New AA 1919 fired today, need help

4390 Views 14 Replies 11 Participants Last post by DLBTAP, Jul 23, 2006

Tom Kelly

Discussion Starter · Jul 19, 2006

Hi all. introduced myself about a month ago, after ordering my AA 1919. I finally got to take it to the desert this mornng and ran 700 rds through it wih NO problems, what-so-ever. I'm very happy, over 550 of those were with the Emory Crankfire. What fun! Here's my dilema. I'm firing the 1919 off of one of Richie's (Shoot 1919) Double-can mounts and adapter, along with his T&E, off a MG42 AA tripod.
I hung a 3 gallon bucket of dirt underneath the tripod and shot the gun with both of my feet on the rear two legs of the tripod. This seemed to settle down the tripod quite a bit, but I was getting about 4" of verticle dispersion at the muzzle resulting in about 8 - 15' dispersion at 100-150 yrds. There is a little movement between the mount and the gun, not a lot, and all the pins were tight going in, and coming out, 700rds later.

I did notice that the center post that holds the cradle on the MG42 tripod has a bit of play in it and could be the major cause of my problem. Is there any way to tighten the shaft up in the housing, or is it just wore out? I may drive out the pin and see if it's anything I can fix, or have the shaft welded up, and machined back to a tighter tolerance. Has anybody dealt with this problem before, or is this the nature of the beast? Do I have a bad/wore out MG42 tripod, or are they all like this?

Thanks in advance for any replies, I don't know if 8-15' verticle dispersion is normal or not, but I'm guessing that's a little excessive. Any help appreciated.

Thanks
Tom Kelly
Buckeye, AZ

1 - 15 of 15 Posts

woodsman

· #2 · Jul 20, 2006

no sweat!!!!

Well hello there. My experince on an M2 tripod is about the same. There is just slop in everything Machine gun. Try locking everything up and firing single shots you will be amazed how on the money it is. I can dial mine in on a pop can at 100 yards and nail it over and over. rapid fire with it still locked up gives me about the same dispersion as you have experienced.

Allied Armament

· #3 · Jul 20, 2006

Check the Inside Diameter (ID) of your pintle hole, if it is 5/8" of an inch it will need a sleave to drop it down to I think 9/16". Than you'll be nice and tight.

iRIGHTi

· #4 · Jul 20, 2006

TK,
For a stable AA platform, 1 or 2 sand bags on each leg and hang a can full of ammo from the hook (or put it in the bucket hanging from the hook). The spread should be better than what your getting. My AA set up with the dual cans is dialed using the ground or my AA sights, with or without spades and I shoot .06. I'd drop 1919A4ME a line before going to town on the pod. Sure he'd be glad to help ya! Took me a few times out and a few different set ups to get my AA set up the way IT likes

but we are both very happy campers!

Tom Kelly

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 20, 2006

Thanks for the reponses, I was surprised to hear people having the same problem with the M2 tripod, I guess I'll save my money on that, at least for now. I guess for now I will see if I can disassemble the pintle mount, and determine where the excessive wear is at, the shaft, or the tripod head. I have a few friends that are machineists and welders. I hopeully could have the pintle welded up and turned down to the correct diameter, a sleeve made for the head, or both. As was suggested, I'll have to get some sandbags for the feet, and a 5, as opposed to the 3 gallon bucket, I was using full of dirt or rocks to hang from the hook at the bottom of the pintle. All I know is the pintle sure rocks (wobbles) around within the head stock so that's were I'll concentrate my first "fix" at.

Thanks
Tom Kelly
Buckeye, AZ

DrSmeller

· #6 · Jul 20, 2006

Tom, i have the AA tripod and it works pretty good with the 1919 although it's light for a crankfire. I have heard the MG3 ground mount with adaopter is very stable for rapid fire. Maybe someone else can chime in. BTW, www.robertrtg.com has MG3 ground mounts with optics for $400 - good price.

Dave S

· #7 · Jul 20, 2006

A Bren tripod would also be another solution to try. The spread of the legs, as well as the fact it is rock-solid might be of some help.

BeltFedPlus

· #8 · Jul 20, 2006

Just a thought, but when the MG42 tripod center post is extended upward it becomes a little loose. When we started designing the one that we well we went the other direction and kept the spindle down. That might tighten things up. Take a look and you'll see what I mean. We don't have any close ups of the whole thing, but there is a small one on the front page. Happy shooting

Tom

Tom Kelly

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 20, 2006

I did in fact fire the 1919 with the center pintle of the MG42 AA mount in the lowest position, that's how I noticed all the play, the bottom part was wiggling around, even with a 3 gal pail of dirt hanging from it. I think it may need to be sleeved or something, I haven't gotten to take a look at it yet.

