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Oow 28?

11K views 62 replies 18 participants last post by  Flat Broke Dave W 
#1 ·
was wondering if anyone out there owns, or heard anything about OhioOrdnanceWorks 1928 water cooled. good or bad? quality?they are built on argentine kits.they look pretty nice to me, but then what do I know? any info guys?
 
#2 ·
Argentina bought the guns from colt

The quality and workmanship of the colt guns is superior to all other browning water cooled guns.
 
#4 ·
The OOW kits are real Colt built commercial water cooleds, very similar to the original WWI 1917s. They were made duriing a period where U.S. Military production was at a standstill, though much development was going on based on the basic 1917 receiver. Colt's market was, therefore, primarily sales to foreign governments. Fewer than 1000 such water cooled guns were sold to Argentina between 1928 and the mid thirties. I don't know how many of these came back when OOW obtained these, but they are jewels. Argentina was also the largest purchaser of these guns so this gives you an idea of how valuable these will be someday.
 
#5 ·
A picture is worth...


 
#8 ·
Hello Dr. Smeller,
I think that was me you are talking about with the OOW 1928 WC. They are a great weapon and the workmanship is outstanding! I would recomend OOW 1928 WC without hesitation, never had a problem or hic-up on mine. Love it!!
Slughose
 
#9 ·
Thx Hotch, it's a nicely done weapon.

Check out the video of mine with a Crankfire. It was Yugo with deep primers so I had a few stoppages. Gun will run about 350 to 400 rpm.

It takes a couple minutes to download.

Click here to watch 28crank-76
 
#12 ·
1928 Colts are great!

Although I could not but a complete gun at this time (OOW is not making them this year) they will sell you a complete semi auto gun kit. I received mine a week ago and find the machining and quality of the original parts superior to anything I have in 1919a4.

I know some of you have been interested to see pics of my kit. I will post them asap. Just survived a blackout and had many things to do.

Meantime, trust the 1928 is fun to collect and a great investment.

Chester.
 
#13 ·
gunranger, I bought the whole setup from OOW as a finished piece...I didn't build it. The workmanship and finish is way better than I could ever muster.

Chester, how does the water jacket look? Any dents? Although I have a working '28, I keep getting the itch to buy a kit from OOW.
 
#14 ·
loboslanding said:
The workmanship and finish is way better than I could ever muster.
Not buyin' that, lobo! ;)
 
#15 ·
Not too bad

loboslanding said:
gunranger, I bought the whole setup from OOW as a finished piece...I didn't build it. The workmanship and finish is way better than I could ever muster.

Chester, how does the water jacket look? Any dents? Although I have a working '28, I keep getting the itch to buy a kit from OOW.

Mine has 2-3 dings (looks like they banged against the water stopper corp brass plug) or whatever - like a pencil eraser diameter sized depression, and some minor surface scratches.

The Jacket is blued. The Left sideplate (no engraving) and bottom are blued. The top plate with sight are parked. The Barrel is .30-06 blued, with the muzzle end threads for the blank firing adaptor. The backplate and safety is blued.

The internals are parked Isreali parts for semi auto configuration. The trigger job is far superior to my ORF 1919a4.

I got all the parts, rivits, etc. and working on the edges and look of the semi right side plate. OOW engraved.

I read somewhere elsewhere on this board, perhaps Hotchkiss, mentioned that someone is making neoprene gaskets to keep the water seal intact on the water jackets between the barrel? Am I missing something? I heard originals were greased leather. How was this issue addressed on your finished unit?
 
#16 ·
Hi Chester, and congradulations on your Colt! It was Viton that some people are using for O-rings-a little more expensive that Neoprene. Small Arms Review mag had an artlicle on the subject a few years ago. It seems that most people using Lou's great set up find that the Ace Harware Teflon packing works like the old Asbestes but I have not tried it yet. The Viton rings come several to a package from McMaster Carr and I never have found what size to order and I am WAY to cheap to guess on that.

