Dryrun walkthrough assembling 1919

[1 Patriot-of-many]

If this is the wrong forum moderators feel free to tell me where to go.....Okay maybe I phrased that wrong.
Anyway I will upload a few pics everyday to this thread whereever it may be.
I also have some pics I think of actually building it also if anyone wants them too...

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40001.JPG

If you are lucky the Left side plate will still be riveted to the bottom plate, alas I wasn't so lucky.

You can see the Right side plate on top of that stack of Sten mags.Note the raised section which the machined internals match up with.

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40003.JPG

Attaching barrel shroud and trunion,no brainer..
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919a40004.JPG

80% sideplate missing the numerous holes you will have to drill.
Almost all the holes can be drilled either using the bottom plate as a guide or through the gun using the opposite side and/or top plate as a guide.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40005.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40006.JPG

Install rear cover into slots,you may need rubber mallet to drive it in
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40007.JPG

Line up with the rivet holes in the left side plate
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40008.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40009.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

There is a cotterpinned nut that goes on the opposite side.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40010.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40011.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40012.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40013.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40015.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40016.JPG

Notice the slot at the back of the bolt.The sear rides up and down in that slot.This is the slot which gets widened for a semiauto sear.The F/A sear will no longer stay in.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40018.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40019.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40020.JPG
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40021.JPG
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40022.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40025.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40026.JPG

The whatchamacallit sticking up is what cocks the firing pin when the bolt recoils.Notice in the rear top cover pic previously, the hole this whatchamacallit rides in.Simplicity yet ingenius.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40027.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40028.JPG

Screwing the barrel into the extension
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40029.JPG

So much for a few pictures....It's almost bedtime,the rest will wait till tommorrow.....

[1 Patriot-of-many]

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40030.JPG
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40031.JPG

Notice in this pic,the accelerator claws are locked and the whole works is ready to be inserted.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data/500/28031919A40032-med.JPG

A little tricky here.If you move the bolt too much,you will unlock the accelerator and then you'll bitch and moan,and start all over
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40033.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

That little tab is actually the pivot point for your trigger.

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A40034.JPG

Here you can see the whole works is now in the gun and what's that??? Dumbo forgot to put the cocking handle in the bolt before inserting it all the way!!!In this case you'd push the tab in with a small punch or screwdriver or bullet tip and pull the whole works back out.If you're careful you could pull it out just enough to put the cocking handle in without the accelerator unlatching...


Okay this picture is calling me a liar.....Maybe you don't have to pull the whole works back out a bit,merely push the bolt back by hand?Been a while....
[IMG]http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0041.JPG

Okay now comes the big pain in the ass spring...You'll need eight hands or maybe just a little patience.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0042.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

The entire spring has to go into the bolt so you can use a screwdriver on the end with the slot and lock it into place.
You'll see later why...
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0043.JPG

Sucess,Spring is in and locked
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0045.JPG

Next putting the PG on.Don't do it this way,it won't work!
You need to pull back on the top cover latch,flip up your top cover first.Then push forward on the top cover latch and slide you PG on.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0047.JPG

This picture shows the way that actually works! The top cover is flipped up out of the pic,and NOW you can push the latch forward so the PG will clear the latch.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0048.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Okay once your PG is on pull the bolt back,the spring slot will come out the hole on the PG plate,unscrew/unlock the spring with a screw driver or other device.
That pretty much raps up the little walkthrough.
Unfotuanately I've either lost my pics or failed to take them of the sear and trigger....If I find them, I'll add on here,or maybe I'll take some pics now of the trigger and installing sear.Tommorrow I'll post a few pics of the actual drilling ops,ect.I don't have a lot, but some.
As you can see the whole thing will stay together,which makes it nice when you start the drilling ops.I wouldn't shoot it in this condition of course....
**** Disclaimer shooting your 1919 without any rivets can and will result in serious bodily harm or death,**** :)

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0052.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Okay wow...A special sticky just for me!
On to some of the drilling ops.

