I've been bitten with the belt-fed bug. I've decided to try my hand at building a semi-auto AK-based (loosely) beltfed rifle. My starting point was this:
It's a Romy G kit with an RPD barrel that's been turned down to accept milled Type3 barrel bits. It bores me.
So I got this:
It's an RPD topcover, feedtray, and 100 round belt.
My plan is to join the two in an unholy union, otherwise known as an MG47.
The first step I did was to tackle building a reciever. I built it out of .050" thick 4130 sheet. Here I'm bending it on my super-cheap $35 Harbor Freight brake:
Then I welded up the seam. The seam is on the top surface, so most of it will be cut away and covered by the topcover. I left the piece intentionally long so that I can rivet the trunnion back about 1/3 the length from the front, and have a built in handguard. Kind of a 1 piece receiver/handguard/barrel-shroud like an MG43. Only shorter.
And here it is mocked up with my belt full of empty brass and the topcover/feedtray to give y'all an idea of where I plan on mounting it on the receiver.
It's a Romy G kit with an RPD barrel that's been turned down to accept milled Type3 barrel bits. It bores me.
So I got this:
It's an RPD topcover, feedtray, and 100 round belt.
My plan is to join the two in an unholy union, otherwise known as an MG47.
The first step I did was to tackle building a reciever. I built it out of .050" thick 4130 sheet. Here I'm bending it on my super-cheap $35 Harbor Freight brake:
Then I welded up the seam. The seam is on the top surface, so most of it will be cut away and covered by the topcover. I left the piece intentionally long so that I can rivet the trunnion back about 1/3 the length from the front, and have a built in handguard. Kind of a 1 piece receiver/handguard/barrel-shroud like an MG43. Only shorter.
And here it is mocked up with my belt full of empty brass and the topcover/feedtray to give y'all an idea of where I plan on mounting it on the receiver.