The SMG FG42 In Detail

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  • Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Picking up where we left off, pull the bolt group out of the receiver. As you remove it, be aware that the spring in the bolt is compressed and trying to push the bolt to the rear. If you are not actively squeezing the bolt and carrier, the bolt may snap rearward with some force, banging the front of the cam slot into the front of the firing pin yoke. I'm sure that this cannot be good for the components. Here is what the right side of the assembly looks like when as it comes out of the rifle:



    The two locking lugs on the bolt are facing up and down. This is the unlocked position, allowing the bolt group to reciprocate inside the receiver. Between the locking lugs is the extractor. The firing pin can be seen in the cam slot too. Part way up the operating rod is the cutout where the charging handle fits with the stainless steel gas piston in front of it farther up the rod. We'll take a closer look at all of the individual parts in a little while.

    Here's the left side:



    The little round nub at the rear of the bolt is the pin that holds the firing spring and all of it's hardware in place. At the front of the bolt is the ejector slot.


    Now carefully release tension on the internal spring by rotating the bolt and easing it to the rear until it stops. It will now look like this:



    The bolt has rotated 90 degrees and the locking lugs are now sticking out to the sides. If the assembly were in the rifle, they would be engaging the cutouts in the trunnion and the action would be locked. Up in the charging handle slot, you can see the plunger that holds the charging handle in place. This has nothing to do with the bolt position. It just slides back and forth with out the recoil spring in place and happened to be slid forward when the picture was taken so ignore that for now. The gray rectangle on the rear of the bolt is covering the serial number.

    And a shot of the left side after the bolt has been eased to the rear.:



    The extractor is on the bottom and the ejector slot is facing up.


    Next is removal of the firing spring. I hesitate to call it the firing pin spring because it really has nothing to do with the firing pin. This spring is necessary to keep tension between the bolt and the bolt carrier; the rifle wouldn't work without it. It is also necessary when the trigger is pulled to force the carrier home with enough force to reliably set off the primer. So, instead of calling it a "firing pin spring", I tend to call it a "firing spring" as I feel that's a more appropriate name for it. Whatever name you decide to assign this spring, to remove it for further bolt group disassembly, we must first remove the pin that holds it in place. To do so, refer to the picture below:



    The above picture is a close-up of the rear of the bolt. Notice that there are a couple grooves in the retaining pin. These are indexed by the edge of a hole bored into the conical spring plunger. This plunger is under pressure from the firing spring at all times, even when the bolt is fully to the rear, so the retaining pin is held in place securely. To remove the pin, the plunger must be pressed forward into the bolt and the pin can then be pressed out. This sounds simple enough but it's actually quite fidgety and, honestly, it's a big pain in the behind to mess with. The problem is that the plunger wants to rock in the bolt when you try to depress it and is ends up getting stuck in place. If the plunger were made thicker length wise, I think the problem would be eliminated. Trying to get this thing depressed straight down into the bolt is like trying to mess around with a commercial rifle that you need special tools and knowledge to disassemble. It's insanely frustrating to say the least. Is my opinion pretty clear on that? I think the original design used some sort of cup that fit into the hole and rotated to lock and it was held by spring tension too. Whatever the design, is was prone to failure so SMG came up with the pin and plunger idea as a replacement. Again, I think it would be fine if they simply made the plunger deeper so that it couldn't rock in the hole. Anyway, fidget the plunger down and pull the pin out. Now play around with the plunger for a few minutes (I'm not exaggerating here) until you get it unstuck in the bolt and pull it out. The firing spring will come out with it. There is also a spring guide that should come out. If it does not, just tip the bolt back and it will slide out.


    Here's what it looks like disassembled:




    Let's take a look at the individual parts.

    Here's the retaining spring and plunger:



    Now we clearly see the grooves in the retaining pin, the conical plunger and we can see how they fit together to lock the retaining pin in place. You can also see the wound firing spring. The spring has a slightly smaller inside diameter than the outside diameter of the stem sticking out the front of the plunger so the two parts stay together as a unit.

    Here's the rear of the firing spring guide showing the hole that the spring fits into:



    And here's the front of the firing spring guide showing the hole that fits over the stem on the back of the firing pin:




    To separate the bolt from the bolt carrier, simply push the bolt forward while pulling up and away form the carrier:



    Now tip the bolt up and the firing pin will just fall out the back. Here's the firing pin:



    For those that have never seen a firing pin before, the front is to the left. The stem sticking out the back fits into the hole on the firing spring guide and the skinny part in between the two collars is where it fits into the yoke on the carrier.

    Here's a picture showing it fitted to the carrier:



    And here's a top view of that as well:



    I want to again note that the firing pin DOES NOT move independently as it does on most rifles. It is held fast by the bolt carrier. When the trigger is pulled, the entire carrier moves forward under spring pressure carrying the firing pin along with it to fire the round. So, this rifle is striker fired, not hammer fired. I assume that's clear by now but I just want to make sure that you fully understand.