Here you can see the assembled gun minus the internal parts clamped to the table with a piece of wood to keep the gun level.Using the Left side plate and the top cover holes as a drill guide, drilling the hole on the right side plate.There are two top plate holes that need to be drilled in the RSP.
You can see I stuck a couple of the cut off rivets in the bottom plate to left side plate just to keep everything square.
If you are lucky the bottom plate will still be attached to the bottom plate,I wasn't so lucky and had to rivet both sides.
I believe(and you can't see this in the pic) that I started with one of the trunion holes all the way at the bottom front of the reciever and my have the long rivet in there also.In other words I started at the four corners, once I stuck rivets in the corners to keep everything square, then I went to town....
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0054.JPG


On this next one you can see up at the front,bottom of the reciever the rivet sticking through the hole I already did(from the left side plate through the trunion/gun.) As well as a couple rivets stuck in the top plate holes I just did...
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0055.JPG

Another shot of basically the same thing,As you can see I did start in the corners,and have a couple rivets inserted into the holes already done as I go down the line drilling the bottom plate to RSP holes using the bottom plate as the guide.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0056.JPG

Same thing, as you go,just drop a rivet into the hole so there's no chance of anything getting out of square as you move the gun around on the table.It doesn't show it, but there may be something under the reciever to keep the gun level,Not sure I can't remember,but that's basically the most important issue when drilling these holes,make sure the gun is level so your holes come out as straight as possible....It won't be the end of the world if they are a little off but you want them as perfect as you can get them.
This pic is calling me a liar,I started at two corners apparently,but you get the idea...
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0057.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

You can see in this pic I also put the top cover bolt,nut,ect. and clamped them down before I moved on,again to keep anything from shifting around.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0059.JPG

Okay got all of the holes done,flash washed this out,am not sure if I did the big trunion holes or the rest of the pintle spacer holes,can't see them in this pic.
but anyway, starting to counter sink the bottom plate RSP holes.
You want to do the bottom plate holes from the INSIDE.You want the flat part of the rivet(which has an angled countersink head) to be flush with the inside of the reciever,so none of the internals get hung up on the rivet.If you don't do this correctly you will be filing the heads down.I ended up with some minor filing on a couple that I didn't countersink enough.
The easiest way of course is to test fit the rivets as you go.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0060.JPG

Here you can see I've got 6 of the bottomplate-RSP holes done.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0061.JPG

Here's a shot of the RSP toward the front.
You can see the big trunion rivet hole as well as the smaller pintle spacer rivet hole (front bottom)
What you can't see is the other big trunion rivet hole,the topcover mechanism is hiding it.These three holes are done from the left side using the left side plate and trunion as a guide.
I almost burned up a drill doing the big holes,had the drill spinning way to fast.
The big trunion holes get countersunk on the outside of the reciever.Once you pound the big rivets flat you will grind the rivet flat and need that little countersink for the rivet to hold the plate.

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0064.JPG

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Unfortaunately I have to jump way ahead here,as I cannot find any of the riveting photos.Hopefully they are merely misplaced.
A description of the method I used will have to suffice for now.

Here she is almost done,just applying finish is left and having the RSP welded to the top plate,bottom plate and trunion.
You can see the grind marks where the big trunion rivets have been ground flush after beating them with a 3lb hammer.
Also note the pintle spacer attached.
The pintle spacer is attached with three rivets, the long one you've seen in the pics before and two short ones which are just like the bottom plate to RSP rivets.The two short ones get counter sunk on the inside of the reciever the same way. the long one goes through the left side plate and trunion.As I said before for the pintle spacer holes merely put the spacer on the trunion rivet and you can by eye even position it looking at the big pintle mount hole you'll have already drilled by then.Then simply drill the two holes using the spacer as the guide.

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803photos0068.JPG

The heat marks you see are from a propane torch.I've heard if you heat the rivets up they are easier to form.....RIGHT.
I tried but I didn't see it getting any easier.I ended up flattening them cold with a 3lb sledge.
I originally made a tool with a dome head cutout to form the trditional domehead rivets on the outside.It worked sort of but the dome heads would tilt over to the side.
I didn't have airtools at the time which is supposed to be a good method of riveting, so I said ^&%$ it and just hammered them all flat, then used a dremel and grinding stone to make them kinda circular.If you want to see some close up shots of them finished let me know.It's not pretty, but acceptable to me for my first try.
With an air hammer and a tool made from a chisel you should be able to make factory looking domeheads.

I would recommend buying a bucking bar from Pegasus or someone else on the 1919 site.
I didn't have the patience to wait for someone to make me a bucking bar.
I got some grade 8 bolts (5/8" I think?) ground off the markings on the head,threaded two grade8 nuts onto the bolt, also got two grade 8 washers.
I positioned the bolt inside the reciever with the washers on each side covering the rivets I was going to do,tightened the nuts up.
Yes it's a bitch, getting it all tight without the washers or bolt moving out of place,but I'm proof it can be done.
Once secure, I just beat the piss out of the rivet sticking out on the outside of the RSP/Bottom plate.....
Good luck,I'll post a couple pics of the trigger/sear and some closeups of the beat the &^%$ out of them rivets :)

OHHH and one more thing,I was warned about this and ignored the warnings to my detrement. When you do get around to riveting,REMOVE the rear sight assembly! Not the big metal part, but the adjustment knob,shaft,ect. IT WILL BREAK.
I don't even think I hit the damn thing,but the shaft broke off.
I had to order another and had to drill the hole in the shaft for the adjustment knob.

