Homebuilt Browning M1919A4s

Leland Pate · 04-18-2011, 04:26 PM

I spent a weekend earlier this month building a pair of .30 Cal BMGs from parts kits.

It took about 5 hours per gun (three of which were spent finishing the 70% receiver plate). Lots of dremel/grinder work followed by two sore hands from using the hand file.

Just took #2 out for a test drive and it ate 140 rounds of South African .308 without issue.

These are very fun (and HEAVY) firearms!

A couple pics from a proud papa!

Cool, huh!?

nynor · 04-18-2011, 04:38 PM

damn cool.

masraum · 04-18-2011, 04:59 PM

Wow, now show us the kit that you bought to mount it to your car.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

The John Dillinger station wagon special.

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

Wow! Incredibly cool!! I'll be Parkerizing an M1911A1 this weekend if my gout lets up...That's nothing compared to what you did! Great work!!

Leland Pate · 04-18-2011, 05:58 PM

Thanks guys!

I parked the receivers on my kitchen stove when the little lady was away at work.

Here is a quick video of her first shots:

legion · 04-18-2011, 06:27 PM

And where does one get one of these?

Leland Pate · 04-18-2011, 06:41 PM

You can still find the .308 Izzy parts kits here: 1919 A 4 Full Auto Parts Kits

The supply is getting scarce and the price of a kit has damn near doubled in the last 18 months.

In addition to this, you will need a right side plate, a rivet set, a semi trigger/sear and the FA internals will have to be machined to BATFE approved semi-auto specs by a competent shop to prohibit FA operation.

You will need to then dip into your 401K to afford the ammo these things eat.

VincentVega · 04-18-2011, 07:08 PM

Very nice, thanks for posting this.

jyl · jyl's Garage

With a Mustang you have to mount those in the fenders and set them to converge at a given range. With a 911, they can all mount in the trunk and be co-axial, like a P-38. Viva la 911!

Jim Bremner · 04-18-2011, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyl

With a Mustang you have to mount those in the fenders and set them to converge at a given range. With a 911, they can all mount in the trunk and be co-axial, like a P-38. Viva la 911!

Converging fire in it's center of a V is pretty devastating

jyl · jyl's Garage

If you are at the correct range. Suppose you set the guns to converge at 50 feet but the Boxter is at 100 feet? And she's pulling away?

Quote:

Quote de jyl

With a Mustang you have to mount those in the fenders and set them to converge at a given range. With a 911, they can all mount in the trunk and be co-axial, like a P-38. Viva la 911!

Converging fire in it's center of a V is pretty devastating

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

The Parkerizing turned out great! any tips for me, considering I'm Parkerizing for the 1st time this weekend? Thanks!

Leland Pate · 04-19-2011, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azasadny

The Parkerizing turned out great! any tips for me, considering I'm Parkerizing for the 1st time this weekend? Thanks!

If your using new stuff, you'll need to season your new 4:1 parkerizing solution with a few bits of steel wool to get the manganese phosphate working at it's best.

Use a cheap thermometer clamped to the side of your SS tank to get you between 175-180F.
Take your freshly sandblasted parts and thoroughly degrease them with brake cleaner. Wear latex gloves to prevent any oil transfer. Then, rinse them real well under warm tap water just before dipping them into the solution.
I don't mess with suspending the parts from wire or anything. I just dump them - wait about 4 minutes- then use a pair of SS tongs to flip them over every few minutes to insure even coverage. Once the fizzing stops, the parts are done and aren't going to get any darker.

Take the parts out and immediately wash off the parkerizing solution under clean water. The last step is to take the rinsed parts and dump them into a preservative solution to displace the water and completely cover the parts in oil to prevent corrosion. Wipe off the excess and you're all done.

Easy peasy.

Here are some AK parts I parkerized earlier this year. You want to talk about overboard? I think I've built almost 30 AK47's since X-Mas.

I need a JOB!

pwd72s · 04-19-2011, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyl

If you are at the correct range. Suppose you set the guns to converge at 50 feet but the Boxter is at 100 feet? And she's pulling away?

Not likely for this scenario to happen..

m21sniper · 04-19-2011, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leland Pate

I spent a weekend earlier this month building a pair of .30 Cal BMGs from parts kits.

It took about 5 hours per gun (three of which were spent finishing the 70% receiver plate). Lots of dremel/grinder work followed by two sore hands from using the hand file.

Just took #2 out for a test drive and it ate 140 rounds of South African .308 without issue.

These are very fun (and HEAVY) firearms!

A couple pics from a proud papa!

Cool, huh!?

I marvel at the size of your gun expense account.

Burnin' oil · 04-19-2011, 10:06 AM

That's awesome.

Where are you living these days? 'Cause I know it can't be California . . .

pwd72s · 04-19-2011, 10:12 AM

All that work and it's only semi-auto? Lee, what has happened to you????

m21sniper · 04-19-2011, 10:14 AM

A full auto 1919 is probably literally 10x more money.

Leland Pate · 04-19-2011, 10:25 AM

I just have the sweetest wife alive.

She supports me as I play gun-building house hubby.

Believe it or not, these are legal in CA because they are not considered to be shoulder fired rifles and therefore not covered by the AW laws. I've seen guys convert bolt action .50 cal BMG rifles to spade grips, thus eliminating the stock and shoulder fire capacity... then the .50cal is perfectly legal. Guess they only banned shoulder fired .50 cal rifles; not the cartridge, itself.

A fully transferrable FA 1919A4 will cost you between $12,000-$15,000. Ludicrous! I did this more for the fun of the build and the challenge of the project. "Can I do this?" "Is this ever going to work?" I like that.