Armydoc0115 Posted May 28, 2020 Report Share Posted May 28, 2020 Greetings, I have little to no experience with these old guns, but my question to those of you who do is whether the calibers are interchangeable? Can you switch out parts for what was originally a 7mm so that it can fire .303 or 8mm for example? In other words, could you take a parts kit for one caliber and put it into a gun that is currently set up for another caliber? Thanks! -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRMCII Posted May 29, 2020 Report Share Posted May 29, 2020 This is my reply to several bidders for the Brazilian contract 1910 on auction by Morphys: The ad says that the bolt is missing and then later says the boltface is good!! Oh well, auction houses..... Looking into the feedway in the close up you can see that the bolt is missing, but it appears that the piston/oprod is there. It is missing the cartridge stop and take down lever. Hole for cartridge stop can be seen just below feedway on left side. Hole for take down lever also seen on left at rear. The gun does not have the other style of feedcover seen on the Brazilian contract 1910s and has the style of feed cover on the .303 M1909s so it will feed .303. 1909 .303 Hotchkiss bolt should fit right onto the oprod and function fine. 1909 .303 barrel will also fit that receiver. .303 bolts are easy to get but .303 barrels are expensive. Cartridge stop probably can be found. Takedown lever hard to find but can be made if need be. .303 strippers very hard to find but Jap T92 strippers will work. 54r conversion can be done by reaming the chamber to that caliber and using Hotch. 1914 8 Lebel strippers that are very common. Crowfoot tripods are available, original and repro. Buttstocks show up now and then. Gun looks rough but can be made to shoot. Good mil surp 7mm ammo is around so you can shoot it in that caliber using Jap T92 strippers. However, you will need the 7mm bolt which might be difficult to find. If you want a good MG project at low money it looks like it will go cheap. I got a complete 7mm Brazilian contract 1910 a few years ago for $3k at auction.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike todd Posted May 30, 2020 Report Share Posted May 30, 2020 I have several of those early SOUTH AMERICAN contract 1910 guns. i have opened up the bolt face on a .303 portive bolt so the 54r. Russian rnd will fit and with lebel strips it feeds and ejects , BUT i have not tried to fire it yet , so only time will tell . IMA still has a few "PORTIVE KITS" so he should have no problem getting all the parts he needs. many of the guns that came in were missing the bipods like the "morphy gun" . if you use the top yoke from that little tripod for the "portive" its easy to add a block and put it on a VICKERS tripod and save a lot of work. GREAT GUNS when complete and darned near impossible to break anything other than a fire pin. when I test fire this gun, I plan to try the 7x57 using the altered bolt. my BREN shooter runs 8x57-.308 and 54r with the same BOLT! and has never failed SO? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRMCII Posted June 2, 2020 Report Share Posted June 2, 2020 The Portatives run well converted to 54r using the 8 Lebel strips. Have done conversions for seven or eight customer's .303 guns over quite a few years, actually before the prices of the barrels and kits took off. Barrels have become quite expensive as are the kits and owners now seem content to put their money into .303 rather than spend it on conversions. Bolts are available quite cheaply as are the 8 Lebel strippers. Some years back, Poulins Auction house offered a quantity of the Brazilian and SA 1910s in two styles, but most missing parts and generally only in fair condition which sold very cheaply. I was at that auction for other opportunities, but looked them over and won two of them that were functionally complete and the only good one with a correct bipod. There are a number of variations of that type of bipod used with other LMGs but with different attachment dimensions at the joint so need modification to fit the 1910s. Interesting guns. Had a DEWAT Brit .303 1909 purchased from Numrich Arms by my grandmother for me for the Christmas of 1957 at my request. Drove my mother nuts...... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike todd Posted June 3, 2020 Report Share Posted June 3, 2020 WHEN, MIKE first started the "EVERGREEN COLLECTION", fellow collectors knowing I owned EVERGREEN HARDWARE thought we were connected and underground "chatter" was abundant about the 2 of us and why we would do such a thing. at first he bought ANYTHING and a lot of collectors dumped slow movers / incomplete NFA. he cleaned DOLPH out/among many others. there were more than 12 of the South American contract 1910's missing bi-pods or many internals that had just been laying around as all spares had disappeared long ago. they were from the last imported batch which was really a cleanup of all the items passed by while good stuff was still available to be imported. he finally started getting choosey and wanted to see only higher grade goods. we ended up meeting and he bought a couple thou $k guns from CURTS inventory. several years later when the collection was broke up, the james julia auction house got most of the better examples. POULINS which was almost next door, did most of the parts /ammo and odd items that did not fit JULIA's style sold them in a couple following large sales. being the excellent low cost shooter's they are I was always drawn to them and any other odd design like the JAP type II etc. when in order, they are fun to fiddle with, break things down range and just do something a little different . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armydoc0115 Posted July 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) Well I went ahead and got the .303 parts after reading what you guys said. Everything seemed to fit into the 7mm marked received...up until I had to put the bolt/firing pin assembly in. Like you said, it fit just fine onto the oprod. But it barely gets onto those tracks on either side of the upper receiver and just stops moving. I tried putting it on upside down just to see if there was an issue with the tracks, and it seems to move in that orientation (though it stops for obvious reasons because that’s not the way it’s supposed to be inserted). Bad bolt? Should I try filing down the metal a bit? I don’t see any obvious spurs or other potential obstructions. I'll try adding image URLs if that helps clarify what I'm talking about. https://postimg.cc/Q9XbpDLr https://postimg.cc/p9P8SBsf Edited July 4, 2020 by Armydoc0115 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike todd Posted July 5, 2020 Report Share Posted July 5, 2020 dont do any alterations until you are positive what is going on. i would suggest you pm BRMCII and try for a live chat with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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