Century M53’s are beginning to ship now

[Der Alder]

I got a call from Century and they are now beginning to ship the M53 to those who pre-ordered and are on the list. Mine is on its way so I should have it next week. I ordered mine about a year or so ago. Got my fingers crossed it will be decent.

Has anyone else here got hold of one of these yet?

This is my first post here BTW. I’m sure it won’t be my last though as I'm a total MG42 newb.

[drooling idiot]

looking forward to many pics and a review.

[Bil]

Yes,welcome aboard! Newest guy with the newest gun-you will become popular with the first range report! Good to have you here. ---bil

[Der Alder]

Yes I’ll get some pics up when I get it. Hopefully you all can bear with me and some of the newb questions I’m sure I will have. I’ve been doing a lot of reading here too, but nothing is going to replace hands on. I’m no newb to firearms in general as I’ve built AK’s and fixed lot problems on my Century Cetmes and FALs etc, but these SA-MG42/53’s look very advanced to me.

Thing is, I know zero about belt feds and these guns in particular look very intimidating to me to mess with. I do know (from reading) how fussing these things are and difficult to build in semi so I have no illusions that this type of firearm will be a complete turn key and run happily ever after. I do like to study firearms and tinker with them so I figured this ready built M53 would at least be a good base for me to start with.

Anyhow I look forward to many discussions with you all here and thanks for the welcome. Nice site you all have here too BTW.

[Der Alder]

As promised here are some of the first few pics I took of it. The gun came in a sturdy plywood crate that was well packed with foam custom fitted inside for this gun. Came with 6- 50 round belts, 1 ammo can and 1 green rain poncho. It also came with 2 very user friendly manuals, complete with lots of pics showing the basic breakdown, basic usage, loading, ammo etc.

Looks to be of very good fit and finish. Came with a bi-pod too. The buttstock appears to be black painted wood. Looks like WLA’s did a nice job. I'm hoping to get a chance to take it out sometime this week or weekend...more pics and report to follow.

[Bil]

Very nice!!Looks like it has a nice carry case,too.What does the warnig about ammo say? Thanks for the pics,I hope you enjoy your new toy-keep us posted! ---bil

[tomcatshaas]

Nice ! Looking forward to the range report. Is it blued or black parked?

The rain poncho is worth the price

TC

[Der Alder]

The warning under the cover says:

“Use military ammunition only.”
“Do not use commercial ammunition in this firearm.”

The manual mentions the same things going on to say:

“Much of the 8mm military ammunition is made for rifle use only with thin brass and lightly seated bullets. This would not be suitable for this belt fed firearm.
Some surplus ammunition recommended includes Romanian steel case, Yugoslavian and Czechoslovakian. DO NOT use Turkish mfg. ammo.”

Glad I stocked up on lots of Romy last year when ordered this before it went through the roof.

It appears parkerized, not blued though that would have been nice. I believe this to be an all Wiselite build, not a Century build because the manual states to contact WLA for all questions, warranty repairs etc. and the serial starts with WLA. I was glad to see that.

Here are a few more detailed pics:

[Der Alder]

I got a chance to test out my WLA M53 and see how it runs yesterday. First off I spent some time over the past several days reading lots of posts on MG42.com and got myself acquainted with the operation of this gun. That and I followed the detailed manuals that came with this gun to the letter…and they are very good manuals too, out lining basic things like die sizing, cleaning and lubing belts, detailed operating/loading sequence, gun lubing and maintenance, ammo types to use etc. All of that was needed for me too cause like I said I know/knew very little about belt fed guns.

It stated in the manual to run this gun “wet”. So wet I ran it with lots of lube on every contact surface I could find including the belts before I loaded them. I ran a little over 100 rounds of Romanian steel cased 8mm through this WLA M53 using a few different belts that it had came with. She ate it all the Romy I fed it with no problems at all…close to 100 rounds in this first outing. No FTF’s or FTE’s, all went bang. I was very happy with it to say the least!

