M53 catastrophy

[hershmeister]

I went to the range today with grand plans to fire several belts with my m53.
Unfortunately, my Yugo 50s ammo had a Squibb and I blew up a case in the barrel. The barrel blew out thru the door, bowing it. There's now a stuck case in the barrel, plus at least two bullets maybe three stuck in the barrel.
The extractor claw got blown off the bolt. NO one was hurt, so that's good. Do i even bother fixing the barrel? Or just replace? How can I fix the door or replace?

On top of this, I have been having persistent trouble with the bolt charging handle binding. This has been since I owned it. Any tips are greatly appreciated - I'm stumped and it really makes using the weapOn a Pain



Hersh

[SgtSteiner47]

I had a similar issue, is your M53 a wise lite and if so..Is it still covered by warranty? when mine blew..and bent the door outward i just called wise lite and they took mine back and sent me a brand new one. its very sad that this happening to other people out there, eventually..someone is going to get hurt

[oakrodent]

nobody listens and when something like this happens it comes as a total surprise. glad to hear nobody got hurt.

[JBaum]

Been saying it for years..... Thousands of dollars spent on a gun, to put the cheapest crap ammo in it that can be found. It only takes a split second hang fire to blow the gun. Doesn't make sense to me. Glad you're alright. Eye protection is important with these things.

The barrel door can be bent back into shape (big rubber hammer, maybe a block of wood), the shell remnants can be removed from the chamber, and the bullets can be pushed out of the barrel. The barrel should be fine so long as you don't tear up the chamber getting the shell remnants out of it. Use the proper tool.

The extractor is easily replaceable. It's not Wiselite's fault when junk ammo is used and the shooter doesn't quite shooting when he hears something funny when pulling the trigger, thus loading the next cartridge into the chamber of a plugged barrel. Shake all old cartridges before putting them in a belt. If the powder doesn't shake inside the cartridge, there's your first hint at a hang fire/misfire. Don't shoot it, either toss it or pull the bullet and save it for reloading.

[Blanksguy]

hershmeister,

On your M53 (Wiselite-??).....
You really do need to check the barrel, barrel-Extension, the Bolt-Head, and the forward-portions of the Trunion/"Cam-Piece).

Trunion/"Cam-Piece......
Check for chipping away of the front two milled-extensions when the barrel w/barrel-extension slamed into it during over-pressure.
'
Barrel.....
After pushing out the projectile(s), check for a buldged-barrel condition.

Barrel-Extension....
Check the Barrel-Extension for "cracks" and/or chips where it would lock up with the rollers on the bolt-head.

Bolt-Head......
Check you bolt-head for cracks and/or distortion from over-pressure....especially in the areas where the "rollers" make contact.

Last.....I would guve the guns other parts a "once-over" such as/but not limited to the recoil-spring, buffer-unit, the locking-tabs in the receiver that hold the buffer-assembly to the receiver, and the recouperator-assembly to insure that all of these still function as they were designed.

Regards, RichardS in MI.
US Army, Retired
Blanksguy2001@chartermi.net

[Bil]

What they all said.All is good advise,and I would do everything suggested,not just fix the door and replace the barrel.People have been hurt with guns before! ---bil

[hershmeister]

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, it is a wiselite m53. I spoke with Tony yesterday @wiselite and will send it to him for repair. It's a pretty complex machine, and I'd prefer to have them not only fix the obvious stuff, but inspect the other elements as well. I'll replace the barrel - nO sense risking any micro fractures that I can't see for a$100 fix

About the ammo - I thought you ate supposed to use Yugo ammo - is there something I missed here?

any thoughts on the binding charging handle?

Lastly, I had replaced the trigger pins with AR anti-walk pins. Are there any issues with this if they don't have the grooves like the ones that were in it? My trigger pin would walk out after 50 rounds every time until I put these in

[David]

I think the 50s dated Yugo ammo is the stuff to avoid.

[JBaum]

I've been told Wiselite says to use the old ammo.... I can't figure out why, since it does exactly what you had happen. My guess is that your barrel is fine - if you're going to throw it away, let me know and I'll pay postage. I've seen this happen before, and I haven't seen a damaged barrel yet, so long as the case is extracted properly and the chamber doesn't get chewed.

The ideal thing to do is convert it to .308 and shoot surplus, but it'd be nice to have it run right before you convert it.

[hershmeister]

So if I give the 50's Yugo the shake check before linkIng, i will be ok? I have five crates of the stuff I had bought.

Still looking for thoughts on the charging handle

[JBaum]

Just shake it and you'll be OK?.... no. 60+ year old ammo is an explosion waiting to find a place to happen. I've found shaking it to be an effective way to get rid of some of the questionable shells, but there's no guarantee that if it shakes OK it won't hang fire.

The worst I've seen was a full 10 seconds after the firing pin hit before it fired. 60 year old ammo in an MG42 is like buying a BMW and going to the junk yard with a siphon hose to get gas. It'll work for a little while, it just isn't worth the chance to me. I like my eyes, face, and hands right where they're at.

