Shoei MG42 - why didn't I pay attention in Japanese lessons?

Hi All, Been doing some exploratory engineering with help of some very good photos on http://ts826.midwestgarrison.com/smart/Shoei%20MG42/ . I've worked out where the spring goes and I've released the cocking handle which had got stuck in the guide due to some over-enthusiatic cocking before it got to me. Some metalwork is going to be required to get this working smoothly again which means I've got to remove the action. I've got the butt off but the action seems to be resisting coming out due I guess to the 6mm pipe connecting it to the trigger. Anyone know how to release the pipe?

Thanks muchly

Paul

PM 9mm sleeping pill, he's got one, mibbe he can help you out?

Hi Paul, I used to have a shoei MG42. You do indeed need to disconnect the air pipe from the bolt in order to get it out. The elbow fitting on the bolt works the same as the push-fit plastic plumbing connectors.
You have to push down on the collar on the end of the fitting, yes push down not pull out! And then push the pipe in a bit (to release the gripping teeth) and then pull it out!
Its all a bit fiddly as there is not much room to work in there. Once the pipe is off you need to push it down out the way and
Then the bolt will come out the rear.

Not sure about this spring, how big is it? If its big its prob the main bolt spring which should go in the back of the bolt.

Hope that helps some!

Hi All,

Many thanks to Boshman and Ghost. Very much appreciate the advice. I'll have a go at removing the pipe tonight. Doesn't sound too difficult now I know but as CT says - its easy when you know the answer.

Ghost, may I ask what you would recommend as a power source for both mobile and static scenarios please and what pressures to aim for. I've been thinking of powering using a simple compressor capable of putting out up to 200 psi from which I can drive the gun directly and also use to fill a kevlar bottle. If I'm on the right lines, do you have any recommendations for kit?

and Consume, many thanks for the offer of translation. If I really get stuck, I'll let you know.

I much appreciate the help from everyone.

By the way just so you know, I'm a target rifle shooter who got into airsoft about 18 months ago cos our range warden had some pistols. I saw this as an opportunity to collect airsoft versions of all the real steel guns I've fired in my life plus being able to indulge my interest in WWII weapons and the period in general. I'm hoping to get down to Die Glocke with my nephew provided I can get all my kit sorted out by then.

Regards Paul

Hi Boshman, sorry - forgot to answer yr question on the spring - its in the top cover and has a one eigth inch circle in one end. I assume its purpose is to exert tension against the "jiggler" (that's a technical term by the way!) which is operated by the backwards and forwards movement of the vertical cylindrical extension on the bolt and which rattles the dummy rounds whilst the gun is being fired without a mag in. I think the circle part should be located under that small piece of metal welded to the right inside vertical edge of the top cover.

Regards

Paul

Hi Boshman, sorry - forgot to answer yr question on the spring - its in the top cover and has a one eigth inch circle in one end. I assume its purpose is to exert tension against the "jiggler" (that's a technical term by the way!) which is operated by the backwards and forwards movement of the vertical cylindrical extension on the bolt and which rattles the dummy rounds whilst the gun is being fired without a mag in. I think the circle part should be located under that small piece of metal welded to the right inside vertical edge of the top cover.

Regards

Paul

Ok I got you, sounds about right.

BTW I should tell you that, sadly, it is VERY difficult to get the Shoei to perform well as a useable skirmish weapon. I spent a lot of time tinkering with mine but it never performed reliably or consitently. I ran mine of HPA with a 1.1ltr kevlar wrapped bottle with a first stage regulator bringing the psi down to around 800psi, this then feed into a palmer pursuits 0-200 psi second stage regulator to provide consitent and adjustable psi.

The biggest problem is reliable BB feeding, At times, mine had a habit of slicing BB's in half and spitting bits all over the place, when the BB's did shoot whole, they were all over the place, some went into orbit, some straight to the floor and the odd one or two went straight.

Also the shoei mag is a P.O.S, so first thing to do is get a proper feed tray and a MG34/42 drum mag into which you can fit an electricly wound hi-cap magazine.

If I had not sold mine a couple of years back (damn stupid mistake that was, but need the cash at the time ) I would definitly have installed a V3 AEG gearbox into it by now!

Here is a pic of my old 42 with associated bit (I used to use it with a bundeswehr loadout as a MG3 as well as a MG42)

Sorry PaulT, but I've no idea how to help further!! Seems Boshman has summed it up though. 9mmSleepingPill's one also is pretty much hopeless on the skirmish feild, although it does look and sound awsome.

9mmSleepingPill's one also is pretty much hopeless on the skirmish feild, although it does look and sound awsome.

I agree with that, great fun to use and the intimidation factor on the skirmish field is not to be scoffed at. I remember when using mine, the mere sound of the thing firing at them, had people diving for cover even when no BB's were actually coming out of it

I suppose to that end it served its purpose as a suppressive fire weapon It is pretty depressing though that after shelling out the best part of £1,500 you are still outperformed by the standard TM hire guns. The old saying is really true in this case, the more you spend on an airsoft gun, the worse the performance!

Hi Chaps,

Thanks for the advice and comments. I've successfully removed the pipe, the internals and the cocking handle and slide.

