Range trip: 1919a4/a6 .30 Browning MG

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Jul 30, 2004
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The other machine gun threads prompted me to share. :cool:

Went shooting last week with the new belt-fed toy, a semi-auto Ohio Rapid Fire (ORF) 1919a4. These are Israeli-returned MG's converted to 7.62x51 NATO. It ran like greased lighting! NO malfs at all! Cloth belts and Israeli links both worked perfect. Careful exam of the brass showed all normal. Shot mostly with the a6 stock on it- the tripod was making the whole bench shake too much.

podyp4.jpg


These guns get a lot of attention. Comments ranged from "Is that legal?" to "Sweeeeeet!" and "They ALLOW belt feds?"

Here's a range neighbor, Larry. When I asked, "Do you want to shoot it?" he immediately said, "Do you want to sleep with my wife!?!"

larryvr8.jpg


I passed on the offer. These two each had a handtruck full of guns; I always see this guy. You can see a fired shell ejecting out the bottom.

Here's a shot of me. Damn, I was having fun.
I had to force myself to leave after going through about $50 of ammo.
meas5.jpg


At 25 yards I dialed in the sight. Groups were amazingly tight, considering the short sight radius. Supposedly, these guns do 4 MOA. Larry shot a one hole group and swears it will do a lot better than that.

t1ss0.jpg


Finally I pushed it back to 50 yards. Was shooting high, but with the right hold, again, the groups were pretty good.

t2dg6.jpg


The ORF (Ohio Rapid Fire) 1919a4's frequently have teething problems. I'm perfectly willing to do some fine tuning; other's have had some bad experiences. I'm pleased to report that if their quality has been poor, they've improved it. The park job is perfect and this gun well.

larry2uj1.jpg


Summary: the ORF guns have taken a quality upswing, or I just got a good one. Don't know if they testfire them at ORF- I doubt it- but it did come with the headspace perfect. Of course I messed with it but set it back to where it was- and it shot this Indian .308 ammo just fine. Funky stink- smells like Wolff, kind of an acrid smell.

These can convert pretty easily to shoot 8mm, 7.62x54r and .30-06 with a new barrel and some parts. A nice historical collectible, and a lot of fun to shoot.

Thanks for looking.

Mike
 
awesome I always wanted to test fire one but preferebly a full auto model.

They make a crank-fire deal for it that gets 450-470 rpm. :D :thumbup:

Steve- it really is. Changes your life. Now I keep AMMO in my ammo cans. Watch TV and load links at night.


Mike
 
i wanna see it mounted on the roof of your car

It would be on the roll bar of a 4x4... or the forward deck of a fast boat. :D

I want to see that, too. Maybe on "The Day After". :foot: (Insert joke about radioactive Zombies, etc.)

Seriously, located some Lake City ammo for .15/round. Linking, loading and going shooting this weekend. Promised a Scout he could shoot it- along with the Bloom Automatic Golf Ball/Grenade Launcher (google).


Mike
 
Here's another vote for roof of your car.


What a deal. I wish Rusty were here to comment on this.
I hope someday many of us can get together in the desert and shoot a abandoned auto into the next life. A mystic quest.



munk
 
awesome I always wanted to test fire one but preferebly a full auto model.

I got a chance to fire one , all original and full auto many years ago. It is full on riot, lots of fun. Uncle Sam's Misguided Children even let me shoot Ma Deuce a few times as well. Glad they paid for the ammo!:D
 
Yee-ow!!
The nighttime cherry on top o'that big big big cake of coolness: TRACERS!!
 
munk, I'd rather see Dave cut a car in half with a khukuri. I know this can be done by him. I'll donate the first khukuri to be used/used up.

Andy, Ar kay, Ted- anybody can own one- or shoot mine if you're in my area. :D If you want your own 1919a4, $299 gets you started. Don't want to post SPAM, so look for "parts kits", don't pay more than that. Then you need an 80% finished right side plate, a drill and a rivet kit.

wato, welcome. I do have some Lake City tracers. Got it with de-linked M60 ammo- relinked to Izzy links.


Mike
 
.30-06 ain't cheap. Feeding it must cut into your lunch money.

Sutcliffe, remember it's .308, and Mike isn't shooting match ammo. Buy in bulk and you can get some good deals. Even '06, and not just the junky Korean corrosive stuff either. I bought a couple of cases of really good quality Danish 30'06 in en bloc clips for my Garand that is still pretty reasonably priced.

Mike, I'm jealous. This looks like a blast! I don't know; I think I would be arrested out here if I tried to shoot this guy!

Thanks for the great pics.

Norm
 
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