So how long can you leave MG34/42 belts loaded?

[dwmmg08]

Just wondering? Can I leave them loaded indefinately, or is there a time limit???

Glen

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Practically indefinite, as long as moisture doesn't start corroding the cases.

[noonxnoon]

I got some of my belts loaded in an ammo can with a Remmy dehumidifying that i recharge from time to time and chuck back into it.

Hope I am not over drying it!

[www.Prussia.us]

Just wondering? Can I leave them loaded indefinately, or is there a time limit???

Glen

Until the Russians start crossing the Oder

[Matt]

believe it or not, leaving belts loaded for a long time can reduce the tension on them. i have noticed this more on the later style belts with the bumps. the early belts not so much. i had some late 43 and 44 belts that were really tight when i loaded them and now after a few years some the rounds slide in and out very easily there was a tool shown in the mg34/42 book that checks for proper tension

[amafrank]

Well it may be possible for the belts to lose tension but we fired about 1000rds of ammo that was loaded in belts during WWII. The ammo was brought back by a friends father who was pulling individual rounds to shoot in his bolt rifles. We got 4 cans and burned through them with the MG42 a few years back and there was no problems whatsoever. I'd say that like Darius said, if you don't get rust going you should be fine for a very long time.


Frank

[Matt]

that was risky shooting the ww2 ammunition in your mg42. case seperations can happen and do happen with steel case and 60 year old brass ammunition. it is one of the fastest and most common ways of destroying a mg42. what a waste of history as well....

[Bil]

I have a hard time keeping it in belts for more than a few weeks.The temptation is too great. ---bil

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

that was risky shooting the ww2 ammunition in your mg42. case seperations can happen and do happen with steel case and 60 year old brass ammunition. it is one of the fastest and most common ways of destroying a mg42. what a waste of history as well....

The insides of the WWII steel cases are not coated, so corrosion that it not apparent on the ourside can occur, making thin spots in the cases. It happens at different rates for different batches of ammo, depending on how it was stored for the past 66 years, so some WWII ammo may be okay. However, Matt is right, and you really don't want to risk damaging an MG-42 to shoot off ammo that could be VERY unsafe. The WWII stuff is too valuable to shoot these days anyhow since it is getting more collectable.

[dwmmg08]

Some of the earlier WWII steel case ammo is coated on the inside, and is perfect, other (especially later) steel case stuff is rotting apart from the inside, and will shortly become powder.... I actually had a friend who had cases of thousands of rounds of repacked WWII German ammo, and I tried some of it... I had to segregate out cases, as a fair number of the late?r (44) dated green laquer coated stuff was rotting apart as it sat. I was able to shoot some of it: the early (39, 40 ) dated stuff had been laquered inside and out when I got to look at it; it was like it was made yesterday. The later stuff was all laquered only on the outside, and had every single round fall apart on shooting: all were rotten from the inside, filled with rust. I did not shoot any more of that stuff, but want to point out it looked ok from the outside.

According to my 8mm book, they decided to skip a step, and they even had the year that was ordered, I think. IT was the laquering of the inside of the cases. Worked for them, more ammo faster, not so well for using it 60 years on!

[amafrank]

I am familiar with the issues of internal corrosion on some WWII German steel cased ammo. Not all the ammo they made had this problem and much of the ammo was brass cased up to 1942. I am very picky about ammo and wouldn't risk a post sample MG42 much less a transferable. I appreciate the concern but no need for it in this case. I've done my share of repairs on guns damaged by the cheap ammo shooters......
The point of all this was to show that the belts can be loaded indefinitely with no degradation to the belts ability to hold the ammo properly. We fired ammo that we belted in the late 70's just a few years ago with the same results...no problems. As Bil noted the biggest problem is keeping your hands off the belted ammo and not shooting it up......


Frank