    Now let's take a closer look at the bolt. Here's the bolt face:



    It's resting on the bolt carrier so ignore that. At the top of the picture is the ejector slot and the locking lugs are sticking out to the left and right. Look carefully at the top of the left lug and the bottom of the right lug and you will see wear marks where the lugs strike and ride in the trunnion locking grooves. This is normal wear. When this picture was taken, I had put 80 rounds through the rifle and SMG had put an unknown number through it during test fire and sighting in. If your bolt does not look like this, it means that you are not shooting your rifle......do so immediately.

    Another shot of the bolt face in slightly different light for wear mark comparison:




    Here's a detail shot of the ejector slot:




    Here are a couple photos of the cam slot showing what is again NORMAL wear:





    SMG says in the video included with each rifle that you may even start to see chips of metal missing in this area over time. Apparently, it is normal so don't wig out when this starts to happen. Just keep shooting. SMG has over 15,000 rounds through their test rifle so I'll just take their word for it. I know I'll probably never put 15K through mine unless one of you want's to donate some ammo. I don't know what the black marks are in the wear area. It doesn't rub off so I just ignore it.

    Let's take the extractor apart. Here it is assembled:




    To disassemble, simply press down on the rear of the extractor and use a punch or bullet tip to push the retaining pin out. Here it is shown disassembled:



    When reassembling the extractor, be careful that the spring engages the cutouts for it in both the bolt and extractor. It's small and can easily be tipped on its side during reassembly. This design is different than an original rifle but I don't know why. I do know that it works just fine. It also comes apart and goes back together very easily which is a big plus after messing with that cursed firing spring plunger earlier. Did mention that part needed to be redesigned?


    That's it for the bolt. In the next post, we'll start with the bolt carrier and go from there. See you then!
     
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    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    In this post, we will finish up looking at the rifle itself. To do that, we need to talk about the bolt carrier.

    The bolt carrier consists of three basic parts pinned together to make one unit which cannot be disassembled. At the rear is the bolt carrier proper. It holds the firing pin in place via the yolk machined out of it. This yoke also acts as a cam that causes the bolt to rotate as it moves back under gas pressure and forward under spring pressure, unlocking and locking the action in the process. In the middle is the operating rod. Its job is simply to connect the gas piston to the bolt carrier. The charging handle plugs into the operating rod too. Up front is the stainless steel gas piston. It's the part that takes the impact of the gas tapped from the barrel which drives the entire assembly to the rear.

    We'll start with the rear of the unit:



    The hole in the rear is where the recoil spring fits. The thing in that hole that looks like an insert is actually the rear of the operating rod. Inserted from the front, it passes all the way through the bolt carrier and is pinned in place. The pin is just barely visible above the step running up the side of the carrier. In this view of the right rear, the pin is more visible:



    Also of note in the above picture is the wear mark on the right rear corner of the yoke where it contacts the cam slot in the bolt.


    Here is a view of the front of the carrier showing marks where the left front of the yoke contacts the bolt during operation:



    Judging by the circular mark above the step in the side of the carrier, there may be a second pin holding the operating rod place but I'm not sure about that. That mark may simply be a machine mark. I assume that the yoke must take a tremendous beating as it does its job because it was a common failure point in rifles tested during the war.


    The only thing of interest on the operating rod is the cutout for the charging handle:




    Hidden inside the operating rod is a non removable plunger. When the recoil spring is in place, it pushes the plunger forward and into engagement with a notch cut into the charging handle stem, locking it in place on the operating rod. Here, the plunger has been moved forward until it is visible in the cutout:




    All the way at the front of the assembly is the gas piston:



    It is inserted into the operating rod and pinned in place. The pin is visible in front of the charging handle cutout.


    A detail shot of the gas piston:




    That's it for the internals. Here's a nice neat picture of all the bits and pieces disassembled including the standard round that the rifle fires:



    OOPS! How did that 7.62x54 round get in there??

    Let's try that again with the proper Turkish 8mm round:



    NO NO NO!!! DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SHOOT TURKISH 8mm THROUGH THIS RIFLE. For that matter, don't shoot the Turkish stuff through ANY 8mm rifle except for a bolt action. If you do, you are risking not only your rifle but your life as well. DON'T DO IT!!!! Am I clear on that?

    Alright, here is a family picture showing all of the internals. I'm not going to list each part because you should already know what they are if you've stayed awake and read everything:






    These next photographs are just miscellaneous shots of the empty receiver and a few notes about them.


