In basically every argument about MG42’s rof someone writes that Germans decreased it for infantry use. But are there any proofs of this happening? Personally I never saw any sources stating this, quite the contrary.
(I’m not asking if this is possible.)
Just made a simple google search on it, found that the rof can be decreased to replacing its bolt for a heavier one. But no reports of it ever happening during the war.
That’s what I saw too. Many sources say that it’s possible but none say it was actually done.
German change bolt in Mg-42 to heavy bolt for discount rate of fire for safe barrel with overheat. Mg-42 heavy bolt (Rof 960) is complete version for mass product.
Great. Now give me your source.
Because dude writing something on a game forum doesn’t count as one.
Apparently you have some source on the topic. Can you share it?
There is a collection of firearm manuals on Forgotten weapons website https://www.forgottenweapons.com/lorem-ipsum/original-manuals/
Amongst them is a soviet 1944 manual on captured MG42.
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/wp-content/uploads/manuals/Russian%20MG42%20manual.pdf
1.On page 5 it states
‘Темп стрельбы при вставленной муфте 1300-1500 выстрелов в минуту
Темп стрельбы без муфты 960 выстрелов в минуту’ (at least I think that a 6 there)
Seems like soviets believed all you need to do is to remove this ‘Muzzle insert coupling’ to lower the rate of fire.
Interesting.
From what I know recoil booster was necessarry to make sure the gun works properly and doesn’t jam. Also nothing about the heavy blot and spring? That’s surprising.
i didnt see any first hand source about mg42 besides iirc german armorers manual(or something like that) that mentions that mg42 was capable of 1500rpm. one US army test report you can find 1050-1350rpm(possibly ~1200rpm with deviation cause of inaccurate measurement) for mg42, on other test, they couldnt get it above 1200rpm. iirc i found ~3-4 test/reports from US army with somewhat different numbers that mostly mention ~1200rpm. now idk if those reports just copied first test or if they did separate tests with different MG42 or if they used only early war mg42 for ease of use.
most books mention 900-1500 ROF. one of the most comprehensive books about ww2 weapons mentions this
heavy bolts were used, but it is unknown in what quantity and where. it is probably cause of destruction of german military archive that we have almost no source on it.
yugoslavia got original tooling from soviets and they made zastava m53 which is basically identical copy of mg42 that had ~950rpm. it is unknown if they used original design or if they added heavy bolt themselves.
