Cerwyn
Cerwyn (Site Admin)
Number of posts : 11090
Age : 65
Location / Country : North Wales
Registration date : 2008-07-20
 | Subject: Marushin MP40 Factory Assembled  Fri Sep 26, 2008 7:29 pm | |
| Extract from Mark's original site
Theマルシン製 (Marushin) MP40 (factory assembled)
The real mp40:
The real mp40 is an incredibly fun gun to shoot! I was lucky enough to be able to shoot one in Las Vegas at an indoor range. The real mp40 really has no recoil to speak of and it is truly accurate! I kept all of (8 magazines!) in the target (s) center compared to an Hk mp5 that I fired at the same place.( and later an M1 Thompson)
Also, the mp5 jammed 2 times! the second time it jammed, it had to be taken apart to be cleared by the ranges armorer! the fact that a MP40 performed better wasn't too much of a surprise as the MP40 is a well proven design. Not bad for an worn 60+ year old submachine gun! especially, since the mp40 was designed to be an less expensive to manufacture machine pistol, Pressed steel, bakelite furniture, spot welds, simple lathe turned components etc.
Construction:
The Marushin mp40 is constructed of abs and zinc alloys. it contains enough zinc and steel components to add some realistic weight to this modelgun it still is a bit light compared to the real mp40 but, Marushin more than makes up for weight by making the MP40 much more realistic than the MGC MP40, The bolt safety works, the barrel nut looks correct, the muzzle nut screws on and the pistol grip has two actual screws holding it on the lower assembly .
However, the Marushin mp40 has a solid feel to it due to making the pistol grip out of Zinc and the use of stamped steel parts (where possible in its construction). Marushin did a superb job creating this modelgun. Thank you Marushin!
The Marushin production versions:
There are 4 versions of the Marushin MP40: The pre-assembled "plug cap firing" (the most common version) The kit version, The early all zinc (PFC) version and the non-blow back airsoft version.
The pre-assembled version:
This is the version used in the video, I received this modelgun back in 1998 from the "collectors armory" minus the box, cartridges or the manual! being as I was familiar with the pfc model guns at the time and having only 4 cartridges (from a prior Marushin Uzi that I had owned )and no caps to shoot it! I was pretty upset, calling the "collectors armory" was no help either, as they told me that this was just a display piece! and they had no caps or cartridges. So, having only 4 cartridges and no caps, I had to do something to get this to fire.
So, I started to look about for the caps, only to find that they had not been imported since the "collectors armory" had imported them back in the early 80's and that no more could be imported due to postal regulations! So, I started to look into a substitute for them at the hobby shops. (no luck there)
Surprisingly, I found a good substitute at the grocery store! The "super bang" strip caps! (about 4.5-5 mm in diameter) for cap guns! buying several packs, I when't home to experiment, as the caps where of course, smaller than the 7mm cap body that I needed.
So, my solution to this was to use the 7mm cap bodies that luckily, I had saved from the box of 100 (MGC) caps that I had shot in my Marushin Mauser M712, the caps fit inside the 7mm bodies! So, now I had the caps, but still only 4 cartridges! no one had these either! And obliviously, no substitute could be found for these, so, for the moment, 4 shot bursts it had to be!
Worn parts: (oops!)
Due to Japanese law, certain parts must be made from weaker grades of zinc or from abs plastic to prevent "remodeling" the modelgun into a real firearm. So, the chamber and the bolt in this modelgun are made out of abs plastic. (which doesn't take to abuse very well) Therefore, by the time that I had obtained more cartridges for it, the chamber and the bolt face where in pretty bad shape! So, I had little choice but to make my own (at least the chamber piece) as I found a new bolt.
So, I made a chamber piece (out of steel) on my lathe. So, from the left, the damaged bolt face, the damaged chamber piece, a new chamber (abs) and my new steel chamber. (The next chamber I make will be made from stainless steel not plain carbon steel though!) as it rusts way to easily!
 
"Firing" the Marushin mp40!
Firing the Marushin mp40 is a blast! it is too bad that the cartridges are not designed better though, like the MGC cartridges, as a good portion of the gasses escape from the case separation point.
Also, the before mentioned abs chamber, as this part was abs, it was subject to wear from the cartridge case mouth etc.
So, at first the tendency to jam-up was quite common, a short burst then it would jam.
Then finally, it refused to even fire! This was traced to the fact that the detonator (firing pin) was pushed back into the somewhat softer abs plastic! how this occurred, I still am not sure.
It might have been the detonator bottoming out against the piston in the cartridge, or the diameter of the detonator changed due to rust, who knows?
Anyways, other than the problems described, firing the Marushin mp40 is very fun.
The recoil actually, is great! Although, not near as much as the real mp40! And the rate of fire is too high, compared to the real mp40 about 850-900 rpm! compared to 600 or so of the real mp40.
Although, with a little work on the recoil spring, the rate of fire can be changed ,doing this resulted in my mp40 having a rate of fire of about 500 rpm not quite the correct rpm but close! Also, the spring rate being so high might be the cause (along with lubrication issues) of the current jamming problems! (That and the fact I use an original mp40 magazine! as I believe that the magazine spring has too much tension)
(I used the MGC "gold" caps for this video)
Click here to see the: mp40 video
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