    Inside of the magazine well showing how clean the weld line is where it meets the receiver. The only evidence of the weld is a slight hump:





    The area at the front of the magazine well which engages the front mounting lug on the magazine:





    A view through the ejection port showing the single spring used for both the magazine catch and the ejector:





    A view up into the breach showing part of the trunnion and one of the cuts for a locking lug on the bolt:




    And finally, the ejection port:



    A note about this opening. If you are like me, you'll stick your finger through any opening in the receiver while cleaning in an effort to get to any powder residue and funk that has accumulated through use. DON'T stick your finger in this hole. On my rifle at least, the inside edge of the ejection port was not polished so it's as sharp as a knife. I stuck my finger in there and it was cut on both sides immediately. That felt really nice with Hoppes #9 all over the place........






    That's it for the rifle proper. We're in the home stretch. In the next post, we'll start looking at the accessories beginning with the magazine. Bye for now!
     
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    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Today, we'll look at the 20 round magazine. This item is the #1 weak point of the rifle because it is not produced by SMG. It is actually a Czechoslovakian made ZB26/30 produced very long ago, as in pre-WWII. The magazines are extremely well made and durable but there are two problems. First, because they have not been produced in 70+ years, there are only so many around. Second, like all magazines of that era, there are inherent variations in the dimensions so that a given magazine may or may not fit your rifle. Back then, the factory tested magazines with each rifle until they found a given number that worked well with that particular rifle. These magazines were then numbered to and issued with it. SMG does the same thing and includes two magazines numbered to the rifle. So far, I have tested five magazines with my rifle. The two that were numbered to it worked just fine as did one of the unnumbered ones. However, the other two unnumbered did not work. One of them had a follower that stuck in the magazine body when loaded past just a few rounds (there are no dents in the body either so I'm not sure what the issue is yet) and the other would not properly lock into the magazine well so it would fall out after just a few rounds. These magazines are not cheap either so it quickly becomes an expensive gamble to buy them untested. But we are not taking this thing to war either so do you really NEED more than two magazines when they are so well made that you will never wear even one of them out? Alright, lets take a look at one.

    Here's a 3/4 front view of the ZB26/30 magazine:



    Given its age, there are some blemishes in the blued finish so it doesn't exactly match the new finish on the rifle. No biggie.....just make your rifle match through some hard use!

    Here's the rear:



    The bit left in the white at the right of the picture is the follower. Some are blued and some are not. When the magazine is empty, the bolt will catch on the follower and hold the action open, just like an original rifle. When you remove the magazine, the bolt will fly home if you do not have a firm grip on the charging handle. DO NOT let it fly home on an empty chamber as this is detrimental to both the chamber face and the sear. Instead, ease the bolt forward after magazine removal.

    Here's a closeup of the original markings on the rear spine showing that it was made in 1937 and matched to a rifle with a serial number ending in 270:




    The bottom showing the floor plate with the rear to the right:



    To remove the floor plate for internal cleaning or inspection, use a bullet tip to depress the spring button and slide the floor plate to the rear.


    So, why use this magazine if it's so old and potentially finicky? Here's whet SMG has to say on the subject:

    " This was done in an attempt to use a high quality mag that was moderately priced, available, was the right caliber and looked right..."

    It is a decent visual match to an original magazine as can be seen in this picture with an original on the right:



    Yes, that is an original German FG42 magazine and NOT a Shoei copy. Original magazines WILL NOT fit into the SMG rifle.
     
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    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    In this post, we'll be looking at the sling. SMG DID NOT make the sling and I have no idea who did but it was included with the rifle and is supposed to be a reproduction of an original sling. We'll put that to the test by comparing it to an original sling.

    Here is a general comparison shot of the two with the reproduction on the right and an original on the left:



    From this distance the repro looks pretty good. Compared to old wartime pictures in a book, it looks really good. On the repro, all hardware is painted black. On the original example shown here, the front carabiner is in the white, the adjustment buckle now has a brown patina but I think it was originally blued and the rear attaching clevis is painted black. I'm sure that there must have been variations on a theme though as is typical of German equipment of that era.


    Lets move in a little closer and start the comparison in earnest with the front attachment carabiner:



    The original is on the bottom in the above picture. The carabiner is made of steel and it's quite heavy. The spring is very stout too. The repro feels cheap and light like it's pot metal or aluminum and the spring is nowhere near as strong. In form, the repro looks absolutely nothing like the original. To be fair though, it seems to work just fine for it's intended purpose but I guarantee you that it would snap easily if you were to abuse it in the field. The original is built like a Panther tank. The diamond pattern on the leather is pretty good and the quality of the leather itself seems to be as good any wartime sling I have encountered.

    Here's a bottom view of the adjustment buckles with the repro on top:



    The stitching is as good as the original but the buckle is a joke. The weld is rough, the steel feels like tin and there is no leather wrapped around the bottom. In fact, the entire bottom of the buckle is so misshapen and the lock bar so useless that the buckle does nothing. If you use the sling to lift the rifle, it simply slips in the buckle until it's at maximum length. If you walk with the rifle shouldered, the sling again slips through the buckle until it's at maximum length and the rifle is dangling all over the place. Fail.


