4140 welding

IOW, no vendor/no swap. That's a Roger, Over.

Yeah, I was considering a move from 9mm up to .45 but the cost of ammo to restock was too scary to consider, IF I could find it.

You dont handload??????? Why the f*ck not?

Gunner

I don't shoot a whole lot (3+ year ROI on a reloading station) and 9mm was always really cheap. See any $50 reloading presses any more? If so, a .45 looks good. Ping me offline.

First, the trunnion is NOT a receiver, the right sideplate is where the serial info is put and is the controlled part. The trunnion is just part of the receiver assembly. There's a lot of slam-banging going on, but it doesn't have anything to do with holding chamber pressure or bolt locking. So you can do anything you like to it, including machining another or finding somebody tooled up to make one already. Replacement is just drilling out rivets and re-riveting. And I wouldn't be doing ANYTHING to it with it in the receiver box. You'll have to remove it if you're going to re-heattreat. There are a bunch of sites dedicated to building, care and maintenance of BMGs, parts kits and semi-auto derivatives. Might be you could track down a spare trunnion. And unless the O.P. knows differently, I wouldn't assume the trunnion is 4140. War Department used a lot of different steel specs, and to their own specs, not any association's. The .50 cal. bible is Vol IV of "The Browning Machine Gun". Sarco has a bunch of MG parts, .50 trunnions might be in the pile. I'd certainly trust a replacement more than a reweld.

Even a semi-auto .50 takes deep pockets to feed these days.

Stan

Just looked it up in The Book. WWII M2s had trunnions(and other parts) cast from "Armasteel", sort of an odds and ends semi-steel suited for higher strength castings. Have never seen a composition mentioned, got the impression they melted whatever ferrous scrap was available and made additions to meet mechanical specs, not some definite chemical composition. Welding something like that might lead to more cracks. Definitely NOT an alloy steel, replacing that was the reason they developed Armasteel. That and machine time. Most M2s were made during WWII, at least the ones that show up in parts kits. Those are Lend-Lease or US military aid come back. No direct US surplus in parts kits, all that gets shredded and burned now at Aniston.

As far as busted top covers and cracked trunnions, that sort of thing happens when headspace isn't set correctly and you get a case separation. Exciting enough with a .30 BMG, but there's a LOT more powder in a .50 and it makes a bigger mess. Might be a reason that that gun was scrapped and became parts. The BMG parts kits I've seen have varied from almost new and never issued to ones that looked like they'd gone through every war and revolution since WWI.

Stan

:)

LOL :)

This is a really cool thread. :)

Just got done reading Stanley's posts. :)

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Reloading for me isn't only about money, it's half the fun of owning and shooting -my- guns. :)

But money does play a role sometimes, I've aways been able to shoot my .30-30 for cheaper than a 22 Magnum (and at about the same accuracy too, IME).

But where could I ever find these if I didn't make 'em myself...

3+1/2de - 1+1/8oz - #4 ...in a 12 gauge shell?

Alvin in AZ