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Okay this should do it.
I still can't find the riveting pics,so they probably never will be found.
I am going to include pics of what my riveting "technique" looks like.
Please, NO comparisons to Hesse ect....And please forget you ever saw the rivet pictures if I become a gunsmith!

A pic of the trigger...
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803trigger.jpg

Forgive these few pics, I hit the wrong button on my camera and frankly these pics are pretty crappy.

Pic of the sear in it's slot on the back of the bolt.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803sear1.jpg


To disassemble,push the pin out and remove the thingymagigger.
Still don't know what it's called!Cocking lever maybe?
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803cocking_thingy1.jpg

Hard to make out here, but simply push down on the sear and push the searspring to the left into a notch in the bolt.


http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803searspringside.jpg

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Sear simply slides out of it's slot.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803searout.jpg

To install simply reverse procedure.
Slide sear into slots, move sear spring to right engaging slot in sear,put the cocking lever in with the rounded part toward the back,cock the firing pin,then put the pin in.



WELL, I guess nobody's going to get to laugh at the rivets!!!!
I went to upload the rivet pics and was told I'm out of photospace.
So until/unless admin/super moderators allocate more space to my photo account, that's all she wrote,and you don't get to laugh! :)
I hope this has been informative and helps you a bit on your builds,and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask via email.
I actually prefer email than PM's so don't feel you're intruding.
Best to all,
Bob

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Finished product shots:

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803build.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803emory6.jpg

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919A6.JPG

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/2803mag581.jpg

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/medium/28031919range2.jpg

[Darth_Pavoris]

ok so tell me how much dinero do you have in this project?

[1 Patriot-of-many]

WOW sorry for the delay! About $7-800 for the basic gun itself which includes tooling to drill the holes ect.
The A6 kit(stock, carry handle,bipod,flashhider not shown) is a little over a $100 more.

Tripods vary. The Bren and adaptor was around $300, I sold that to buy the FN tripod(green) which was about $375.

The extension to mount ammo can on the fn pod is about $100 more.


www.1919a4.com they are having a pretty damn good deal on a group buy from rapid fire on kits and everything to build a semi auto...

[Pa.Patriot]

I an host the rivet pics for you if you need--- shoot me an email
papatriot@frontlinearmory.com

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Great, Now everybody gets to laugh....:D

Remember, this is the way NOT to do the rivets....:eek:
I simply flattened the biatches, if you have airtools make your self a tool from an old chisel with maybe a ball end mill or something.

[Pa.Patriot]

http://www.millenicom.com/~patriot/Misc/Photo0147.jpg
http://www.millenicom.com/~patriot/Misc/Photo0149.jpg

[Buster Charlie]

Does anyone build these things or sell complete guns? I'm not mechanically inclined nor do I have space for a workshop of that scale. I think I know someone who could build one...

Okay I see the complete guns (not including ammo cans, holders, belts, tripods, etc) are going for $1500.
How much do you save by doing it yourself? Who has the best parts for building?

Also which caliber? .308? .30-06? Coles has one in 8mm for $1700 That sounds like the cheapest to shoot but the least compatable with existing parts.

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Originally posted by Buster Charlie
Does anyone build these things or sell complete guns? I'm not mechanically inclined nor do I have space for a workshop of that scale. I think I know someone who could build one...

Okay I see the complete guns (not including ammo cans, holders, belts, tripods, etc) are going for $1500.
How much do you save by doing it yourself? Who has the best parts for building?

Also which caliber? .308? .30-06? Coles has one in 8mm for $1700 That sounds like the cheapest to shoot but the least compatable with existing parts.
Rapid fire has sales often where they are closer to $1100 or so.
Hesse makes one also in that price range.

Building yourself(subbing the machining of the internals, the 80% plate and trigger sear) $7-800 will be your cost.

.308 IMO is the best to get, 7.62N is not that expensive in bulk and changeover to 30.06 isn't all that involved AFAIK.

FAC was selling primo kits last I heard, but your best bet for info is www.1919A4.com
It's been a while since I built mine.

[Fargo]

Is that the Princeton shooting range?

Fargo

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Yes it is, part of it.

[Penguin]

Cool you are once again temptent me to get a 1919 one of these days.