The pins are consumable parts. The shim and redrill was to confirm the correct length, and wasn't even the original complaint. 2 were later fabbed on the lathe, and went back to the customer wearing the new pins. Eventually had to fabricate most of the front end of the gas system also. Customer wanted an operational unit, and this one was wankered enough to make fabrication of parts necessary. In all of these videos, (and this one is 3 years old), there comes a point where the filming just has to stop.
I was tricked, I thought this was a new video. My attention to detail seems to be lacking these days. Was one of these used in Othias' "Project Lightening" videos?
I think the Lewis gun is about the coolest MG ever, not the best, but the coolest. I would own one if I could afford it. AND Sir, I do appreciate your work.
Being able to fab in your choice of today's alloys,would make this machine stand the test of time. I'm sure it's operator carried a couple of these firing pin,roll pin sets in his pocket. I appreciate you showing what you can of these glorious machines. You are the man to send, the island of broken toys.
Man, the amount of PRACTICAL craftsmanship you show is outstanding. You know allot, but not so much that you forget what guns REALLY are: machines. A gun can look like art, but if it won't run, what is it really? Awesome work!
If it doesn’t run or is just a wall hanger it’s Art or History possibly both. But if it also runs and is used it is Education, Entertainment and Captivating as well. I like swords as well as guns, possibly more. But I didn’t realize I liked Warhammers and pole arms even more. However until I held such devices/weapons I didn’t “understand” them and was naive to any random comments on those subjects. Holding and using these tools is incredibly enlightening and they’re value far exceeds the total of these qualities.
@@john-paulsilke893 exactly. It's one thing to look at a tool. It's another to use it. You won't understand the true value of it until you understand it's context, and true active function. That's when art becomes alive.
A chicken and an egg are laying in bed together. The chicken is all relaxed smoking a cigarette. The egg rolls over frustrated and says, "I guess that answers *that* question."
Mark, you ARE in fact one of VERY FEW people that have earned the rank of ‘Gun Jesus’! Never undervalue your level of earned expertise! You are a master of your craft & your videos are but a small window into your world! We thank you for pulling back the curtain & showing us a very unique viewpoint into the world of a true craftsman mind! Your hard earned expertise has saved me untold thousands of dollars...not even for all the technical details (which are infinitely useful), but more so for your credo... ’Do the maintenance’ -Mark Novak (circa 2019?)
Lol... thought I was the only one who used sharpies for indicating surfaces. They work a treat. I also use them when making obsolete cartridges when the cases are binding somewhere during development. The other thing you can use which is sometimes even better are whiteboard markers. Super easy to clean up and they do the same thing.
Please don’t sell yourself short Mark… you are an “All knowing Gun Guru” compared to most every gunsmith out there. It’s nice to see that you’re humble… like they say don’t ever stop learning and never think you know it all. I learn something from you every time I watch your videos. Real knowledge too, not fluff. Thank you!
Nice to extend the life of that old dog. I guessed the shim and redrill before you mentioned it. That comes from watching you work. Great work. Thanks for the video.
9:16 YES! Those bags are super useful. Even more so when you label them (when you're working on multiple projects or when it takes a bit longer). They saved me a lot of trouble when i went to restoring my old 1960 moped.
@@monteharrison1478 any time I get something in a little ziploc bag like that I stick the bag in a drawer with a couple dozen others for later use. I do the same with plastic grocery bags. Once you build up a little stock you'll never need to buy them.
I work on pneumatic nailers and staplers. In a few models, the pin that holds the fastener gate latch is small and easy to lose. I use a magnet, small round neodymium place gravitationally below to catch it if I don't. Flared roll pins are good. Love your intro music by the way. It reflects on the art at a time when it was so very important and classic as well. Keep on sir!
Number one thing most people miss when it comes to being an expert is knowing what matters and ignoring what doesn’t. People will hem and haw about things like taking the firing pin to a grinding wheel, but in the end, it works.
Was going to comment on "how come you don't have a couple spare Lewis strikers, they're all over the"... Then I realized it's been 20+ years since I last worked on one, and remembered that parts for a lot of MG's have simply disappeared. I remember picking up a "lewis spares tin" with contents at a SAR show in Phoenix for around $5.00 just because a friend had one in .303" and I liked shooting it. They are a ridiculously smooth shooting MG once you set up the clockwork spring to "balance" the action. I can't imagine shooting one much now, as .303" that would be reliable in a Lewis has gotten a bit spendy. Even back in the 90's we had a lot of MkVII ball that was "maypop" where even a MkII BREN would not set it off. (just checked, Sarco still has some strikers. For $15.00 a pop, used. Yikes. ).
A trick from the Guitar Repair Guy. When driving out a pin put a small STRONG magnet on the exit side below the pin to catch it as it comes out. I use the same Sharpe trick when dressing frets.
... But I think the 24 hour Lewis gun parts store is closed... I'm not certain theres even an offshore consignment shop in the corner of somebody's basement for Lewis gun parts. Thankfully it is just a machine and the designers had the foresight to make some parts simple and easily replaced. A pleasure again good sirs, to watch craftsmen at work. Yes plural. A shout out to Bruno, because without his expertise on the camera, these videos wouldn't look nearly as nice. Thank you both, and everyone else on your team.
