More on replacement cartridge

Long time ago I felt lucky to find a fine condition Hudson Vz61 Skorpion, only drawback was that it did not come with cartridges !



After a long search I had to conclude that only by extreme luck would I find a few Hudson cartridges.
Next was that the more I read about them the harder it was to find them praised for good function.
I simply had to conclude that most owner of the original Hudson Vz61 had difficulty with proper cycling.
Some had experimented with the MGC P210 cartridge in the Hudson Vz61 model, despite several fit challenges with some success.

So in the end I decided to modify the MGC P210 cartridge to fit the Vz61 chamber and to find a way to get such cartridges machined.



So far so good - 5 prototype cartridges in house proved acceptable chambering but leaving no doubt the Hudson detonator pin is too thick, causing many mis-feeds and too short, causing firing problems.
This led me to make a new, thinner and slightly longer detonator pin.



Last learning was that my first "nose design" was nicely curved and with some resemblance of a real cartridge had the disadvantage of a weak edge in the nice looking front, thus building up dents that gradually made chambering worse and worse.

Only cure was to strengthen the "nose" and letting go of the "nice look"

This way, I ended up with 5 prototypes with reasonably good performance. I have found, usually 3 or 4 fires on full auto.
I never managed to get the last round chambered, but I am convinced that a stronger magazine spring will take care of this.



Next step now is the wait for a larger volume of cartridges, to do some serious testing of full auto fire.



This post to keep the forum alive, share my expiriences and maybe give a few Hudson Vz61 owners hope that this old model gun may be "brought back to life"

Getting more cartridges and doing some serious testing will take me some weeks but I do promise to be back in a few weeks with an update of the results.

Excellent work mate, if you can get the VZ61 to work you will if achieved something many have tried but failed at.
Like many hudson models its not always just the round but the fact the the chamber and the bolt are slightly misaligned, so feeding is a is a problem.
Good luck on this.

Thanks Claymore

Ihope to get it firing reasonably

I know the Vz61 is a bit of a problem child but i hope that my thinner and slightly longer detonator pin maybe can help me a bit.
The original Hudson is at a 5mm diameter, where mine is 4. - hoping this will assist chambering

but lest see when i get to next test session

That's a neat project! and with progress!

I feel bad for not sending you those cartridges I promised (long time ago) but on a positive note this seems to have led to an even better solution :-)

Congratulations this is a really nice project

smootik wrote:

That's a neat project! and with progress!

I feel bad for not sending you those cartridges I promised (long time ago) but on a positive note this seems to have led to an even better solution :-)

Thanks Smootik

yes - do not feel bad. Right now i am really optimistic, being realistic i am sure i will meet more challenges but this could end out good

For now i am expecting the new detonator pin to prove a weakness if the new cartridge prove to be efficiant in chambering and firing, but ill worry about that if upcomming autofire trials are succesfull