    A side view of the buckles:



    Again, notice how misshapen the bottom of the buckle is. The lock bar is not of a large enough diameter to firmly squeeze the leather between itself and the top of the buckle. The lack of a leather wrap to grab the lock bar just exacerbates the slippage problem. It's just plain worthless. I may try to beat the buckle into something resembling flat and square or I may just use it as a target.....I haven't decided just yet. I really have no use for a product that is cheaply made and doesn't do what it's supposed to do.


    A top view of the rear attachment clevis with the repro on top:



    This part kinda' sorta' looks like the original but it's still pretty bad. Notice how the original has the sling loop molded into it while the repro has a poorly shaped and thin oval barely welded to the clevis. Just as with the front carabiner, there is a noticeable weight difference between the two. The lug sticking out the side of the clevis is the push button used to open the assembly for installation on or removal from the stock. Again, the stitching and leather tooling is on the repro is excellent.


    The pushbutton side of the clevis with the original on top:



    To the left of the picture we can see on the original where the weld holding the pin to the arm was ground down somewhat crudely. We can also see the manufacture mark upside down. L&F was a major manufacturer of slings. On the repro, we can see the weld for the pin through the paint. While the spring on the repro seems to be as strong as on the original, the push button does not operate anywhere near as smooth.


    This last shot is the other side of the clevis with the repro on top:



    Notice on the repro that the pin is not flush with the surface of the arm. That's because neither the pin nor the hole in the arm is perfectly round so the pin will not fully seat. Big thumbs up on that. It works but it won't hold up to real use. On the original, the pin properly seats in the arm. We can also see grind marks to the weld holding the arm to the pushbutton.


    By now, I'm sure you have guessed that I do not hold the repro sling in high regard. The leather, leather tooling and stitching are all first class but the whole thing is ruined by the cheap to the point of worthless hardware. I guess it's good that someone is at least trying to make one and it's fine for display I guess but it's junkola if you plan to actually use it. As for calling it a "reproduction", you might get away with that word if you've only seen an original in old photographs or at a distance but when sitting next to an original, I think the words "cheap knockoff" are a more fitting description. Being that there were various sling manufacturers during the war, maybe one of them actually made one that looked like the "reproduction" pictured here but since originals are not to be found in abundance, this example is the best I could come up with for comparison purposes. Whatever the case, I can't recommend this sling unless someone upgrades the hardware.


    In the next post, we'll look at the scope and mounting rings. I am much more enthusiastic about those because they are as good as originals (probably even better in the case of the scope) and a worthwhile addition to the SMG FG42 if you ask me.
     
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    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Today I took the FG42 out to the range in order to test the Meopta scope and Estes Adams mount. The first time I had it out, I had a wandering zero problem because the rings couldn't be tightened enough to hold the scope. I contacted Mr. Adams and he asked me to send him the setup for diagnosis. He found that the rings were not made quite right and personally reworked the mount so that it would be right. Today was the day I was waiting for. There was a medium soaking rain so that I could test how watertight the scope was as well as how tight the rings were. I also planned to use this opportunity to test the remaining three magazines. The scope functioned perfectly and the mount held zero even after being removed and re-installed on the rifle. Thank you so far Mt Adams!! I took 80 rounds of 1972-73 dated FNM surplus with me. I've shot a lot of this ammunition over many years in everything from G41's to G43's and from FN49's to Hakims and it has always functioned 100%. It was especially accurate in my scoped G43, shooting the center of the target out every time I used it. It's pretty much considered to be the BEST surplus 8mm ever available. Magazine number 1 for the day was a dud. As more rounds were inserted, the follower began to stick more and more. By round 18, there was no spring tension at all. I just dumped the rounds out and moved on to magazine number 2. After the first 10 rounds the scope was zeroed at 100 yards and I went to work. Somewhere in the second ten rounds I had a failure to feed:





    It was easy to clear. Just pull the bolt back and the round fell out. Let if fly and back to work. 19 rounds and 1 dud so far.



    Next magazine I had three intermittent failures to feed. They are pictured in sequence from left to right:





