www.MG42.us

Using very light weight Austrian .308 blanks loaded into slightly expanded 1940's belt -

Pit.

Pitfighter,

Trying to open the video......it wouldn't work for me.

Regards, RichardS in MI.
US Army, Retired.

Well as a single photo looks good, seems like a pile of brass under your mg42.

Good Luck on the video post.

Later 42rocker

The video worked well for me. Please tell us about how you are set up to fire so flawlessly...special blank barrel, size of orifice, source of ammo? Is your gun NFA or neutered? We need more info. Thanks for posting...Phil

nope didn't work for me

I just played it again. It opens in Windows Media Player....Phil

It is a movie rental - we start filming this weekend, so we test fired everything that is going to work with the armorer on a closed range - all permitted and licensed, and insured even had a medic there -

I have no idea what makes photobucket work or not work -
It has never worked for me, but they changed their settings and I noticed a new choice today - so I labeled the post "Video Test." and posted it in a few of the collector forums I am on, to see if I had any joy with posting videos.

Seems some of you cannot access it - I'll describe it for you, lol - it's not very good footage of an MG going BRaaaaaaaaap - not a very good vid, sorry.

Lessons learned:
Standing up and shooting for the hip, it didn't work so well, so I shortened a belt by cutting it in half, then it worked - however I will likely use an assault drum as it worked flawlessly all the time with that, and you cannot tell how many rounds have been fired, so (editing room matching problems) continuity doesn't become an issue.

Pit.

That's funny got home and it worked this time. Zipped right through a belt of ammo.
Looked good, sounded good.

Later 42rocker

Here's one to really make your neck ache, lol.

I need Hirtenberger Austrian blanks - I went through 1000 warming the gun up, I was empty before 11am.
Austrian Army .308 blanks - if any one has a cheap source, please Pm me!!!!!


Thank you,

Pit.

I found a source of .308 Austrian - bought 2000, and...

...Over a period of two days emptied my blank reserves including the 2000 from the new distro.

All in a nightclub in Santa Ana - and the MG42 never failed, as we drew to the end of the day it preferred single trigger pulls for the full 50 round belt, and started to stick a bit if the actor stopped and started too much.
But, even then pointing the muzzle at the ceiling and tapping the receiver emptied the blank.

The actor started to complain about the weight around lunchtime each day, but when he saw how he looked with the gun he kept quiet.

We got pretty efficient with loading the assault drums and had three female PA's loading the belts after each take as we only had about 20 belts.

I'll post the teaser as it is available.

Pit.

This MG42 worked again:

https://vimeo.com/60594348

Pit.

That's really great! Congrats....Phil

That video was neat. Glad the mg42 worked out so well for you folks.

Later 42rocker

We messed around with it for ever until we used the assault drum - at that point it stopped jamming.
Pit.

I have begun to get a good handle on this machine now - the MG worked last weekend.

We were shooting with the Phantom camera, a fairly specialist system that rolls at between 1000 and 1500 fps.

We had zero jams with the 42 and went through approx' twenty 50 round belts - drum fed - all separate belts, pre-loaded.

Between belts - Opened top cover, wiped down, light spray of oil - no sillicone - then a wipe down again, lifted feed tray wiped, light spray.
Belts were sprayed lightly after loading then sprayed a second time before loading - light film - not heavy.

At the start of the day, I wiped grease from top rail and removed bolt wiped all grease off and just kept her lightly oiled, and free of carbon.
Absolute perfection - poetry in motion.
I had been told that these required heavy greasing and oiling - this is not the case, they foul up very quickly with blanks if you even slightly over oil, no matter what you do there is simply always going to be more carbon feedback from a blank than shooting live ammo.

I wish I had known this when we did the first shoot with this last year, where we had trouble finishing a belt without a jam or FTF.

My friend built the Phantom rig which spins the camera around the subject very quickly, allowing for moving slow motion shots, pretty slick.

I will post the vid when I am allowed to.

The MG42 is amazingly sturdy when it fires, the MP34 and MP40 twist and buckle and move almost like jello at 1500fps - a single muzzle flash covers five seconds of running time - it was interesting seeing that nearly every round fired from the 42 hit the sling on the way down.

This was a shot from the Phantom monitor - more to come.

Cool pic and Thanks for the info.

Later 42rocker

I am sure most folks who are owners on this board already know this, or have their own technique, but I am a slow learner - Took me a little while to get into an efficient groove.
The next challenge is upping to a hotter blank -