New guy, new to MG's

[silley]

Hi all, thought I would make a first post and tell a little bit about myself and my new rifle. It's a wiselite M53, new in the crate, and I haven't fired it yet. I have been reading posts on this site for the last couple days and having already bought the rifle I am a bit nervous to shoot it, from all the negative things I have seen thus far.

I have been building AK's for 3-4 years, I am a welder/fabricator by trade, but spend most of my time as a mechanic. I've wanted an MG42 or other variant(M53) for a long time and this one was purchased by a local gun shop owner who never used it.

I paid $2200 for it with the crate, 2 bipods, 4 ammo cans, 12 belts, 2 starter belts(<correct name?), 500rds of Cz 50's vintage ammo, and a tripod that is 90%, just missing the locking levers on two legs and a shoulder strap. Also have the scope for the tripod, a box with a bunch of plugs/wiring in it(?) and a scope mount for stanag that mounts on the tripod.

I'm hoping I got an ok deal, as long as it shoots. I did read that there was some trouble with doubling or runaways with these possibly due to front FP spring missing? I took mine apart to find that the front pin was jammed forward. I gave it a light rap with a brass punch and the FP came right out. The spring was in there and in tact. I lubed the heck out of all of it and reinstalled the pin and worked it by hand from the back and it doesn't stick at all now, even when working the rear FP through the bolt it seems fine. Hopefully it won't act up...

Oh, and one more question: when threading on the booster, is it like an AK, as in, you thread it on so it stops, then back it off until the lock engages?

Well, thanks for reading, and thanks for the great site and info. I'll post a range report soon.

[JBaum]

Yup, thread the booster on till it stops, then back it off to the first notch the detent lever will go into.

[Embalmer]

welcome to the board. For 2200 u did well with everything that came with it. I paid 2100 for mine and needed to get a mount seperately. Fired mine abiet being nervous reading negative stuff, it ran great *knocks on wood*. Still havent made up my mind to keep it or attempt to trade torwards a tnw mg34 (still like the 34's looks a little better). Go shoot it, if you run into a issue there are plenty of people who can answer your dilemma and help talk you through getting it running again.

Yours def looks better than mine does. Got to call a machinest tomorrow to see if i can borrow a press to remive a dent in shroud cased by crate in shipping.

[Sd.kfz.173]

Welcome to the site Just about any problem you have can be answered here...I know,I've asked tons of 'em. Looks like you got a good deal on the M53.

Bill

[42rocker]

Looks like you got a great deal on everything....
Lots of wiselites have worked just fine from the reports and a lot of the lots just need some loving..... and a few truely need lots more loving and a big hammer just some times..

Enjoy

Later 42rocker

[silley]

Wow, you guys are great, thanks for all the replies! I am going to take it out today and give it a try. I will be sure to post the results!

[42rocker]

One more very important thing..... Get more of the best info on using your mg42....

Buy John's book's they have great info on the mg42 in them. Go to his website and check them out....

John, Thanks for helping folks and also for translating those great books from German to English.

Later 42rocker

[Embalmer]

know... speaking of which, I got to go through my late grandfathers things. last time I was in them there were some manual looking books in german that i flipped through. I dont recall seeing pictures, but was a quick glance as I wanted the k98 baynet I found under them. He was in the german army from 1935-1941 (army then armor), before deserting to here with his jewish wife, then going back as a tanker/translator with the 84th armored in 1944.. if I can find em, need to see if John can tell me what they are, as my german is limited.

[silley]

I will definitely be getting a book, need a good field manual

One thing that concerns me though:

I took the gun apart one more time to lube it up with some hoppes before I take it to the range. I was checking to see if my firing pin was still free, and it's not. pull the charging handle back, and push in the pin, and it doesn't move. It is stuck forward, or in the "fire" position. I took the bolt apart again, and the pin came out just fine with the bolt removed from the gun. I tried to clean the inside of the bolt where the pin and spring sit, but I am at home with no pliers(vacation)

I might head into work and strip it, take the spring out, and clean the bolt and roller area really well, and remove the spring. It almost looks like the end of the spring is bent or twisted and possibly causing the firing pin to stick...?

This reminds me of a problem I had with an SKS many moons ago. It didn't end well... Slam-fire-deluxe, and a partial OOB. Not cool. Hoping this can be fixed easily. I don't want to take it to the range with a problem that I know is going to cause slam fire or anything of that nature.

Am I correct in thinking the forward firing pin should be free moving no matter what? Unless the hammer is dropped of course.


Thanks again guys, I really appreciate the good advice, it makes a big purchase like this a lot less scary.

[42rocker]

Ok, someone else jump in here also.
I "think" that your wiselite use a 2 piece firing pin. Therefore the front piece might be "free floating" and the back piece would have the return/ hold back spring. With that said the front part must be "free floating" so it will not slam fire.

Think it over and check your wiselite manual.

Someone else have any thoughts on this.

need a good field manual well see John as said before, good man, good stuff....

Later 42rocker

[silley]

Thanks for the quick reply 42! Mine does have a 2 piece firing pin for sure. The manual doesn't say much about it, at least not in regards to the issue I am having. But common sense tells me that the pin needs to move easily, like you stated. I guess I will give it a good cleaning and check the spring closely for burrs of any kind, and put it back together.

[silley]

I went to the range to fire my new Wise Lite Arms M53 today. Fired 2 rounds, the first of which was ok, the second one I'm lucky it didn't kill me.

I loaded a belt with 10 rds, first 4 links were empty, then 2rds, space, 2rds, space, etc... I wanted to be safe for the first couple rounds.
I charged it with my left hand gently pulling the belt on the first round, pulled the trigger, click. Checked to see if the round dropped in, it didn't. Charged it again, no problem, round chambered and fired. The case spit out the bottom as expected, and I noticed it was dented quite a bit on the mouth end. But I've seen that before with new guns, so no biggie.