    The last was round 18 for the magazine and it almost seated but not quite. I have no idea exactly what caused the dent or the gouge. It was VERY hard to extract. The rifle was also much harder to charge at this point. In fact, it seemed to be getting harder as it warmed up. The scope was still holding zero. I fired the last two rounds from the hip because of the hard charging issue. I wanted to see where they landed. The gas setting was on high just as it was when I received the rifle. They flew about ten feet or so between the 10 and 11 o'clock position just like every other round. At this point, I had fired 36 rounds and had four duds, all failures to feed. I then inserted a magazine that had worked perfectly the first time I had the rifle out to the range. Round one (41 for the day) fed fine but the bolt did not open after firing. It had recocked but had not begun to unlock. I tried the SMG method for clearing it which is to bang the butt on the wooden table. Zero movement. Next I tried placing the charging handle on the edge of the table and leaned into it. I'm 6'2" and about 240 pounds and I was putting everything I had into it. Nothing. I tried banging the charging handle on the edge of the table. Nope. I stood above the rifle with the charging handle resting on the edge of the table and laid on the buttstock. It wasn't opening. It was locked up tighter than a nun. I messed with that thing for over twenty minutes in a nice soaking rain before giving up and coming home. I was so frustrated, I forgot to bring my target with me. It's about a 25 minute drive home. I took everything out of the truck and left the rifle in the garage while I came upstairs to put stuff away. I then headed back down to the garage intent on using a hammer if necessary. Before resorting to that though, I tried charging the handle by hand again. Still nothing. One last try before I break out the sledge....I'll catch the charging handle on the workbench and lean into it just like I did at the range. The action FINALLY opened and the casing fell out. It looks perfectly normal. The only thing I can figure is that the action is binding as everything heats up. The first time to the range ended in a locked action and nice marks on the handguard. I thought it was a magazine issue that time. This time, after only forty one rounds (37 actually fired) my range trip ended with a locked action and more marks on the handguard. The marks aren't as bad this time but they are there nonetheless. I see nothing out of the ordinary on the internals that might be causing this. I can only speculate that it is a heat and expansion issue. I will be contacting Rick Smith tonight. The reason I generally only buy military rifles is to avoid this kind of stuff but I made an exception for this rifle. For this amount of money, I expect perfection. Looking good isn't good enough and I'm starting to lose faith. I worked at the Post Office for over 13 years before quitting in disgust and now thought of trusting God knows who to send this thing halfway across the country makes me sick to my stomach.......
     
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    Overboost44

    6th gear
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 10, 2013
    6,619
    Kent Island
    I certainly hope this works out for you. It sounds like they have been taking care of you pretty well. Keep up the good work and let us know. There are a lot of views on this thread, so someone is watching.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    I have no doubt that Rick Smith will do everything in his power to fix the problem but at this price point, there should be no problem. I think it's a tolerance issue and I'm hoping that he tells me this is normal and it will wear in. I really don't want to send this thing away. I know how my luck runs and it'll get stolen in transit, simply disappear or there will be a freak accident and the cargo trailer will get destroyed......
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    I was in contact with Rick Smith. He told me to send it back and he would video the unboxing, inspection and testing and post the video. You can't ask for better service than that! However, I'm not quite ready to give up and return it for service without trying a few of his suggestions first; adjusting the gas setting to the lower setting being at the top of the list. I will also be using the magazines it was tested with and paying particular attention to lubing the locking lugs on the bolt and the cam track in the bolt. His correspondence stated:

    " Your rifle may have been one that was a little on the tight side when assembled/test fired and was set on the high setting when it went out. This is the case with about 10% of the rifles and normally within less than 200 rnds they have loosened up and need to be on the low setting or will zing brass 15 feet, kick with 15% more authority, and be in a competition with the mag spring to see who is fastest."

    Mine is still on the high setting and brass IS flying pretty far. I also noticed brass kisses on the receiver in front of the ejection port that weren't there first time out. So, too much gas just may be the main culprit here with the failure to feed problems. What he means by the last part of his statement is that the bolt is flying back with so much force and rebounding off the buffer so hard that it is getting back to the magazine before its spring has enough time to have the next cartridge ready for pickup. That still doesn't explain my lockup yesterday but I've only used CLP as my lubricant and I've kept my locking lugs bone dry, something I learned by shooting HK's for many many years where to DO NOT lube the trunnion. So, I will try again before returning it. That will be a couple weeks though. I will post the results.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Yesterday, I took the FG42 out to the range again. My plan was to shoot 100 rounds. Prior to heading out, I did the following:


    1. Set the gas regulator to the low gas setting.


    2. Greased the locking lugs with Swiss Automatenfett.


    3. Greased the cam slot on the bolt with same.


    4. Packed the two magazines numbered to the rifle.


    5. Packed 40 rounds of Romanian surplus dated 1973 and 60 rounds of Portuguese surplus (10rds. 1959, 30rds. 1961 and 20rds. 1973).


    I am pleased to report that the rifle itself functioned flawlessly. I wasn't pounding the rounds through it but I was shooting fast enough that I had a decent mirage going on when looking through the scope. I took the muzzle brake off for about ten rounds and there is quite a noticeable difference in recoil with it off. I still can't report on accuracy because I was getting different POI because of the various ammunition I took along. I can tell you that accuracy so far is on par with a good SKS. A better trigger would help but familiarity with the rifle should improve the groups too. Charging effort was the same whether the rifle was cold or hot and whether there was a round in the chamber or not. I think we're making progress. Another 500-600 rounds like this and I'll call it good.



