belt fed semi info/help request

Ok folks, basically a newbie to the site. But have a few milsurps and looking to expand.

So I have a stumbled across a shop selling two belt feds. One might be sold as the guy had a buyer lined up with first dibs.

Anyway.
The one I am interested in is a Valkyrie M1919 in a6 configuration. Comes with bipod, truck mount, tripod, belt loader and a bunch of links asking $3500. This 1919 is in 7.62x51 (.308), I did find a review from small arms , had a lot of good to say about them. Does anyone have one that can give me some feedback on this belt fed.

Now the other belt fed they have is a TNW MG34 with bipod and some links in 8mm. They are also asking $3500 for this one as well. But he had a possible buyer who made a appointment to come check out the gun. This one is on a German parts kit with Nazi proof stamps on most parts.

So any info I. The valkyrie 1919 would be greatly appreciated. Also if price is good/bad as well would be great. Most I find are not Valkyrie's and seem to be in the $3k area.

I am new to this site but not new to the addiction of belt feeds. I own both of the guns in question. These are both fully assembled running guns? Got a picture or part number of the 1919 mount as put a better value on it? On the surface $3500 looks like a good deal for the 1919.
If you have a choice between the two I'd definitely go with the MG34 as that is the more rare and valuable. Parts kits alone for the MG34 are going around the $2500 and up range and that is without a receiver. TNWs current price for a semi receiver is $1950. MG34s are less and less available these days. The 1919s are still readily available.
Things to consider- MG34 is ammo. 8mm is not near as abundant as the 7.62N. There are conversion kits for the 34 to shoot 7.62N but more money. The 1919 is a less portable. 1919 is an American Icon. 1919 parts are cheaper, New barrels are only $94 @ What a Country. :move eek:

What Milford are you from, the one near Scranton?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dlbard

I am new to this site but not new to the addiction of belt feeds. I own both of the guns in question. These are both fully assembled running guns? Got a picture or part number of the 1919 mount as put a better value on it? On the surface $3500 looks like a good deal for the 1919.
If you have a choice between the two I'd definitely go with the MG34 as that is the more rare and valuable. Parts kits alone for the MG34 are going around the $2500 and up range and that is without a receiver. TNWs current price for a semi receiver is $1950. MG34s are less and less available these days. The 1919s are still readily available.
Things to consider- MG34 is ammo. 8mm is not near as abundant as the 7.62N. There are conversion kits for the 34 to shoot 7.62N but more money. The 1919 is a less portable. 1919 is an American Icon. 1919 parts are cheaper, New barrels are only $94 @ What a Country. :move eek:

What Milford are you from, the one near Scranton?

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Both are running guns, the MG34 as mentioned has a potential buyer. The 1919 has the vehicle pintel mount from they way I understand it. Plus some other mount. I am awaiting a final list of everything in the 1919 kit.
I have considered the MG34, but not sure it is still available. But I currently have a few US milsurps, and one Chinese.
The alure of the 1919 is ammo availability, vs the 8mm for the 34. As intend on using these, not for just looking at.

There are reports about the TNW 34s having problems functioning.
Don't know about a Valkyrie 1919A4, but there aren't many stories about 1919A4 semis not running.

Dlbard, Care to share your experience, likes/dislikes on both guns.
How long and about how many rounds have you run through yours?
Any ammo that may have been a issue etc.

Both are cool guns to shoot and own. I've owned the 34 for 2+ years and the 1919 over 3. If I had to pick between the two, I would take the MG34 over the 1919. I should have specified earlier my 1919 is the A4 configuration, so I need the tripod to shoot it. I don't have the A6 set up, so that is a plus for the 34 for portability. The 34 is about 27lbs and the 1919 32Lbs. Belts are easer to load with the 34. 34 has a better cool factor, in my opinion. The 1919 runs the best, less jams. That could be ammo related though. The 8mm ammo is from the 50s, the 7.62 is late 90s