Thanks for the advice so far. A new tripod is out of the question until I get back to work and caught up financially. But that just might be a better option in the future. Hopefully two more chemo treatments, a little physical re-hab, and I'll be back to work in Sept or Oct. At least the Doc says the last two cat-scans show all the tumors are DEAD.......Woo Hoo!!! Pretty soon I can have my life back.

I was shooting my M1As while on blood thinners, and caused a major blood clot in my right shoulder, fortnately I had a port installed and the blood clot got stuck there instead of my heart or lungs. So I thought I needed something I could shoot, that still packs a rifles wallop, but didn't need to be fired from the shoulder, thus the 1919. It's a medical neccessity, yeah that's it, now if I could get my health insurance to buy off on it. Yeah right, LOL!

Thanks
Tom Kelly
Buckeye, AZ

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gunranger

· #10 · Jul 22, 2006

clot

Midway sells a thing called a lead sled that takes all the kick so you don't have to. You can put an egg between the gun and your shoulder, and it wont break it, It's made by Tipton

slowfire

· #11 · Jul 22, 2006

here is what I did to keep my AA mount from jumping using a crank fire......I drill a slightly bigger 1/2 inch holes in the feet, then using 1/2 thick rebar, about 8 inches long, I bent them to form a hook, ground the ends of them to point, and I pounded it through the holes into the ground....the ridges that are on the rebar kinda lock it place in the dirt......works great. I used it at BULLETFEST, and it didn't bounce around like it did last year. easier to transport then sand bags or hanging weights off the hooks

Tom Kelly

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 22, 2006

Slowfire, my shooting partner and I were discussing the same thing Wed, we weren't sure if drilling holes and staking it would help or not. Now we know! I knew I bought that new drill press for somthing! I liked the rebar idea also, I was just going to make the stakes out of smooth stock, ridges sound better. Also ordered an A6 stock adapter from Emory who informed me that using the A6 stock along with the Crankfire, helps stabilize the weapon while firing a lot. I'd still like to get the play out of the shaft (I call it a pintle, anybody know the correct name?) that holds the gun mount. When I raise it slightly and wiggle it, it barely moves. So my observation shows me the most amount of play occurs when the shaft is locked into it's grooved locking "ring". I'm thinking (God help us now!) that maybe I could remove the shaft, and if I see nothing else excessively worn, just have a new groove milled into the shaft just under the exsisting groove. The only difference is that I'd keep the new groove alot shallower until it just fit, so it's nice and tight, and would take some effort to swivel it. Pros, cons??

Thanks
Tom Kelly
Buckeye, AZ

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slowfire

· #13 · Jul 22, 2006

Tom Kelly said:
I knew I bought that new drill press for somthing!

a drill press won't help, darn thing is too large and there is a slight convex shape to the feet.......you are going to have to use a hand drill, start with a smaller size drill bit and move up to the 1/2 inch one, don't try to take all in one bite with the 1/2 drill bit it's a pain, then just
rock it around to make the hole slighter bigger...I keep it as close to the leg as possible, so there would be enough "meat" on the edge of the feet ..

the weapon while firing a lot. I'd still like to get the play out of the shaft (I call it a pintle, anybody know the correct name?) that holds the gun mount.

yeah I know what you are talking about....had the same issues, what I did was pound the pin out that keeps the elevation locking mechanism on that shaft, and replaced it with a screw and nut......that helped some, but most of the play is with the elevation mechanism itself, I'm betting that is where all your play is, not on the shaft where the elevation device is mounted at, but in the evevation lock.

storage_man

· #14 · Jul 22, 2006

Tom

I use a MG42 tripod with a Browning ANM2. What I have found is that I have to hang 3 50cal ammo cans filled with sand on each leg of the tripod. I then throw a couple of sand bags on the front 2 legs. This makes a good stable platform. I try to hang the 50cal cans just off of the ground.

DLBTAP

· #15 · Jul 23, 2006

storage_man said:
Tom

I use a MG42 tripod with a Browning ANM2. What I have found is that I have to hang 3 50cal ammo cans filled with sand on each leg of the tripod. I then throw a couple of sand bags on the front 2 legs. This makes a good stable platform. I try to hang the 50cal cans just off of the ground.

I just cut it down, got it closer to the ground, seemed to work better.

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