    Now for the bad. At round 90, a part fell off on to the table. It turned out to be the band screw from the front mount. I checked the rear one and its screw was ready to fall out. 8mm recoil really puts things to the test. The scope seems to still be tight in the bands but that's probably because the locking levers are holding everything tight. If I were to loosen them, I believe that I'd have a mess. So, I discontinued shooting the FG for the day and headed home. Now I need to contact Mr. Adams and ask for advice about how to proceed; I'm thinking locktite......



    Here is a random sampling of casings with three steel ones on the right and three brass ones on the left:





    Not nearly as beat up as before.



    And the necks on those same casings:






    Prior to cleaning, I took a few pictures to show the surprisingly low funk level at 90 rounds. Here we have the:


    Gas plug:






    Gas block and front of the hand guard:






    Muzzle brake:






    and gas piston:






    Next are a couple pictures of the greased areas prior to cleaning.



    One of the locking lugs:






    The cam slot and other locking lug:






    Cleaning this rifle is pretty easy because residue seems to stay confined to a few small areas. I had taken an HK along with me too (I pretty much ALWAYS take an HK too!) and I'm used to the mess they make so this thing is positively tidy compared to them. With nothing more than on old toothbrush and a little Hoppes #9, everything was done in no time.

    Here's the gas plug post cleaning:






    And the piston:






    Everything else (other than the barrel of course and the trunnion) needed nothing more than a wipe with a rag and a little solvent. Getting into the trunnion area is a bit of a chore since it's so deep in there and protected by knife sharp edges if you try to go in through the ejection port and, to a lesser extent, through the magazine well. It quickly teaches you to use a toothbrush or get nasty cuts on your fingers!



    While wiping down the trigger group, a part fell off. It turned out to be the knob from the safety which had unthreaded itself from the detent! What the hell?? Well, since it was already partially apart, I figured I'd take the safety out of the trigger housing and get a picture of what the safety looks like disassembled:





    As I said earlier, the 8mm round really puts components to the test. Things WILL disassemble themselves if they aren't properly fastened together. So I put the safety back together.

    Here's the knob screwed back in place on the detent:






    And here's what it looks like after I staked it in place:





    Note to SMG......you might want to consider doing that or at least locktite it.



    Okiedokie. While it's all clean and dry, let's take a look at some wear marks with approximately 210 rounds through the rifle. I'm posting these so that you know what to expect as you shoot the rifle and it starts to wear in. I assume they are normal even though I personally am not normal.....



    Lets start with the tip of the firing pin:





    It kind of looks like a Polaris missile doesn't it?



    The rest of the firing pin showing marks from interaction with the yoke and the inside of the bolt:






    The firing spring guide:






    The right rear of the yoke:





    Yep, that's a divot wearing in there. SMG says it's normal so don't wig out when this happens.



    The front left of the yoke:





    That's NOT a crack. It's just scratches in the bluing.



    Bolt lugs:









    These next two are interesting. They show wear marks behind the lugs on the body of the bolt. I believe this to be from minimal clearance between the bolt and the trunnion and it helps explain (in my mind anyways) why these rifles are prone to locking up if they are run dry:








    That's not a complaint, just an observation. I've been contacted by several owners now and they have experienced the "FG42 lockup" as well so this isn't just my rifle. SMG says in their instructional video that these rifles seem to run better and better the more you shoot them and I have no reason to doubt their claim. The wear marks shown above seem to be proof of that. So my advice is.....slap some grease on there and run the hell out of it!!



    Speaking of that, based on accumulated data so far, here's my recommendation so far for lubrication after cleaning:


    1. A drop of good oil (I use Break Free) on the rear of the extractor.


    2. A very little bit of grease on the firing pin where it contacts the inside of the bolt and where it contacts the yoke.


    3. A very little bit of grease on the firing spring guide where it contacts the inside of the bolt.


    4. A little more grease on the yoke where it contacts the cam slot in the bolt.


    5. A little more grease in the rear of the bolt cam slot after the entire bolt group is assembled just before putting everything into the receiver.


    6. A little more grease on the locking lugs paying attention to NOT smear it on their fronts (enough will work its way there in use) or on the bolt face.


    As an example, let me show you what my lugs look like greased just before it all goes into the receiver:











    SMG should give you some idea about proper lubrication procedures in their manual but they don't so learn form my problems, stupidity and experimentation. Admittedly, most of my problems come from my stupidity but not all of them. HAHA!! As for what grease to use, I'm using Swiss Automatenfett but any quality high temperature grease should work just fine I would think.




    Okiedokie.....that's it for now. Eventually, I'll get this whole scope thing worked out and get some decent accuracy tests going on.
     