Boshman, did you find that the cocking handle on yours became progressively stiffer the further you pulled it back? I've worked out the reason and its seems that the slide has to pass a point where the slide guide meets the main body and the slide has to run over this "step" created by the overlap of the 2 pieces of metal which means the slide cannot run straight but has to at a slight angle so the further you pull it back the more "wedged" it becomes. This difficult to explain but maybe you understand. Anyway, the reason why the cocking handle was jammed was that the slide had passed this "step" and the leading edge was then butting against this "step". Once I'd levered it out passed the step I could then move it forward but it was stiff at first, geting easier the further forward the slide was pushed. Problem I've got now is figuring out a way to stop the slide being pulled too far back at the same time as getting it to run smoothly all the way but I guess I've got to just play with it. (the pile of metal filings grow deeper!)

One last question for Boshman (for now) and that is did you manage to do anything to improve the reliability and accuracy?

I have to say yr comments have left me feeling a little disillusioned. I'd hoped I'd bought an awesome skirmish machine with superior range and accuracy being Shoei are a top notch manufacturer. I guess that since I got divorced last year, I can at least display it in the lounge on the Lafette tripod I got for it and maybe use it as a coffee table with the addition of a few flat surfaces!

One good thing has come out of this though. Warren at Snootnscoot was going to build me a GBB GPMG with the same Escort internals used in the Shoei - had even bought them too - but we recently decided to stick with the AEG version and this has confirmed that this was a wise decision.

Many thanks for all yr help.

Regards

Paul

Hi Chaps,

Thanks for the advice and comments. I've successfully removed the pipe, the internals and the cocking handle and slide.

Boshman, did you find that the cocking handle on yours became progressively stiffer the further you pulled it back? I've worked out the reason and its seems that the slide has to pass a point where the slide guide meets the main body and the slide has to run over this "step" created by the overlap of the 2 pieces of metal which means the slide cannot run straight but has to at a slight angle so the further you pull it back the more "wedged" it becomes. This difficult to explain but maybe you understand. Anyway, the reason why the cocking handle was jammed was that the slide had passed this "step" and the leading edge was then butting against this "step". Once I'd levered it out passed the step I could then move it forward but it was stiff at first, geting easier the further forward the slide was pushed. Problem I've got now is figuring out a way to stop the slide being pulled too far back at the same time as getting it to run smoothly all the way but I guess I've got to just play with it. (the pile of metal filings grow deeper!)

One last question for Boshman (for now) and that is did you manage to do anything to improve the reliability and accuracy?

I have to say yr comments have left me feeling a little disillusioned. I'd hoped I'd bought an awesome skirmish machine with superior range and accuracy being Shoei are a top notch manufacturer. I guess that since I got divorced last year, I can at least display it in the lounge on the Lafette tripod I got for it and maybe use it as a coffee table with the addition of a few flat surfaces!

One good thing has come out of this though. Warren at Snootnscoot was going to build me a GBB GPMG with the same Escort internals used in the Shoei - had even bought them too - but we recently decided to stick with the AEG version and this has confirmed that this was a wise decision.

Many thanks for all yr help.

Regards

Paul

Glad to have helped Paul

Regarding the cocking handle, I never really used mine much. I had modified mine to improve the ROF. I did this by adding a short length of rubber hose to the rear of the bolt that fitted inside the main spring, this shortened the bolt stroke and thus increased the ROF. using rubber hosing gave the bolt a soft "buffer" to hit against so it would not stress the internals. this worked well and by altering the lenght of the hose you could alter the ROF. The drawback of this is that the bolt would not go back the full distance and so could not be "cocked open" by the cocking handle.

Regarding accuracy and reliabilty, well, I never sorted it to my satisfaction. running at a higher PSI improved things a lot, but then the FPS would be over 450fps with .20 bb's so that meant you couldn't skirmish with it! another problem was reliable BB feeding, very often it would double feed and fire 2 bb's at a time, I think having the bb's "pressure" feed by the winding hi-cap did not help with this but it was better that the standard Shoei mag. In general the whole thing was a constant source of frustration.

One other important thing, do you still have the rubber ring which sits over the nozzle and acts as a buffer between the bolt and the breach? This tends to fall off in use but it is very important that it is there or something equivilent. without it the nozzle will hit the end if the hop chamber and the tip of the nozzle can be damaged. I used a thick piece of hi-density neoprene foam, cut to the same shape as the breach face and glued to the breach.

Unfortuantely, if you really do want it to be a good skirmisher then AEG conversion is the way to go. Do you already have a HPA rig for this? If you do then I 'd say see how you get on. If you dont and still need to buy all the HPA stuff then I'd say save your money and see if you can get hold of a Ultima MG42 gearbox or get a V3 box installed.

Good luck and keep us posted mate.

Hi Boshman,

Many thanks for the advice. You have been a real help. Yes I have still got the rubber washer - I haven't fired it yet cos I haven't got a rig. But Pinkpanzer has offered me one (see other posts under same thread heading) and I feel that I just have to give it a go. Besides I'm really going to struggle to throw out those beautiful brass internals which were about a third of the cost of the gun! If I can't make it work then I'll probably wait until an AEG model is produced by someone. I'm watching the threads on the Viva MG34 and it could be any day now.

BTW - what did you mean about a winding hi-cap mag? It sounds as if you fitted a different mag - if so what did you use and how did you fit it?

Regards

Paul