WWIIReenacting.co.uk Forums

Hello all.

Last year I bought the Shoei replica MP44 for my collection. The thought had crossed my mind if it was possible to get it to go bang, safe & reliable.

First off, I had to think of what blank it could use. 7.92 kurz is a no-no & as we all know, 9mm blanks are as common as doggy do-do !
9mm blank is the prefered choice.
Sterling smg mags fit snug inside the replica Shoei MP44 mags !

Next would be the internal "strength" of the replica body. Would it be strong enough ?

An internal "skeleton" has been made to reinforce the interior of the replica.

Venting is no problem as the MP44 has two holes in the gas cylinder (top venting) so no problems with legal issues.

A few months later :

I went to Fort Amherst at the weekend and fired approx 230 rounds of Winmag blanks and South African blanks with 6 jams !

Wanna see it ? I took this short video of it (use Realplayer or Quicktime to view)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/whitty1/AmhurstMP44.mpg

Will it live a long life ?
Well after 230 rounds it shows no sign of weakness !

Are you looking at doing other conversions if the customer supplies the inert weapon?

I'm a cake salesman !

I had the conversion done for me.

I had few of people asking me if I could get others done - I will have to ask.

Im taking a risk with it as we all know what happen to MGC MP40's after a while ! Will it stand the test of time..... ?

Sounds/works nice though, dont you think ! ?

OOooooooooooh, I want mine doing

WOW!!

Very nice!

only 1 word can discribe that, ssssswwwwish, that means good were i come from

can BAR's be done

I WANT ONE!!!

I am honestly druleing over my keyboard!!!!
Does it use the origional bolt system with hammer or is it a streight blow back??

It uses the hammer - strikes a floating pin and the blowback ejects and reloads the next round !

Very well done, pat on the back that man!

OMG OMG OMG just like the real thing i would assume the select fire button works aswell

What mods did you do to it then just strengthen the internal reciver and put in the fireing pin and did you have to do some work on the barrel?

Doggie dangly bits!! and only 9mm! not silly priced 7.92 short! if you can get it. it even looks to have a blow back "thump" on the firers shoulder, unless you act very well!, well done. cheers Pete

At last............

glad you decided to let the world know, was having trouble keeping quiet about it........well quietish.

Well worth the wait, kudos to the team.....

There is no acting on my part - she really kicks !

The select fire is a little unpredictable so I keep it to semi-auto.

Thats no problem though because it fires as fast as you can pull the trigger !

The barrel was not touched in any way. It is solid.

The gas is vented at an angle into the gas cylinder and out through the holes that are already there.

This makes it safe, looks good when firing (origional weapon would release gas from the small holes) and is good for legal reasons.

Overall, the best Axis replica blankfirer I have the pleasure of owning !

I can see every german reenactment group moving their impression to late war!
I would expect you could sell 10,000 conversion kits without trying.