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    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    In this post, we are going to talk about trigger pull. Mine is terrible. It's hard and the best way to describe how it feels is to compare it to a rusty ratchet wrench. It starts hard, clicks and scrapes as you pull and finally, just barely before it goes off, it smooths out. You can actually hear it scraping and clicking in there. So I decided to do something about it...or at least TRY to do something about it. I had a feeling that the problem was the sear so, I cocked the action, took the trigger housing off and used a screwdriver to push on the sear where the sear trip in the trigger group fits. Sure enough, I could feel the scraping and clicking. Time to take the sear out. It's held in the receiver by the bright shiny pin seen here below the charging handle slot:




    I just placed a punch on the pin and it pressed out using only hand pressure. There is a spring in there holding the sear under considerable pressure so parts went flying up into the receiver when I removed the punch. I'll figure out how to get it back together later! After fishing the parts out of the receiver I took a picture of them:



    Forward is to the right and we are looking at the right side and bottom of the sear. The top of the sear spring fits into the bottom back hole and there is another hole in the receiver for the bottom of the spring. This spring is of a larger circumference where it fits into the sear, presumably to aid in assembly. The step on the bottom towards the front is where the sear trip on the trigger engages. Also pictured is the retaining pin which obviously goes through the hole in the center of the sear.


    Here's the scalloped area on the front of the sear where the disconnector goes:




    Here's a better look at the bottom of the sear:




    And the top of it:




    The rear surface of the sear is what engages the bolt carrier notch and as soon as I looked at it I saw why the trigger is so scratchy. It is shown here in two pictures:





    All those lines going across the polished surface are the cause of all my trigger problems. As the trigger is pulled, they scrape and stutter across the mating surface on the bolt carrier until they are no longer touching it and the pull evens out just before releasing the carrier to fly home. So I broke out the emery cloth and my diamond encrusted sharpening stone and went to work, being carful to keep the surface straight and flat and only removing exactly enough metal to eliminate the marks. I was also careful to stay away from the very top edge of the surface for fear of making the rifle unsafe when cocked. Additionally, I left just a little bit of the bottom groove to see if I could feel it when I pulled the trigger. If I could still feel this groove after reassembly, it would also tell me just how far down the sear face the carrier notch grabs. Here are two pictures of what it looks like after polishing:





    The fact that I stayed away from the top of the surface and the partial notch I left are clearly visible. The ease with which I removed the marks does have me a bit worried though. Perhaps this surface is not hardened? If not, were those grooves made by SMG or are they an artifact of the bolt carrier striking the sear in the forward stroke? If they are from the latter, they are going to show up again with use and the trigger will again become funky. You can't keep dressing the surface or you will eventually run out of sear! I'll keep an eye on it and report back.


    Reassembly was an absolute pain in the arse and I can't exactly describe how I did it because it took a lot of fidgeting. There is a technique to it though and I'm sure that it would go easier next time. Once it was back in, I put the trigger housing on and quickly found out that it wasn't in right so I had to take the sear back out and start over. The second time worked and back together the rifle went.

    The result of my efforts is a MUCH smoother and lighter trigger pull. I can indeed feel the notch I left on the sear face so I know that the sear and carrier have a good engagement but the drag is minimal and only felt at the very beginning of the pull. After that, while it's still quite a long pull, it's silky smooth all the way to let off. As stated, the weight of the pull is significantly reduced too but I unfortunately do not have a tool to test that.

    Of course, a range test tell me a lot and use will tell me if the marks will return. So, should YOU do this to your rifle if you aren't happy with the trigger? Only YOU can answer that for yourself. But I will say this......unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing, don't mess with it. The absolute last thing you want is an unsafe rifle. So if you have any doubts whatsoever about your abilities, contact SMG and ask them if they can polish your sear. Of course, you may be perfectly happy with your trigger already because it's as smooth as glass. If so, you can just disregard this post because you don't need it!!
     
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    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Recently and today, I spent a good amount of time disassembling an original FG42 for documentation purposes and for comparison to the SMG reproduction. I learned some things. First off, SMG did one hell of a job recreating the past. Second, while published sources tell us a lot about these rifles, there's still a lot of interesting information waiting to be published. In the coming months, I'll be writing an E-Book about the FG42 and documenting things that have never been published before. It'll be ready for publishing in 2015 and I'll post here when it's available. :thumbsup:








    I threw a couple original Fallschirmjager helmets in there for fun.
     
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    Scott7891

    Love those Combloc guns
    Sep 4, 2007
    1,894
    Back in MD sadly
    This is definitely by far one of the best threads on MDS.

    All the other rifle threads talk about the same thing over and over about AR's, Ruger's, Remchester's, etc.

    This thread provides unique insight into a firearm not well-known outside of those interested in history and firearms development.

    Your work is well appreciated especially by me.
     

    Overboost44

    6th gear
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 10, 2013
    6,619
    Kent Island
    This is definitely by far one of the best threads on MDS.

    All the other rifle threads talk about the same thing over and over about AR's, Ruger's, Remchester's, etc.

