Browning .30 cal mg

O

Ontario Hillbilly

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I have a dewat Browning belt fed mg. Appears to be an aircraft version. The dewat was done a little crudely, holes blown in it with a cutting torch. I will post pics when I can, but I was wondering what kind of value it may have.
 
The good is that it's a WW2 Canadian Inglis. The bad is it's a pretty thorough torch job plus the rust, it would take someone with considerable skills to clean it up and refinish it. Not as ###y as a Bren or a Thompson dewat so I'd guestimate a price of $600 to $800???
 
I think a sympathetic restoration should involve a lot more than just welding up the holes.
If you just want to patch it, use auto body compound and spray paint.
 
Is there a paper with it , should be < Looking at it I am not sure.
Legally you have to know what you can and cannot do. Looks like the chamber is still open?
No problem refinishing the rust and shield
 
You have to have a welded up chamber, bolt face cut at the minu. depending on when it was done, that is a sorry looking gun
I can't really tell from the pictures what was done
 
It looks as you say, like an aircraft version not .30 cal but .303 British. So this was probably on a fighter. But from the rust and corrosion it was buried and dug up. The rules for deactivation are clear. Jagged torch cuts aren't enough. The gun cannot be made to chamber or fire. The RCMP also want the parts welded together so nothing moves. From the looks of the cuts on yours, it is any one's guess if any of those conditions have been met.

I would suggest having a gunsmith break the pieces open. Then soaking it in Evaporust and getting rid of the worst of the corrosion. Sniff into your handkerchief, and get him to weld it shut. But at least you will have a legal deactivated Browning .303 MG and not a legal liability.
 
Nice looking dewat and inoperable firearm that should be left as found and in relic condition, WAY to many folks march to the full restore drum beat while it has a earned look from over the years. Give it a place in the man cave and enjoy the history you own.
 
There seems to be a torch hole near the front of the chamber that would prevent chambering a round. If it should be welded completely closed I do have the technology to do so. Every moving part has been torched as to be immovable, and with all the strategic blow holes in it I was sure it was fully deactivated. It would be an impossibility to render it operable in my opinion.
Any special way I should do it? Or just MIG weld the chamber mouth shut?
 
these guns were deactivated back in the 60's and totally meet the regulations of deactivation. you do not need to do anything.
if you want to make it pretty fill the holes with body filler and give it a coat of paint.
 
####ty pics, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's an aircraft version, made for the Brits in .303, armament on the likes of Spitfires and Lancasters. Saw lots of those in my teens, mint condition. 19.95 was more than I could afford. :(

Grizz
 
Grizzly Adams said:
####ty pics, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's an aircraft version, made for the Brits in .303, armament on the likes of Spitfires and Lancasters. Saw lots of those in my teens, mint condition. 19.95 was more than I could afford. :(

Grizz
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Yup, that's the one. Made in Toronto at the Inglis plant a little north of the CNE grounds. My mother-in-law worked there, maybe even worked on this particular MG...
 
303-1a.jpg
 
tiriaq said:
I met a lady who had made Bren breech blocks at Inglis.
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Many years ago my Inglis mother-in-law was over for a visit during which she was talking about her war work there. Needing to know if she recalled the parts she worked on I extracted the Bren from the safe and field stripped it on the kitchen floor in front of her...and the wife...which I admit now was a mistake (yes I had had a glass or two of wine with dinner). How did it turn out you ask? Oh fine, the mother's visits were way less frequent and I finally talked my wife out of divorcing me. All good.
 
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