So I finally ordered me a M1919...

D

DASQ

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Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong forum.

I've spent the last couple weeks/months reading about safety/caring/handling of the M1919's, about the headspacing etc. just wondering if you fellows on CGN had any additional advice to offer.

Experiences and side stories welcome as well :)
 
15 cents used to be your friend in the field - i don't know whether it still is or not- but you probably are getting the correct shims anyway
 
screw barrel ALL the way in....action wont close/lock completely

screw barrel out until action closes

screw barrel out another 2-3 clicks

expend ammo at an outrageous rate
 
go to 1919a4.com LOTS of info there

get yourself/or make the quick adjust barrel tang makes headspaceing easy

mine 8x63mm barrel all the way in out till bolt locks then out 2 more clicks works for approx 500rnds rapid fire then need to move it out another click

I cant remember what the setting for 308 8mm or 30.06 was/is been a year since i shot mine
 
the nickle and dime thing was for the 308- when i was in- supposed to close on the dime, not on the nickle
 
Coyote Ugly said:
Is Marstar still selling the 1919A4 and A6?
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Last I heard they had them, but without the tripods and only in 30-06. Easy enough to convert back, and there are tripods around for the guys who want to pay for them. Marstar was charging close to 1K more for a gun with tripod; these can be had for a bit cheaper, and then you have the bipod, stock and carry handle of the A6 to boot.

DASQ: Shame you got into this late...the 8mm was cheap like borscht not that long ago. However, 7.62 barrels are not hard to find here in Canada, and there seems to be a fair bit of that ammo coming in.
 
Well, depending who you talk to, you may wish to use cloth belts more often then metal links in order to save wear & tear on your trunnion. This is the flat area where the belt/links pass through. Some say that with repeated use of metal links, you could wear through this rather thin area. Mine has some gouges in it, but I see no further wear. All the same, I will tend to run belts more often then links - that's just me. You can get or make cheap trunnion protectors, but I could never get it to work right using one. The trade-up is that links are simple to load and new belts are a PITA to fill manualy.

Good luck with your purchase.

Hijack warning: I'm looking for a newish (and fair priced) barrel in 30-06


My TNW
1919a4%20a.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I think I literally got the last A6 from Marstar... And that was my plan Stencollector, get the A6 for the parts and find myself a separate tripod elsewhere.

And how long ago was 'not long ago' for that 8mm ammo?
 
DASQ said:
Thanks for the replies guys.

I think I literally got the last A6 from Marstar... And that was my plan Stencollector, get the A6 for the parts and find myself a separate tripod elsewhere.

And how long ago was 'not long ago' for that 8mm ammo?
Click to expand...

That well ran dry around feb this year. I have a lttle over 30,000 rounds left myself, all on belts and in their origional crates. If you search this ste for 8mm swede, you;ll find a few threads on it.

Please forgive my crappy spelling for the next while, I'm using a cheap laptop in a very hot and dusty tent for the winter.
 
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Brownings work better when wetter. A 1qt squeeze bottle of light machine oil is your friend. Squirt the sidewalls where the bolt slides, on top of the barrel extension, the extractor cams, the belt feed pawl and the little springy bits in the cover. There are a lot of flat surfaces that rub together.

The second tool is an 8" straight blade screwdriver. Use it to clear the bolt face, to click the headspace notches and bumping the bolt stud forward if it binds that last 1/2".

You can bend the trigger bar in the holes on the barrel jacket if you need to adjust it.

Keep the weight off the hanging belt so there is less drag on the feed mechanism. The whole cycle depends on one impulse back on the barrel. Anything to keep the rest of those parts functioning smoothly is good.
 
So I finally got to take this out for a spin.

And it fails to feed on virtually every round. The best roll I got was four rounds. I seem to have a multitude of issues:

Sometimes pulling the charging handle rearwards and letting it fly home will not even chamber a properly centered round. I checked headspace all up and down, snug to the point of the bolt failing to sit/cannot click the trigger, and 1, 2, 3 clicks past that point.

Sometimes the feed will pull the belt forward, but sometimes it will pull it TWO spots forward, and hence end up with a round past the feed, and an empty chamber.

Sometimes it will feed and fire the first round, but the recoil cycle fails to feed the next round. This was on a belt with only 5 rounds, so weight can't be an issue. Manually cycling the bolt once will feed and chamber the next round, it will fire fine, but again the cycle will not feed the round. Headspace checked all up and down, snug to the point of the bolt failing to sit/cannot click the trigger, and 1, 2, 3 clicks past that point. I tried lightly pulling on the other side of the belt and it seemed to do a little better, but failed to feed right after the 4th round anyway.

I checked the feed pawl, the spring on it seems pretty light and easily depressed.
I squirted every internal piece of metal I could find down with a light oil, and no difference was found.
I ended up putting about 45 rounds through it with all different types of fixes and standing on one feet etc. More or less the same result no matter what.

The M1919 is currently more or less a bolt action rifle that won't feed 2/3 of the time, any help appreciated at this point, I'm out of ideas :)
 
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keep at it sometimes they just need a break in thru mine worked ok from day 1 and i can often go thru several belts without a jam

were you useing links? mine has NEVER fed links well belts no probs but links no go
 
Ditto contact148.

These are 'machine' guns, and the parts have to work together. Like any new gun, there will be roughness on contact surfaces and resistence on springs. As for the failure-to-feed, my first thought is a weak operating spring.

There is a little coil spring on the belt feed pawl (an indexing finger that hold the round on the feed tray). It might be weak.

If you can, make up a longish belt of dummy rounds. Since it is a test fixture for diagnosing a mechanical fault, you aren't going to try loading live rounds in it ... Right? Then start cranking on the parts to get the feel for any resistence.
 
I had to stone the sear/trigger bar contact area (there was a burr on the trigger) as it was not always resetting itself. I also had to cut the notch for the trigger a bit higher on the side plate as it would not move quite far enough to trip the sear.

As to the feeding issues, mine wouldn't work in 308 with either belts or links, including the Izzy links. At best a few rounds, but it was a jam-o-matic. I was almost ready to give up on this gun until I put my first belt of 8mm through, and I had 250 rounds go through with only a few minor stoppages. A bit more tinkering, and it will now go through 500 rounds without a stoppage. In 30,000 rounds I will have to go back to the .308, so I will find out then whether it is the fit of the parts, or the loading of the belts.

Don't give up yet, once you get the thing rockin you will love it.
 
I guess I didn't mention, this is in .30-06 and using cloth belts.

I'll give a try using a belt of brasses tonight, check on the springs, and report then.

Cheers.


And no Gallen, you may not have it, even if it was all busted up, I'd still use it as a damned cool doorstop or hang it on my wall or something ;)
 
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No dice gents. Perhaps the spring in the top cover feed claw thing is too short?

The ... extraction claw sometimes doesn't even latch onto the rim of the cartridge consistently.

I guess I'll have to give marstar a call.
 
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