Thanks! But if today's range trip happens again, I might not need one.
Today I took the FG42 out to the range in order to test the Meopta scope and Estes Adams mount. The first time I had it out, I had a wandering zero problem because the rings couldn't be tightened enough to hold the scope. I contacted Mr. Adams and he asked me to send him the setup for diagnosis. He found that the rings were not made quite right and personally reworked the mount so that it would be right. Today was the day I was waiting for. There was a medium soaking rain so that I could test how watertight the scope was as well as how tight the rings were. I also planned to use this opportunity to test the remaining three magazines. The scope functioned perfectly and the mount held zero even after being removed and re-installed on the rifle. Thank you so far Mt Adams!! I took 80 rounds of 1972-73 dated FNM surplus with me. I've shot a lot of this ammunition over many years in everything from G41's to G43's and from FN49's to Hakims and it has always functioned 100%. It was especially accurate in my scoped G43, shooting the center of the target out every time I used it. It's pretty much considered to be the BEST surplus 8mm ever available. Magazine number 1 for the day was a dud. As more rounds were inserted, the follower began to stick more and more. By round 18, there was no spring tension at all. I just dumped the rounds out and moved on to magazine number 2. After the first 10 rounds the scope was zeroed at 100 yards and I went to work. Somewhere in the second ten rounds I had a failure to feed:
It was easy to clear. Just pull the bolt back and the round fell out. Let if fly and back to work. 19 rounds and 1 dud so far.
Next magazine I had three intermittent failures to feed. They are pictured in sequence from left to right:
The last was round 18 for the magazine and it almost seated but not quite. I have no idea exactly what caused the dent or the gouge. It was VERY hard to extract. The rifle was also much harder to charge at this point. In fact, it seemed to be getting harder as it warmed up. The scope was still holding zero. I fired the last two rounds from the hip because of the hard charging issue. I wanted to see where they landed. The gas setting was on high just as it was when I received the rifle. They flew about ten feet or so between the 10 and 11 o'clock position just like every other round. At this point, I had fired 36 rounds and had four duds, all failures to feed. I then inserted a magazine that had worked perfectly the first time I had the rifle out to the range. Round one (41 for the day) fed fine but the bolt did not open after firing. It had recocked but had not begun to unlock. I tried the SMG method for clearing it which is to bang the butt on the wooden table. Zero movement. Next I tried placing the charging handle on the edge of the table and leaned into it. I'm 6'2" and about 240 pounds and I was putting everything I had into it. Nothing. I tried banging the charging handle on the edge of the table. Nope. I stood above the rifle with the charging handle resting on the edge of the table and laid on the buttstock. It wasn't opening. It was locked up tighter than a nun. I messed with that thing for over twenty minutes in a nice soaking rain before giving up and coming home. I was so frustrated, I forgot to bring my target with me. It's about a 25 minute drive home. I took everything out of the truck and left the rifle in the garage while I came upstairs to put stuff away. I then headed back down to the garage intent on using a hammer if necessary. Before resorting to that though, I tried charging the handle by hand again. Still nothing. One last try before I break out the sledge....I'll catch the charging handle on the workbench and lean into it just like I did at the range. The action FINALLY opened and the casing fell out. It looks perfectly normal. The only thing I can figure is that the action is binding as everything heats up. The first time to the range ended in a locked action and nice marks on the handguard. I thought it was a magazine issue that time. This time, after only forty one rounds (37 actually fired) my range trip ended with a locked action and more marks on the handguard. The marks aren't as bad this time but they are there nonetheless. I see nothing out of the ordinary on the internals that might be causing this. I can only speculate that it is a heat and expansion issue. I will be contacting Rick Smith tonight. The reason I generally only buy military rifles is to avoid this kind of stuff but I made an exception for this rifle. For this amount of money, I expect perfection. Looking good isn't good enough and I'm starting to lose faith. I worked at the Post Office for over 13 years before quitting in disgust and now thought of trusting God knows who to send this thing halfway across the country makes me sick to my stomach.......