Now Chester, I got a question for you. How would you rate the blueing on your new gun? Was it polished like a fine sporting arm or do you see blanchard grinding marks in the left side plate? Maybe you didn't get the original left plate???) I am getting ready to blue my Colt 1917 replica and I want to know how Colt finnished a machine gun in the day. I have seen .30 Gatliings made by Colt that were finished nicer than any of their single action armys. I am sure your going to have fun with this project and we all wish you luck, Hotch
 
#17 ·
from what i have been told, argentina manufactured there own 1928 water cooled guns

i believe if thats the case, that your left side plate, if not engraved was probably one of them guns made by argentina

one of my oow kits have the unengraved left side plate, but i can assure you thats an original plate cause its numbered to the rest of the parts inside of the plate

the other 2 are are colt engraved on the lsp

ive also been told there were 2 types of engravings on the RS plates one has the rampant colt, and one has the colt over the top of a shield
one of the engravings were found on the guns made by colts, and the other was found on the guns made in argentina


i wasnt there at the time so i cant say for sure 100%, just what i was told by someone who is pretty knowledgeable on these

that i believe is why some of the 28 kits have unengraved left side plates

and chester, i believe the 28 colts were only made in 765 argentine
your 30 06 barrel with the threading on it had to come from some other browning variant from some other country. If you look at your rear sight leaf, you will find that it is marked S, and SS. S, and SS are two variants of 765 argentina ammunition. also, the argentine 1919 rear sight leaf is marked with SS as well (at least my argie 1919 is)

all 3 of my 28 colts are 100% blued over a fine polish
they are not black oxide (bluing over a sandblasted course finish making them look dull black), or parkerized
 
#18 ·
hotchkissmtrifle said:
Now Chester, I got a question for you. How would you rate the blueing on your new gun? Was it polished like a fine sporting arm or do you see blanchard grinding marks in the left side plate? Maybe you didn't get the original left plate???) I am getting ready to blue my Colt 1917 replica and I want to know how Colt finnished a machine gun in the day. I have seen .30 Gatliings made by Colt that were finished nicer than any of their single action armys. I am sure your going to have fun with this project and we all wish you luck, Hotch
The bluing is superb. It is a deep blue. The metal of the original parts, overall, took a good polish, especially the water jacket. The left sideplate, although not engraved, appears original. Has a optic sight rail screwed in. Now there are some faint blanchard grinding marks on the left side plate. The edges and corners are hand filed to round out (something I am doing with my right side plate. Does not deter the overall craftsmanship. Well fitted.

The blue is deep but after so many years storage could use a good cleaning and touch up blue here and there.

Smaller parts marked with an (R) in an oval. Which company is this?
Also need to know what I have to do for a barrel water seal.
Thanks to all,

Chester
 
#19 ·
Lucky, you're too kind.

I thot the '28s were all made by Colt stateside and then sold to Argentina under contract. I bet Mark Genovese could clarify it if he sees these posts.

Sounds like the dings are minimal and can be tapped out with the end cap off.

The original packing was asbestos, as said, and put grease on it before you wrapped it. I used the Ace Hardware TFE teflon string for the first time on my last shoot and I love it. It has a kind of plastic feel to it so after I put wheel bearing grease on it and wrapped the rear groove I took my little brass hammer and tapped it down all around leaving a little sticking up. Because it's teflon and really slick it didn't bind the action at all. I packed the front gland the usual way, but ran about one more round knowing I was going to compress it a tad with the gland. With the asbetos string the gun usually leaked a bit until it warmed up and sealed off. The teflon string sealed up really tight and I lost minimal water. After I came back from the shoot and cleaned the barrel the packing is still intact and didn't fray like the asbestos string did.

I hear the Viton rings work good too. I just like using string because it's kind of an art to wrap it.

Get you a copy of one of the field manuals for the 1917 water cooled and it will tell you how to wrap it properly. Mine is FM 23-55 and it came from OOW with the gun. Chester, if they didn't include a manual you might want to call them up and see if they'll send you one because you bought a kit.

B.A.R. you bring up an interesting point on the barrel. My '06 OOW barrel is threaded on the end too and I wonder where they came from because the gun was only in 7.65 Argentine...good question. Although 1917 barrels interchange, the blank firing adapter doesn't thread onto the barrel. Of course OOW could have just threaded a 1917 barrel for our use...they certainly have the ability.

B.A.R., did you build your '28s, buy from OOW or are they original full autos?
 
#20 ·
Here is a link to the article on converting a Browning for O-Rings. There are two pages. It was featured in SAR April 2000.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/425163.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/img/425165.jpg


Below are the engravings from a 1928 with no rampant horsey on it. These are pictures of a still original and live gun in Argentina.
Left Side:


Right Side:



Chester,
Check your 30-06 barrel for the Argentine RA inside of a circle. This was their mark they put on damn near everything. I am not sure as whether this was a manufacturing mark that they used or one Colt put on there for them. I would guess it was made by Colt but marked for Argentina as all parts I have seen that are marked this way are of excellent quality. If it was an Argentine factory that would mean there was an Arg factory putting out the same quality as one of the world's leading arms makers (doubtful). This would also be their way of keeping the military contract parts identified seperately for certain contracts.



