Drum and loader interchangability???

[G.T.]

After cleaning, lubing and testing the AEG drum I have in the shop I have come away with some little bits of discovery that makes this so much fun!
When tensioning the main spring, it is either hard, or less one rotation, soft.. no in between! Drum center pivot is indexed in one spot on a round shaft? Oh well, we went for tight....
Then we tested, very stiff feed and chambering after about half way through? finally discovered that because of the very long feedlips, that on some lugers, it was stopping on the feed ramp while still stuck in the feedlips? Would go forward, but stopped even on a polished ramp?... So, I opened up the feedlips ever so slightly, which resulted in a little, but not much, improvement... So, I tried it in a Luger with a higher mag catch, or a longer lower feed ramp, or both, and wow, it worked great! Got to thinking about the time frame on the bullet type it might be designed for, and drug out some Fiocchi truncated cone ball, and double wow, it worked even better... ... So, the correlation between feed ramp and feed lips is very critical on the AEG offering, the BING drum, by design, has very short feedlips, and gives the round a chance to elevate and rotate when it hits the ramp... With this new found knowledge, I would recommend shooting the BING drums only in Lugers, and maybe retire to AEG or use it with an MP18?... Best to all, til….lat'r…..GT...