www.MG42.us

I took my 34 to the range today for its second time out. The gun functions perfectly except
for the front sight that keeps falling down. I called tnw and they sent me a new spring, detent and pin to fix it. I didn't have time to work on it before this trip so I had to live with the limp sight. after about 200 rounds I noticed a bit of metal a couple of inches long on
the bench. it obviously belonged to the 34 because parts do not fall off guns that I build.
after a few minutes I figured out that it was the front of the cocking handle latch that had broken off. I need to call tnw for a replacement.
I put about 500 rounds through the gun and it works great, the trigger is starting to loosen up a bit, I hope by the time I run through the 3 cases of romanian 8mm it will be fairly
decent. I really need a belt loader as loading the belts by hand is a real pita. I want to get at least 3k rounds throught it in the next month to make sure it holds together under warranty.

Now comes the real downside of these guns: cleaning them. There are many, many places on the 34 for dirt to build up and the Romanian ammo is dirty. Also, remember that when you remove the bolt it is cocked. If you store it for a while, remember to uncock it or the firing pin spring will wear out faster. Fun to shoot, sucks to clean.

Ed S,

The German soldier spent much of his time whe not on patrol or in battle to maintaining his machinegun and loading belts. The excellent translations of original German manuals from John Baum, state that keeping the machinegun CLEAN was a primary part of their job of the machingunner. His life depended on the weapon operating. At least we are not in that situation, but we have a lot of $$$$ tied up in them, so I will spend the time to clean, LOL!

You are definately right about cleaning it. The romainian ammo is real dirty and getting the front end clean is a project. the worst part is that it needs to be done right away. It
would be great if some reasonably priced non corrosive 8mm would show up.

What I do is, uh, cheat! I have one flash hider that I shoot and another for display. I remove the recoil booster and clean it up, but drop the rest into a soaking can and just leave it until the next time. The receiver is a pain to clean and you have to be carefull with the TNW's as the edges on the receiver are very sharp. I actually cut myself one time cleaning my TNW receiver. The German WWII recievers are not nearly as sharp, but that could be due to use and age. Don't forget the barrel jacket as it will also get dirty.

Pirate,

Alleghenny Arsenal sells Yugo copies of the WW2 German MG34/42 belt loader for $400