New Zealand’s Bolt Action Machine Gun

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New Zealand’s Bolt Action Machine Gun

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/01/09/zealands-bolt-action-machine-gun/

The Charlton Automatic Rifle sums up the adage “necessity is the mother of invention.” These LMGs were produced for the New Zealand home defense forces beginning in 1941 from old Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield bolt action rifles.



For those familiar with the Lee-Enfield the conversion should be fairly easy to track. The bolt handle was cut off and the barrel modified and fitted with heat dissipation fins and a compensator. A gas powered operating rod was fitted on the right side with a return spring in the tube below it. A buffer assembly with spring is at the rear of the operating rod. A bolt guide is attached to the operating rod that behaves much like the Garand. It has a helical cut that acts on a new lug, welded atop the original right side rib, to cam the bolt open and closed. Steel plates have also been fitted to reinforce this whole operation and provide a raceway for the bolt guide. A pistol grip has been fitted to the original stock and a forward grip attached to the new barrel along with a bipod. Original rear sights were fitted on a steel extension over the finned barrel. The new LMGs were fitted either with modified Bren 30 round magazines or their original 10 round Lee magazines.

The development and conversions took place in Charlton’s Motor Workshop and it seems roughly 1,500 were produced. Nearly all were destroyed post war by an accidental fire in the arsenal where they were stored. So we’re very lucky to have these nice photos of two of them!
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Lol, 'variant'. Don't worry, this one's already mentioned in the Firearms Act.
Nice shot of the operating mechanism, thanks HD! This is what happens when there aren't enough Bren guns to go around, anyone know what reliability was like on these?
 
kennymo said:
Lol, 'variant'. Don't worry, this one's already mentioned in the Firearms Act.
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Lets not gloss over the importance of this.

The Mitchell Arms AK22 is prohib as a variant of an AK, even though the Mitchell is a rimfire, blowback, kids rifle that shares not a single part with a real AK. The Charleton IS a LE. It has simply been modified to operate as a MG. Applying the typical sloppy standard the RCMP uses for other variants, the Charleton could be used to prohib every single bolt rifle in the country as variants of a MG.

If you look into the topic you will find a number of other FA conversions of bolt guns were produced. Our laws are so loosey goosey that the govt can ban just about anything on a whim. THIS is why the CPC needs to get rid of C68 and put in place something rational.
 
The Charlton was developed during a period when Brens were not available. NZ was at the end of a looong supply line.
They were not issued for actual service.
It has been reported that they didn't work all that well, and that they were more for morale building than for use as actual weapons.
While none of the parts or modifications were particularly high tech, there are a lot of parts in the conversion. Available photos of originals would suggest that there are numerous variations in the remanufacture of the Long Lees used. While the magazine is Bren based, it appears that the actual magazines were purpose built, and are not converted Bren mags.

An original Charlton would be a 12-2 or 12-3 prohibited firearm here. It is not a named prohib. Because it is not a named prohib, the variant issue is irrelevant.

The Canadian Huot conversion of the Ross was a more serious lmg, and compared favorably with the Lewis Gun in actual testing.
 
Suputin said:
This is John Browning's full auto conversion of a lever action. Doesn't look too difficult to make something like this. Thus the RCMP should be banning all lever actions as easily convertible.
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Looks like that ring at the end of the barrel is what's being used to "capture" the exhaust gasses and work a lever, which pulls a rod, that in turn works the lever action... No way that could be particularly reliable, not to mention it would probably throw a lot of hot gas in your face. It does look like something you could cobble together in an afternoon in the garage.

Still want one, still want to shoot one.
 
In its ultimate version, the design evolved into the 1895 "Potato Digger", which, in .303, was used by Canadian troops in WWI. The muzzle flapper was replaced by a swinging arm activated by a gas port.
Do some research, and you will find a Browning .45-70 belt fed prototype which used the same muzzle flapper concept. The crude drawing above is of a M1873 Winchester converted by Browning; a later version was purpose built and fed from the top.

