MG42 Spoke for first time in over 70 years today

[Waffentag]

Well, it spoke but did not sing. I completed the reactivation with ATF approval in hand last week.

Today, I fired it for the first time. It had failures to fire light , primer strike every four or five rounds. This was in both 8mm and in 7.62. In 8mm, I had a few occasion where the link did not adapvance and feed the round.

I noticed, that the trunnion was not tight? I can wiggle it a bit, is this normal? Could this be the problem.

I am happy that I got it running at all So, I view today as a success. But not a complete success.

Need some advice at this point,

Thanks Pat

[rodom]

Congratulations on the trial run. Others much more knowledgeable than I will be along soon to advise you, but I've read your other posts and am green with envy. A real MG42, really? As someone else said, it don't get no better than this.

[Waffentag]

Thanks, I have a lot to learn. John has been a big help. I should have said that the cam piece was loose. I hope that this is something that I can fix on my own. I really do. It want to send it off to a gunsmith for months.

Pat.

[michaelkih]

Story on the gun? Was this an old DEWAT?

Contact Mr. Naess. He will be able to fix EVERYTHING on the 42 for you and it will sing properly again like he did with mine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO6yeHDSDF0

[Waffentag]

Roger, it is an old DEWAT that I got approval on a Form 1 to reactivate. I got it to function, but had some light primer strikes. John has been helping me figure it out.

I suspect the culprit may be a loose cam piece. So, what is the turn around time for Bob?

Pat

[mt4x4]

I had problems with light strikes every few rounds that I fought for a while. The problem turned out to be the charging handle not staying put. During fire it would bounce off the ratchet plate and would return from the bolt hitting it. This happens so fast I couldn’t see it till we caught it on video. It would cause light strikes every few rounds. You can test by just holding the handle forward with one hand well firing. It’s a little tricky. Just something to check.

[Waffentag]

That may be it, I noticed a burr on the charging handle. The bolt was dragging on the charging handle. I fixed it so that it would not drag. I need to test it.

Thanks for the help.

Pat

[www.Prussia.us]

No technical advice to offer, just a hearty CONGRATS

[Waffentag]

Thanks, Well I replaced the charging handle and shimmed the loose cam piece and it functioned fine until the shim came loose. I had occasional light primer strikes. I tighten up the the cam piece shim again and it worked fine again.

I guess that I need to send it off to Bob for repair. What is his turn around time?

Pat

[JBaum]

I guess that I need to send it off to Bob for repair. What is his turn around time?

Pat

The only person who can answer that is Bob himself.

[Waffentag]

Roger that, I had already emailed him,

Pat

[Mongoos913]

Congratz... prefect or not it's an amazing piece. I'm sure you'll get the kinks ironed out soon enough.

[along]

Really cool

[Waffentag]

Just an update, I think that I am almost there with a running MG42.

God News: I ran a 50 round belt of Austrailian 7.62 Surplus without a hitch. It sang and sounded right with good primer strikes.

To get to this point, I sent the recuperator spring off to Bob Naess for rebuild. I removed the loose Cam section and had my local smith build up the pads on the receiver. I was then able to reinstall for a tight fit.

I have another 100 rounds of the Austrailian, that I need to run through it for validation that this was not a fluke.

I alos ran two belts of handloads and had a couple of light primer strikes again that I suspect that the light strikes were due the load being too light? I loaded 41.6 grains of IMR4064 in LC80 cases with 147 grain FMJ ball.

I think that I will load some with 44 grains of IMR4064 and see how it runs? This is still one grain under max with my new relaoding books and three under my old books.

Pat

[JBaum]

I reloaded belts with different amounts of powder, then ran them to see what the gun liked best. I loaded a belt of 42 grains, 42.5, 43, 43.5, 44, 44.5, and 45 grains. With BL-C(2) powder, 44 grains was it. It ran differently (better cadence to the shots) than 1/2 grain less. 1/2 grain more was no improvement, so I run at 44 grains for that powder.

Try doing that with 4064 to see what the gun likes. You'll hear the difference and know from the sound where the sweet spot is.

[Waffentag]

Update, I got to the range yesterday to try various hand loads. First I wanted to confirm that the success with being able to shoot one belt of 7.62 Australian surplus was not a fluke.

I fired about 20 rounds clean, then I had light primer strikes every few rounds.

The only thing different was that I was not shooting off the German Laffette tripod, but off a U.S. tripod with an MG42 pintal adaptor.

The belt was new, but may have been an 8mm?

So, what should I try next? I have a new parts kit from Apex, it has a longer spring? I can swap out any part.

What should I try to fix this light primer strike problem?

Thanks Pat

[JBaum]

It is possible that the German lafette is absorbing some of the recoil that the gun needs to function. Maybe you could tighten the spring in the spring canister to stiffen it?

[Waffentag]

At long last, My MG42 not only spoke,, but sang and sang. I ran almost 500 rounds throughout it flawlessly.

What an awesome piece of hardware when it runs.

The final problem was the charging handle was vibrating loose,

Thanks for all of the advice from the folks here,

Pat