    This thread provides unique insight into a firearm not well-known outside of those interested in history and firearms development.

    Your work is well appreciated especially by me.

    I agree 100% with Scott. I knew nothing about this rifle before and am amazed with what you have accomplished. I will be interested in the book when you publish it. I had missed the last post you had about the trigger until now. I certainly hope you have another interesting gun in your collection that you plan to review, or that others plan to do something similar.

    If there were internet forum awards, you deserve one! :thumbsup:
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    I appreciate the kind words, thank you! At the moment, I'm working on several projects at once, including early Soviet night vision scopes, the MP44 rifle, SVD rifle and others. I will be publishing several at the same time to start a base with others to follow one by one.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    I managed to get out to the range earlier this week for more testing. There were several objectives and I'll go over them one by one.

    1. Continued function tests. I shot 86 rounds, ten of which were 1973 Romanian. The remainder were FNM dated from 1966 to 1973. I had one failure to feed which made a mess of the round. It was easy to clear. All I did was pull the charging handle to the rear and hold, remove the magazine, dump the bad round out the ejection port, replace the magazine and keep on rolling. The round was nicely mangled:








    Here is a random sampling of ejected cases with 5 Romanian on the left (ignore the mangled FNM round) and 5 Portugese on the right:







    2. As the rifle warmed up, I began to have problems with it locking up again. Not as bad as before but I still had to place the charging handle on the edge of the table and push with moderate force. I began to hold the charging handle to the rear when changing magazines to get around the problem. I'm hoping the problem disappears as the rifle continues to wear in. At this point, my analysis of the wear marks on the bolt behind the locking lugs convinces me that the problem is tolerances being too tight.


    3. Once zeroed, the scope held it even after being removed and reinstalled on the rifle. Accuracy is, as stated before, about the same as an SKS:

    Final 27 rounds of the day at 100 yards:



    This is not a target rifle nor did I expect it to be. However, I was plinking at fist sized objects laying in the backstop which is at about 110 yards and hitting them one after the other with no problem. For some reason, I shoot at objects better than I do paper targets so the rifle is more accurate than you see above.

    4. The blue locktite on the scope screws seems to have done the job. I put pencil lines on the rings as index marks prior to the range trip and the screws did not move. More rounds will tell the tale as to whether or not this is a viable fix. If it proves to be, I'll go over everything at that time.

    Front band index mark:



    Rear band index mark:



    When the scope is attached, the locking levers do not turn fully to their front stops:



    I do not think that they are necessarily supposed to but it is worth noting so that you don't get too excited should you buy one and have the same thing happen. What is important is that they do not move during use and mine have not. Again, we're only talking 86 rounds here. Much more testing is required before I can give a real opinion. I can say though, that the optics on the Meopta scope are crystal clear.

    5. Now for the bad. The trigger pull is back to rusty ratchet status. I did not remove it and take pictures but I can see it when looking into the back of the receiver and I can definitely feel it. After just a few shots, I could feel that it was going south and the problem became worse and worse. After only 86 rounds, the sear looks just as bad as it did before I dressed it. This problem is simply unacceptable. I don't know if I just got a poorly hardened one or it's systematic but I will be contacting SMG about it. I will report my findings. That's it for now and I will continue reporting back as testing progresses.
     
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    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    Late last night I sent Rick Smith an email about the sear problems I'm experiencing and he was kind enough to respond today. I new, harder sear will be in the mail tomorrow. You can't ask for better service than that if you ask me. After it's installed and tested I'll of course report what I find out. Stay tuned!
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    It's been a while since I've posted but as they say, 'tis the season....

    I received the new sear from SMG in late November but haven't has had a chance to install it until this evening. Prior to installing the new one, I thought it would be a good idea to measure the trigger pull on the original. It was somewhat hard to get a good reading on the digital meter because of the grooved sear. The meter was jumping up and down as it would clear one groove and hit the next one but I finally managed to figure an average pull of right around 10.5 lbs.

    Next, I removed the old sear and took a few pictures comparing it to the new one:







    The old one is on the right and you can clearly see the grooves pounded into it by the bolt carrier. Also note that the new one has a copper hue to it. When Rick sent me the new one, he recommended that I slightly radius the notch on the bolt carrier where it contacts the sear so that I don't have as sharp an edge impacting the sear. He also cautioned me not to take too much material off as this may create an unsafe situation. Here is the notch on the bottom of the bolt carrier prior to reshaping:





    If you look very carefully, you will see that the edge is not rounded but is faceted.


    In these next pictures, you may be able to see that the edge is now rounded. I removed only the absolute minimum required to achieve this:






    Finally, I reassembled everything and tested the trigger pull again. Now it weighs in at 14.8 lbs. but at least it is smooth and consistent all the way through the pull. As soon as I get a chance, I'll take it back out to the range and try to run another 100 rounds through it. At that time I will of course report back.
     
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