For the lever action conversion, see US Patent 471,782.

For the .45-70 prototype, 471,183.

1895 Potato Digger, 544,658, 544,659, and 544,660.
 
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It was because of this gun that the magazine cartridge exemptions mention the Lee Enfield magazines, even though they were primarily a bolt action magazine not subject to capacity limits. Aside from the modified Bren magazines which were remanufactured specifically for the Charlton ( they would be limited to 5 rounds if you were to find one) it is unlikely that any Enfield magazines were specifically made for the Charlton, so the exemption is really a moot point. By current CFC policy and interpretation, there should be no limits on how many rounds an actual Lee Enfield bolt action magazine could hold.

Just another example of how convoluted and confusing the current firearms act is.
 
There is a guy from some east block country the converted a brake action .22 to a full auto bullet flinger. From what I could see there was a gas block that let gas back through two tubes one flex tube the went to the loading and ejector and the other to the brake leaver as to allow it to brake open to be reloaded... I will try and find the video and post it.
 
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From reading the Browning biography, I gathered that the lever action automatic rifle was just a proof of theory for whether a gas operated action could work, and that the thing pretty much just did an uncontrollable mag dump when it was set off. Never intended to be a prototype of any sort, but more of a I Wonder If.... moment.

Fascinating stuff.
 
grelmar said:
Looks like that ring at the end of the barrel is what's being used to "capture" the exhaust gasses and work a lever, which pulls a rod, that in turn works the lever action... No way that could be particularly reliable, not to mention it would probably throw a lot of hot gas in your face. It does look like something you could cobble together in an afternoon in the garage.

Still want one, still want to shoot one.
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Yet the RCMP has decided an upper that has to be duct taped to an AR lower in order to fire a single round is still considered to be a restricted firearm.


Mark-II said:
From reading the Browning biography, I gathered that the lever action automatic rifle was just a proof of theory for whether a gas operated action could work, and that the thing pretty much just did an uncontrollable mag dump when it was set off. Never intended to be a prototype of any sort, but more of a I Wonder If.... moment.
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The pertinent point being that the RCMP likes to twaddle off about such and such being "easily convertible to FA" when in fact a lot of stuff is "easily convertible" to FA. If we are going to allow them to decide a Swiss Arms or a VZ is easily convertible then they have won because in the future there is nothing stopping them deciding a bolt action rifle or a lever gun or pretty much anything else is "easily convertible" as well.

People think their fudd hunting rifles are safe when in fact they are not. We all need to stick together and fight every one of these burocratic RCMP reclassifications.


The MP38 below it is a NZ made copy.
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No chit! Learned something new today. Never heard about NZ made MP38 copies before.
 
Ease of conversion to auto was not the SFSS justification for prohibition of the Swiss Arms and 858 rifles.

There has been speculation on CGN about the prohibition of SKS rifles based on ease of conversion.
There was a chap who challenged and taunted the RCMP to prohibit the SKS because of ease of conversion - only a piece of wire was required.

Over the years, there have been a variety of conversions of manually operated and semi auto firearms to auto.
Years ago there was a photo in a magazine of a seized converted M-1 carbine that had been used in a crime in Montreal. It was an interesting, original design, which did not copy the M-2 mechanism.
Back in the 60s, a guy sent me photos of his legally converted No. 4, which had been altered into a 9mm smg. It had done through a number of iterations; the final version looked pretty good. In those days one could register such a gun.
 
Not arguing the point that gun owners need to stick together, whatever their interests, but I thought this thread was about appreciating some strange kitbashing rather than politics.
 
There is an old saying in Motocross: You could win a national on your Mom's coffee table if you sunk enough time an cash into it.

Same with guns. You can make anything full auto if you try hard enough and have the proper skills (most of us don't). that's why the whole reclassification system has to go. The fact that they reclassify at all proves the incompetence of the RCMP in the first place.
 
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