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.
