I understand it. I have not tried them in mine. The brass tab Vickers belts are very good copies of what the WWI german belts were: my guns love them. They're actually a little better than most German WWI type belts, in that they're in great shape still, (often unused) and the fabric is better; it's easier for the feedblock to work with.