I then grabbed the charging handle with my left hand on top of the stock for leverage and the weapon was shouldered, let go of the charging handle with my right hand and BOOM!!!!!!!!!! Sounded like a friggin grenade went off in my face. Smoke everywhere, my face was killing me, due to the fact that the stock bounced up and hit my cheek when it happened. THANK GOD I had my hands away from the chamber...

The gun is junk. It blew the trap door for the barrel off, BENT THE RECEIVER under the chamber, bent the trap door, ripped the loop that the barrel slides into on the door. Tore rivets out of the receiver under the barrel.

I am less than impressed with Wise Lite Arms quality control. Did they even fire this thing after they built it? I'm lucky I'm not missing a hand.. or an arm!!

What to do now????

edit: I talked with the store owner, he was very concerned and wants the rifle back asap so he can take it up with WLA. He offered my $$ back or store credit for another rifle. He has a nice vector RPD new in the box... Might just get that, as I DO NOT trust another WLA rifle!!!!

The pics:

Case #1


Case #2




Barrel retainer ripped in half, rivet torn out of shroud






Door is EFFFED!!!








How's the bottom of that receiver/shroud look?

[Embalmer]

holy (Try a different word.) glad your ok. Ive heard of issues but never heard of a gun blow up like that. Looks like out of battery fire judging by case.....

the first round looks ok. Most semiauto large caliber rifles spit cases out that dent the necks that ive seen (my m1 and m14 do it more often than not) Looks like your stuck firingpin may have been the culprit... Def keep us posted ont he outcome. Now im nervous to take mine out again

[silley]

I can't tell you how thankful I am to have all my fingers.
As far as the dented case goes, most of the bigger caliber rifles I've had were WWII bolt guns, but I have built a couple ARs, and they both liked to ball up the cases until I'd broke them in for some reason.

I had 5 guys run over from the pistol range to see if I was ok when it happened.. Too bad I didn't get a vid, I even had the camera with me. The noise was ungodly. I had formed ear plugs in, and my ears were STILL ringing afterward!

[SgtSteiner47]

believe it or not thats not the first Wise lite gun that has happened too..my First M53 blew up exactly like that. the only difference was that my casing had blew up in the barrel and lined the barrel with the brass. the End piece was stuck in my bolt, and everything else you described happened the same. My barrel door blew open and it was dented all to hell...I contacted Wise lite and they sent me a brand new gun. My 2nd m53 works fine, minus a few hick ups of a runaway or 2 every so often.




sgtsteiner47

[silley]

Really!?! Dang.. I don't know what they are going to offer yet, as the store owner wants to take the rifle back to get it sent to WLA right away. I'm not worried about my $$, he will give me a refund, or another equal value rifle.. But I don't know if I trust another WLA. Not to mention, who knows if they even have any M53's left at this point. I love the rifle, but the fit and finish was lack luster, lots of burrs on moving parts, looking at the CH the end is blue from being ground paper thin Kind of wishing I had done more research before buying it. I know with enough time, I could have built one. It probably wouldn't run worth a damn, but the craftsmanship would be better

Oh well. Taking the rifle back tomorrow. 3hr drive one way... for the second time this week

[JBaum]

The dented front of the cartridge is normal for a 42. The cartridge twirls out of the ejection port so fast that the cartridge mouth hits the trigger guard, causing the dent. Anyone who doesn't believe it needs to put a thick piece of rubber in front of their trigger guard when they shoot and see that the cartridges aren't dented after that.

The damage to the gun was an out of battery ignition, most likely caused by the stuck firing pin. Considering that you noticed it before, it should have been addressed before live firing was attempted.

You paid $2200 for a gun and accessories and run 60 year old ammo (1950) through it? Your blow-up likely would have happened with new ammo, but does it really make sense to spend a couple thousand on a gun then run 60 year old ammo through it? Not trying to flog you here, and I know a bunch of guys do it, but it just increases the odds of something bad happening. It's not a chance I'm willing to take.

I figure Wiselite will fix or replace the gun, and it'll work fine when you get it back. Since everyone only comes with two eyes, this is a prime example of why everyone needs to wear eye protection when they shoot, regardless of the type of gun. They're called accidents for a reason.

[JBaum]

know... speaking of which, I got to go through my late grandfathers things. last time I was in them there were some manual looking books in german that i flipped through. I dont recall seeing pictures, but was a quick glance as I wanted the k98 baynet I found under them. He was in the german army from 1935-1941 (army then armor), before deserting to here with his jewish wife, then going back as a tanker/translator with the 84th armored in 1944.. if I can find em, need to see if John can tell me what they are, as my german is limited.

Whenever you're ready Scan the covers - send or post the pics.

[oakrodent]

Contact BRP for a very nice MG-42 or build you own. Less likely to loose a body part.

[silley]

As far as the firing pin problem, I had it apart twice before going to the range, and the second time it seemed fine. I dry fired it a couple times to see if the pin would stick, and it didn't. It was fine when I got to the range, so It must have happened after the first shot.

The ammo.. well, they clearly mark the receiver not to use commercial ammo, ever. Only use military spec. I have read about quite a few guys running surplus, and figured the 50 year old ammo would be fine, also that was the only 8MM they had when I bought the gun, and he actually recommended it. Maybe I should have used something newer, but should I have used some brand new commercial just to test fire it, and then switch to a surplus after it was deemed safe?

I've always used old surplus with no problems, but as I stated before, I have pretty much only got WWII bolt guns... so it's not really the same.

Well, I appreciate your help and advice, and for taking the time to help

also: I this IS the reason I always wear eye and ear protection. Sooooo many times I see guys at my range shooting with no eye protection.