Charlton Machinegun

[browningautorifle]

It is one of my own design and manufacture,

Nice...maybe we can do a thread to that direction, I don't want to upset this thread's flow...but would love to discuss that. Now let's see, Charlton...bolt travel...

[Peter Laidler]

Yes......... now that I think of it, the bolt has to travel pretty-well all the way to its stop in order to feed a new round from the magazine - regardless of what magazine was being used. And the fact is that the 'stop' in this case is the rear of the bolt-head striking the right side locking shoulder of the body. NOT a wise move in my opinion especially as that area is simply induction hardened and in any case, if the mid 50's or so trials with oversize bolt heads is anything to go by, it was worn locking shoulders that were the killer of No4 bodies. Not exactly No1 type bodies I agree, but same meat, different gravy. A problem in the making I'd say............ So just HOW do you buffer that bolt in a long stroke gas operation. Think Bren body and piston extension buffers and the problems there. Mmmmmmmmm.

Another 'problem' Rod and others is that you want it to remain as original as possible....., warts an' all!

While we're here I should imagine that you could never production-line the conversion of the rifles to Charltons simply due to the widely varying body machine and wear tolerances. I remember during the late 70/early 80's or so when lots of school Cadet Corps had No1 rifles that'd been DP'd to...., well, whatever spec it was, it wasn't recognised by anyone. So they had to devise a spec based on that and very similar to the L59 DP No4 rifle. It became very complicated because there were so many variables with the external body dimensions. Just to devise the body and barrel jigs for the machine tables to securely to mill the bodies and barrels became so complicated. Eventually they abandoned the idea and just issued DP No4's on a one-for-one basis and scrapped the old worn out No1's

Yes...., Charltons. How would I overcome the bolt stop problem........

[tiriaq]

The operating rod/gas piston extends quite a ways toward the rear of the receiver extension. A buffer assembly is mounted on the receiver extension. This should get the bolt stopped or dramatically slowed down before the bolthead slams into the locking abutment.
Then again, I'm assuming that this is what happens - haven't made the buffer assembly for mine yet.

[Woodsy]

The operating rod/gas piston extends quite a ways toward the rear of the receiver extension. A buffer assembly is mounted on the receiver extension. This should get the bolt stopped or dramatically slowed down before the bolthead slams into the locking abutment.
Then again, I'm assuming that this is what happens - haven't made the buffer assembly for mine yet.

Yes, there is a stop at the rear right of the action to arrest the travel of the piston/scroll plate. It does not cushion the impact but has an aluminium sleeve that acts as a 'dead blow' to counteract bounce. The bolt has about 2mm longtitudinal clearance in the cam slot and is able to travel this distance when the piston stops. The hinged plate at the rear of the action has a stop pin which abuts on the stump of the bolt handle, and when correctly fitted, stops the free movement of the bolt before the bolt head strikes the body wall. By careful fitting of both stops I was able to get the bolt back enough to still give 0.5mm clearance on the bolt head. As Peter has noted, these beasts are all individually hand-fitted to give 'reliable' operation. The following quote is direct from the original handbook; "This weapon should be employed as self-loading rifle capable of firing 30 or more aimed shots per minute, and also, in emergency, of firing automatic and thus providing a reserve of fire power within the unit." The handbook also reccomends to not use the fore grip at all but to fire from the prone position as per the Bren and Lewis guns with the left hand on the small of the stock, and for hip shooting to hold the left leg of the bipod which counteracts the tendency of the gun to pull to right.

It is hosing down here this morning so I will see what this afternoon is like before going to the range.

[Woodsy]

Not a 'Ureka!' moment, more like "Igor, It's alive! It's alive!" The Charlton works well on semi-auto but has an auto-sear timing issue to resolve now. When set on full-auto the first shot is fine but the auto-sear is tripping just a tad too soon and the firing pin fall is just contacting the safety cam causing misfires. Not a big deal to fix. The gun is very pleasant to shoot in semi-auto. I have bored the gas port to 3.75mm, set the adjustable gas tube to the middle setting, and set the return spring on the lightest setting. I am happy to explain these methods of adjustment that are built into gun if anyone wants to know. Anyway, enjoy the video (my apologies for the quality but I ain't Cecil B DeMille).
http://vid194.photobucket.com/albums...une%202017.mp4

[henry r]

It's not mine and i will probably never even see a charlton in real life, but that video has me grinning like a schoolboy.

Awesome.

[mrclark303]

Not a 'Ureka!' moment, more like "Igor, It's alive! It's alive!" The Charlton works well on semi-auto but has an auto-sear timing issue to resolve now. When set on full-auto the first shot is fine but the auto-sear is tripping just a tad too soon and the firing pin fall is just contacting the safety cam causing misfires. Not a big deal to fix. The gun is very pleasant to shoot in semi-auto. I have bored the gas port to 3.75mm, set the adjustable gas tube to the middle setting, and set the return spring on the lightest setting. I am happy to explain these methods of adjustment that are built into gun if anyone wants to know. Anyway, enjoy the video (my apologies for the quality but I ain't Cecil B DeMille).
http://vid194.photobucket.com/albums...une%202017.mp4

Congratulations on a job well done Woodsy, the Charlton is a credit to you.

Great work, she looks fantastic and wonderful to see it in motion...

[browningautorifle]

Nice to see you again Woodsy, and yes, pretty damm good! Probably the first one to be shot in 75 years or so.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

In a similar vein:

[browningautorifle]

In a similar vein:

Nothing complex there at all...