BAR gunner,
I do believe that 99.9% of 1928s were 7.65 there were a few made in 30-06. This comes from an Argentine collector, first hand. I also have an Argentine made 1928 belt loader but it is made to handle 30-06. This is not a modification to the loader, it is cast longer and the hopper is longer to permit the longer cartridge to feed.
I have no idea why or how many but some were definately in other calibers.

I am no expert and could be wrong. If so I would welcome any more info that is out there! (you would think the Argentine guns were top secret with how little info is out there)

Dave West
 
#21 ·
wow

that is a 3rd engraving variant of the 28 ive seen

here are the other 2 (of course one is engraved with the mg38bt, but its same colt with shield)


the above engraving is in dolfs second book, only instead of the mg38bt it says 1928 model 37 (jon shoop collection)





look at your rear sight - if its marked with an S, or SS, your gun is supposed to be 765 argentine
"S" ball was lighter grained 765 i think around 154 grain
and "SS" ball was heavier grained 765 i think around 187 grain
there are scales for both on the 28 colt rear sight
left side scale is for "s" and right side scale for "ss"


and i also have one of the colt 765 argie loaders made in argentina


and circle R is a Colt's proofmark
 
#22 ·
Dave West said:
If it was an Argentine factory that would mean there was an Arg factory putting out the same quality as one of the world's leading arms makers (doubtful).
per DOLF'S book BMG #2

and i quote

"it is well known that Argentina manufactured Browning water-cooled machine guns themselves. The original contract had given Argentina the right to do so"


also - dolf states that the way to identify if the gun was made in argentina is to look at the numbers on the brass trunnion - the colt will be marked with numbers 1 - 926
argy colts will be marked with numbers like 00.003 (bob landies witnessed this as the lowest number) and the highest number he has seen was 01.200 which is the 1,200th one produced from the parts kits he imported from argentina
so, if your brass trunnion is marked like that, you have an argie produced colt (at least an argie produced trunnion)


they also made there own tripods - the data plate is in spanish instead of english per dolfs book

they also made a whole slew of accesories not issued by colts
 
#24 ·
On the different calibers, remember that Colt made basically the same model for a number of countries and so it is possible some were in 30-06. There is a complete list from the Colt records in Dolf's book so it would be easy to see.

My 1928 LSP has no engraving or marking, with the exception of the number 160 inside behind where the pintle pad is on the outside. This will be covered by the trunnion, of course. I guess that makes mine an Argentine made. My trunnion has a 3 digit Colt number though, in the 300's.

I am going to edit in a couple of pics in this post, of the markings as referred to above. Just have to go host them.

Here they are

"RA" marking on Bolt. (Sorry for the glare!)


"R" marking on same Bolt


Mark on Breech Lock


Mark on Belt Holding Pawl Bracket[/b]
 
#25 ·
Tell me more about the circle RA proof.
What does it mean and particulary when was it used?
I have only seen it on Argentine stuff, was it used on other stuff as well?

I have not seen it on anything besides the stuff destined for Argentina.


The people I have spoke with in Argentina also say that the guns and parts were made in Argentina (sometimes our country pride skews facts). I just find it odd that their tripods, belt loaders, other stuff seem to be a little rougher and not as well made but the guns these items were made to support are of the greatest fit and function. It makes me wonder why this quality wasn't carried over into the support items. I tend to believe that they were made elsewhere. Do I have any proof? Nope. I just figure that nowadays people can send a package out "made in the USA" as long as the package was made here (hey, the contents don't say made in the USA on them, so we are technically not lying)(this happens, by the way).
It may have happened back then also.

The gun in the picture is not suppose to have the serial numbers like stated in Dolf's book. ( I have not been able to verify this) This may mean there is a whole aspect that we do not know.

I would just like to have a little more proof before I believe that Argentina could make a product as well and precise as Colt 70+ years ago. I've never tried to probe any deeper on the subject. I can try to see if I can find out anything from some folks in Argentina.

Dave West
 
#26 ·
I would like to learn more about the RA proof as well. I have one bolt with RA and no R, as well as the one pictured with both. I do not have a complete kit, but several of the components that I purchased from different sources.
 
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