Though I didn’t run a huge amount of ammo through it on it’s first outing, I feel that was enough IMHO to see if it runs out of the box and run it does. As far as accuracy, I wasn’t really gauging that. I did blow the hell out of a plastic 5 gallon bucket and had fun in the process though. This isn’t the type of gun I’d be expecting great accuracy out of anyways…it’s a fun/collectable gun, plain and simple.

I think WLA did their homework, took their time, tested and did this Yugo M53 right. It all shows in the end product. I have to admit I had my doubts that this gun was even going to be manufactured let alone run after reading up on how difficult SA-42 clones can be to get to run reliably, but those doubts have been put to rest.

If you’re not a builder of this sort of gun (like me) and are looking for a turn key MG42 clone this is it…and it’s about as cheap as they are ever going to get for this quality IMHO. Now it’s time for me to get some accessories…I just ordered an MG42 sling and drum to go with it.

[Franz 1796]

Thanks for the update. I really appreciate the pics and feedback and I'm sure many others do also. Now I'm going to have to call my rep at Century and find out where I am on the waiting list.

[csbuceo]

Can you take a pic of how WLA mounted the grip to the receiver from both the bottom and top? I have their grip and would like to see what mods they did to their receiver.

Thanks

[fjruple]

Der Alder--

Thanks for sharing your pictures and your gun with us. Also welcome to the forum.

Just one quick question, How did Century Arms solve the problem of the shorten mainspring (not to bring up a sore subject)? Did they shorten the main spring or did they use a new mainspring? A picture for the forum would be helpful.

Thanks and again welcome.

----fjruple

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

You might want to strip off the black paint off that wood and restore the finish to a natural wood using linseed oil. It will look great next to the black metal.

[tomcatshaas]

You might want to strip off the black paint off that wood and restore the finish to a natural wood using linseed oil. It will look great next to the black metal.

thats if it's walnut. but most likely its some ugly beech wood.

TC

[Der Alder]

I’ll take some pics of grip mounting and mainspring and get them posted as soon as I can.

On the wood butt stock, I ordered another M53 stock from Angola Armory and I plan on stripping it and staining it to get it to my liking. I like the "wood look" too myself. But I figure this way I can leave the one it came with painted black and as is. They are still cheap enough and such an easy swap I figured this might be best.

Also I received from Allegheny Arsenal today an MG42 50 round drum and leather sling which look very nice. (always gives you a fuzzy feeling when you come home and see that box on your doorstep The drum looks really nice…barely used in fact. Hopefully it will run good with it. Seems to fit good. To me the sling is a necessity to have as I found out on my first outing that this is not and easy gun to carry around otherwise.

[tomcatshaas]

was the drum yugo or german marked? Can you post a picture of the sling too? I need another german drum for a matched set.

TC

[1turboturtle]

Der Alder, thanks for the heads up and the review/pics, your M-53 looks great! What was the final price- did they stick to the original price when ordered, or did they raise it? I am on the list too and will be giving my rep a call as well.

[bmwr12]

Does it have the ability to attach to an AA tripod or vehicle mount for a HalfTrack/ motorcycle MG mount?

[Der Alder]

Ok let me get caught up here on some of the questions…

Csbuceo…
Will these pics help you out?
For now I can't seem to figure out how to get the damn grip off (as stupid as that sounds).
I assumed you just take out the screw behind the grip, but it's got like a screw on each side (see pic) large on one side and small screw on the other and they both spin together when I turn either of them. Looking at it, I think that the small side screw is flared a springs out, snapping in, but I hate to start prying to much till I figure out exactly what I'm doing. I figure once the pin/screw is out it should just push forward and turn out like the BRP SA42...don't know for sure, but I may email WLA as this is one thing they left out of the manual.

[Der Alder]

Fjruple…
Here are a couple of pics of the main spring:
The spring appears to be have 2 coils brazed together on the bolt end and is pressed into the b/c. As far as length it is about 14 or so inches long, not counting what is in the b/c.