Help with possible M53 to airsoft MG42 convertion

A yugo 53 is pretty much the same as an MG42. Several builders have been able to fit the motor of a Version 6 or version 3 gearbox in the gripstick. Then they made mountings for them to be able to fit the grips over the motor. But, there might be alignment issues. If you want it to shoot perfectly, align the barrel with the hop chamber and gearbox and see if the motor will fit in the grip stick. If not, make your own grip stick to accommodate the gearbox and motor at the right alignment.

I don't know if you could hit 1500 but I think 1000 would be reasonable. Probably a complete upgrade to the gearbox (including reinforced shell), hi ROF gears and a LiPo might do nicely. Don't quote me though as I'm still a little green on the upgraded gearboxes.

That would be great!

Maybe a block of aluminum cut perfectly for the gearbox would help it live longer, if done precise it would take much of the pressure of the poor gearbox at the high ROF



Yeah, I really did not think about that until now, but I also would like to build a super hi-cap magazine using a german ammo box when mounthed on a lafette 42 tripod

Shady - if by one of the Ostfront members has a tripod, you mean me that is dated. That tripod was cut up to act as mount for halfftrack shield. It is not suitable for airsoft use on the ground. If you can find an AA tripod, then you'll have a working airsoft tripod.

Shady, Ersatzjack,
How about some photos for inspiration. Especially if you waould have some shots in action!
With respect,
Fritz

I meant just making a housing for the gearbox





I have converted a real steel drum for my Viva MG34 that I just sold to one of my friends, and this weekend I just finished another drum for this project, works even better. I woul like however to build a hi-cap in to a ammo box just for fun, I have an original german tripod so I might as well just try it out for myself

Thanks for the help and info on increasing rof, I have ordered a Dboys V3 now, let`s just see how long it lasts. I got some 11.1 V Li-Po batteries and the rof gets pretty high with a standard gearbox, I might just upgrade the gearbox to 350 fps and trie that out for now

Thanks to the rest of you as well!

Nice jimmiroquai, I plan to make a dummy ammo belt with a BB feeding tube going trough the dummy rounds, if it`s possible

Does anyone remember who did a M-53 airsoft MG42 AEG convertion some time ago and posted the project on this forum? I belive he used a V3 gearbox, It would really help to talk to someone who has done this before

Thanks jimmiroquai but the real steel M53/MG42 is very different to the replica, I belive someone on this US forum made a custom AEG from a real steel weapon

Terrific, did you use a V3 gearbox? Trying to get a P90 hop up for it, out of the box top feeding so no mods needed

Ok, I figured I would start by showing pictures of the completed project. Worked on it periodically over the weekends.

Since back in the days many of the MG42's were two man operations with one carrying the gun and the other carrying the ammo, I decided to use this as the ammo feeding mechanism. What you see in the pictures is the MG42 that is BB fed via the ammo box sitting next to it. The battery cables and feeding spring are hidden under the ammo belt. Inside the ammo box is the battery that powers the gearbox, the bb's and motor. One nice thing about this is that you get to place multiple batteries in the ammo box for easy replacement when they go dead and the BB capacity is over 5000. I also found that carrying the ammo box in one hand while holding the barrel and carrying the stock in the other hand worked quite nicely and I was actually able to run with both while shooting. I realize that they usually just placed the gun in a fixed emplacement and then started firing but it was nice to know that this set up was more mobile than I expected.

In the ammo box I used the motor from an M249 box which has a power feeding mechanism. The gearbox is Version 2 from a MP44. I used the MP44 since it has its own motor mount mechanism.

Before I started this project I thought I would be able to use the gearbox from an M249 but found them to be way too big to fit in the receiver of the MG42. I also looked at the Version 3 gearbox but opted against it as it did not have motor mounts and the angle was not quite right. I used a Matrix Prometheus 650 mm stainless steel tightbore barrel which fit perfectly. Standard M16 metal hopup.

Gun is solid and shoots very straight with good range. Next I will post pictures of how it was built and the changes that had to be made.

Very, very nice Build guide! I didn't realize you could use a version 2 gearbox. Is the motor cage of the MP44 the correct angle to fit in the grip stick of the 42?

Very nice convertion cryonics, and very helpfull!

I do have a question though:

I have tried a 550mm PSG-1 barrel with a V6(P90/Thompson) gearbox before but the BB`s would not come out, I belive it`s called a "suck back" effect when the cylinder can`t produce enough power to push the BB out. I noticed you use a 650mm barrel for your gun, how can this be done? I belive all the TM AEG gearboxes has more or like the same volume except for the PSG-1 V4 gearbox..

I`m going to use a assault drum magazine for my gun, it`s already done using AK drum magazine internals

I actually work with CNC machines so it should help me a lot, planning on drilling up the original barrel to fit the airsoft brass inner barrel

I was originally going to do the same, but unfortunately my source for a drum magazine flaked out on me so I decided to go with the ammo box method after looking at many WW2 pictures and seeing that most had two people manning the gun with the ammo box feeding the weapon.

Hopefully we can both use our converted MG42's at the June event. Should keep the yanks away from our base