Look at it this way. The gun is going to outlast the supply of surplus ammo anyway. You're going to have to find out what it likes to shoot sooner or later.

I reload using 44 grains of Hodgdon BL-C(2). Your gun may like a bit more or function fine with less. A belt each of 42, 43, 44, and 45 grains will tell you what the gun wants. Beats hell out of shrapnel in your wrist.

[PortHolio]

JB, is that your load for .308 surplus cases, or 8mm? I can't find any loads for my FN49 in 8mm, and I never before saw a .308 load for a MG42.

ps your books rule.

[JBaum]

That's my load for 8mm. I bought a Dillon 550B press from ebay a while ago, and loaded several belts with slightly more or less powder. I ran them one after the other, and found what the gun runs best on without any more powder than necessary. My 42 likes all of the 6 varieties of .308 surplus I've tried. All run fine, just some cleaner than others.

My MG42 is full auto, and with that I can only load the new brass 3 times. After twice, I visually inspect each shell for stress cracks. You can see them start before they actually become a crack, and I sort those out for the scrap brass pile. After 4 loads (including the first), all the brass is done. Once in a while I'll see the stress lines after only two loads, but it is very common after 3. The MG42 really is violent for extraction, so the brass doesn't take long to be stressed to death, but put 60 year old ammo in a machinegun? Nope. I have some old ammo. I shake it and listen before it goes into my 98k. I've taken apart cartridges when the powder won't shake - it's like it has mold fibers clumping it all together. That's what I learned to do after a 10 second hang fire.

So far, so good with the shake method, but that's for rifles. MG's aren't as tolerant of bad ammo. Bent barrel doors, popped barrels, ruptured receivers, destroyed top covers...... I don't want any part of it, to save what, 15 or 20 cents a shot? Not me. If I can't afford decent ammo, I'll just have to shoot a little less.

[hershmeister]

My m53 is closed bolt semi auto so I'm less concerned about a hang fire than a Squibb.

Please let me know what mil spec ammo you suggest. I do not plan on reloading 8mm.

I'll ask again for comments on the binding charging handle.

Lastly, if I wanted to try and knock the bullets out of the barrel, what would I use to do this and avoid scouring it?

[PortHolio]

Anyone use one of these?
http://www.robertrtg.com/mg42-mg3barreldebrispump.html

BRP recommends 8mm steel cased Romanian, and so does everyone else I've talked to. It shoots great in my mg42SA. Don't let it scare you off, but it is also the most corrosive ammo I've seen. Be sure you use waterbased or special corrosive ammo cleaner within 24 hours of shooting it, and clean anything that gets firing residue on it.

Don't ever use Turkish 8mm. It seems HOT, splits cases, and seems to cause most malfunctions you can think off. Plenty of blown up guns with this stuff, although I've heard of 8mm 1919s that eat it up.

Never shoot original German war ammo - first it's collectable, second it rusts from the inside out from the powder and the shells may be paper thin.

JB I was asking about your 8mm load because I was curious about reloading for my FN49. It totally loved the Romanian. Yugo cycled the action brutally. The first time I shot a round of Turkish before hearing the warnings, it blew the handguard off and steamroller the locking lug, changing the headspace. Since the FN and MG seem to love the same ammo, was thinking about giving you choice powder a try and working up to your recipe.

Anyone load .308 for the MG42?

[Franz 1796]

For those needed better quality 8mm surplus for their M53's, Aim now has 70's-80's dated Yugo 8mm. This is thought by many to be the best surplus 8mm imported (not to be confused with the 50's Yugo which is the worst).

[42rocker]

Several in this post stated that they have wislite's.... Question??? Do they have matching number camming pieces????? Also some nice info on reloads, Thanks JB.

Thanks 42rocker

[mksshoot]

Here is information for the reloads I load in 308 for my SAM53. I use Winchester brass mostly and some Lake City Surplus when I can find it. Also I use Winchester 147GR.FMJ bullets and load 45.5Grains of IMR 4320. This load cronographed at an average muzzle velocity of2640 FPS on my chronograph. IMPORTANT NOTE - I use CCI #34 Military Primers as they are harder and less likely to cause a slam fire. My loading data came from a Sierra Reloading Manual 3RD. Edition. These rounds cycle my wheapon well and don't seem to show signs of eccessive pressure and they don't hammer the gun. I did chronograph some Lake City 308 ball and some British Radway Green and they both averaged around 2600FPS. Also I have reloading data for 8MM with 196GR.FMJ bullets as well as 185GR.PSP Remmington Bullets if anyone is interested. As with any reloading project start low and work your way up watching for pressure signs! Enjoy

[noonxnoon]

mksshoot,

You are doing 308 reloads?

Any guess on the cost per round in doing that?

Cheapest I've seen in commerical 308 is about a dollar a round...almost near cost as to shoot 50 cal.

Would be interesting if your cost is significant.

thanks

[JBaum]

Cheapest I've seen in commercial 308 is about a dollar a round

http://www.aimsurplus.com/?Ammunition%20Webstore

.308 $390 for 1,000 rounds.