During simulated firing of my dummy FG42, there were times when rounds would suddenly stop feeding. After removing the magazine and reloading it would sometimes fix the problem; but sometimes NOT.
There seemed to be no apparent problem with the action; and the magazine seemed OK. But whatever the cause it was not so obvious - well at least not to me. I decided to leave solving the issue to one of those days when I was "in the mood".
One of those days arrived - I was bored with little work and no projects on hand.
So taking my FG42 out of storage I loaded the mag and carefully cycled the action.
I noticed that there was a small (about 1.5 - 2.00 mm) sloppy movement of the mag if I moved it towards the rear. At which point the dummy rounds would jam. If I moved the mag towards the front, everything worked OK.
Closer inspection showed the sloppy movement was being allowed by the magazine catch bar movement.
The bar is held in place by pressure of two "dimples" in the small metal arms on each side of the magazine.
I could easily wiggle the bar - but it is supposed to be a very tight fit
Ok - so I needed to re-tighten the dimples - but how? Too much and the mag follower would not work properly; too little and nothing would change.
I decided to use my wood vice (no teeth to scratch anything) and very gently put pressure on the dimples -BUT I also decided to drop a small amount of two-pot epoxy glue underneath the bar to act as a bit of insurance against too much movement in the future.
After allowing the glue to dry I tested the feeding - and it all works fine with no jams or other problems; and the mag fit is nice and tight.
Having encountered this problem and coming up with a solution, I'm posting this in case anyone else has had a similar problem.
Kiwigunner 
Tue Jan 17, 2012 2:43 am