Snert-- I have experience with both guns in semi-auto. The TNW 34 were good guns but were very particular and sensitive to the type of ammo used. The 34 had to be kept clean and well lubed to work well. The trigger on the one I fired was also a bit heavy. I understand that later guns were modified to lighten up on the triggers. The other problem with the 34 is that you need a third hand to load the belt into the gun. One to close the feed cover, one to hold the belt in the gun and one to hold the bolt back while you do the other two functions. I understand a lot folks modify their guns with a bolt hold open device so they can perform the other two functions. all of these functions are due to the redesign of the 34 from a fire with bolt open design to fire on close bolt design. The Valkyrie 1919 was a proprietary design and not simular to the other design. The 1919 originally fired from a close bolt the gun was easy to redesign to semi auto only fire. A lot of these gun were built from Israeli parts kits and are in 7.62mm NATO. The Valkyrie design was quite different from designer and used a AR type hammer. The other designers use a modified semi-auto striker release like the original M1919 but completely modified to semi-auto fire only. All of the other functions of the M1919 are still the same. The M1919 will use both cloth belts or links. Either of which have expensive trade offs. The cloth belts are cheap but the belt loaders are expensive. The links are specific to the caliber being used but the link loaders are relatively inexpensive. The metallic links do put more wear on the gun. I would recommend that you pose your M1919 question over on the Browning .30 caliber Machine Guns web site as there are a lot more experts over there.

Cheers

--fjruple

Thank you for the feedback guys. Unfortunately I am still waiting to hear back from the seller.
Hopefully something will come about soon..

Ok, so here is a little more info.
the kit is as follows.
Valkyrie 1919a4, tripod, T&E, belt loader, belts, some ammo, and a A6 complete set up/conversion parts.
the MG34 is sold...

Snert-- All of the accessories are a plus, I did not see the pintle mount listed in your list of accessories. Is the A6 kit a US kit or Israeli? The US kit is more valuable but the Israeli A6 kit is more functional. What type of belt loader? Is for the cloth belt or links? What conversion parts? Your statement is a bit too general to give you an idea of the added value of the accessories. From my experience, the real expense is not the gun but all of the accessories that goes with the gun. some accessories are quite valuable others are not.

Pictures would greatly help.

Cheers

--fjruple

It is built on a Israeli kit, was hoping for a US.

As for the A6 kit/set up. He says it is everything needed to convert to A6 configuration, Israeli kit as well. Stock, bipod and will find out the rest this afternoon.

I will be looking this 1919 over this afternoon. Will have better input at that point.

Not that it matters but they are all US kits. Some have been modified by the israelis.

Ok so here is the lowdown.

First sorry no pics.owner was not to keen on the idea, and didn't want to push it.

So the 1919 is a israeli build.
The whole set up is the following
gun in .308 as a A4 configuration.
Israeli a6 stock with bipod.
Israeli carry handle.
Tripod,believed to be reproduction.
2 pintle mounts.
the belt loader, for metal links believed to be a original.
reproduction T&E, actually 2 of them.

Snert,

I owned a 1919 before (on tripod and with the A6 kit) and it was a hoot to shoot! I also had a crank device that sped things up just a bit. I used to load it into the back of my old Suburban, back it up to the range and shoot it from within the back of the truck. The nice thing was the "Burb" acted as my brass catcher, so all the brass went home with me! lol.

They are a great gun, and as some have pointed out, once it is set up right, you don't have much trouble with them. But they are a beast to transport and set up. Remember, it was intended as a crew served weapon. But I did end up selling it off due to that fact. Went back to weapons that can be managed by one. Not trying to discourage you at all. Everyone should try one out at some point in their shooting life.

Here is a link to the fun part of owning a 1919. It is the same model as I had, but I can't recall the makers name. Currently it is Crankfire Systems.

CR Crankfire | Crankfire Systems


I have considered a TNW MG34, but have heard of reliability issues, so have hesitated. AND, the 8mm thing. But ammo is not really a factor.

I now do Bren guns.