After all the rare firearms you've handled in your career it's so rewarding to see you get so revved up about shooting one of them just like all the rest of us would get . I hope I never grow up !
Not to mention many other parts for old guns hiding in now defunct repair shops every where. I often think about that because most of the smiths in my area where getting along in years.
And that helps with putting things back together and I happen to lack in that capacity 😆 I'll never forget when I took apart my CT70 to give it a good cleaning and make everything shiny and then I got stuck because I couldn't put it back together again and my Dad, thank goodness for him, had to put it back for me lol.
I remember when I first took apart my C96 Mauser to clean, and couldn't put it back Together! I had just about given up and decided to find a gunsmith to do it for me, when I discovered a teenager from Switzerland, who had posted a video on the takedown and assembly of One! I downloaded that video and review it every time I clean that Pistol!
I could massage your ego and be sycophantic, saying how much skill you have etc etc, but I have no knowledge to say one way or another. I just enjoy being shown something by you, which I will never replicate, so I thank you.
Im not a gunsmith- but I love to tinker- nice analogy for the gun=machine! and I appreciate looking over your shoulder for the shop tips you didnt talk about (The power down of the grinder wheel before you rounded the pin) Love watching not what you do- but HOW you do it... -Bravo my friend, Subscribed and thanks for the content- if ever we meet- coffee's on me.
At mark 9:42 the pin is a roll pin, and are made of spring steel. They are to go in with resistance so that spring compression holds them in place. There is another type of pin call a split pin, and they work the same.
11:09 Very sound advice on using a bigger hammer with the same velocity rather than making the smaller hammer hit faster. Easy to forget that materials have set capacities to deform from impacts, and the speed of an impact is as relevant as the actual force involved. A thing that will accept a thousand pounds of force very slowly may respond very badly if you apply just a fraction of that force too quickly for it to adjust.
@@umbraelegios4130 My Dad was a defense industry engineer, so part of his remit included solutions to solutions that soldiers and sailors came up with to solve problems with the equipment. The ability of the American fighting person to find bigger hammers never ceased to amazed.
At 13:53 Mark had one of those moments which is the main reason I stuck with German firearms for making parts for. Yes, you should remake the firing pin but usually make a run of them, about 100 should do.
The smile on your face at the end said it all. When you started talking about needing to move the firing pin forward I though: can he shim just a BCH there in the mount?
"If you do not posses the skills to perform at this level, do NOT attempt." Well dammit! What am I going to do with all these Lewis guns I have laying around??
hint. when you have to tap an retaining pin out and it could come loose and fly across the room just place a magnet about where its going to come out. when it loosens the magnet will grab it and you will not lose it.
oh yeah, im a big proponent of saving all those little plastic bags for stuff. ive got a whole "bag o bags" that i pull out anytime ive got some small part i need to hold onto. probably used thousands of them over the years.
Hi Mark - great episode. I suggest trying a file over mystery steel like that to make sure it isn't air hardening in small sections. I am not sure about air hardening steel in 1914, but manganese and chromium could make it such. Heat and work as needed. But, try with a file (keep one just for this sort of thing). I do this with steel often. Just to be safe, so you don't accidentally put a glass-hard piece in. Forgive me if I am telling you something you already know/do. I love the channel.
The design has continued up through the FG42 to the M60. Not sure anything newer uses the same design, I know the MAG is an upside down BAR, and I think the Minimi is, too.
I think his point is that people will look at a relic like that and forget what it REALLY is: a gun. A machine. If you dance around it because it's art, and are to afraid to bang some stuff around and find somewhat 'crude' ways of solving operational issues, then you are probably left with a paperweight with allot of historical president. Nothing wrong with that, but for it to truly be historical, you sometimes have to think outside the box to keep it running. The way it's intended to be experienced by design. I personally would rather have a gun that shoots than a gun that is 'to spec' and as historically accurate as possible but can't fire.
@@ScottKenny1978 similar use as the MG42 or the M60, but no comparision with the BAR (who comes to late for WW1): the Lewis was a heawy weapon (~15kg with full magazine), close twice the weight from the BAR...Only the Chauchat had a similar weight to the BAR...the ww2 technological successor for the Chauchat or the BAR was the FG42 (fallchirmgewehr)
We have a24 hour Lewis store.. sadly they are out of firing pins.... The only thing left in stock is 3 rounds of .303 :( It's always fun to watch a true professional at work.
1:40 looks like mishandling damage to the firing pin and not damage from normal cycling? I can see why it would be preferable to have a softer pin so potential oopsies can be tweaked and the gun kept in service until a proper replacement is available. If it was harder it would likely just break. The softer pin would also take the majority of the damage instead of transferring it to the next weaker area of a large part if it were made indestructible. Reminds me of the hubs on my ford. People complained about blowing hubs, so they made indestructible hubs. Then they started breaking everything but hubs. The hubs were easy to replace, but the u joints and shafts and differentials were not. Sometimes a weak link is preferable, so you know what the point of failure will be and can plan for it.
I'm reminded of the firing pins on old Holland & Holland doubles. They're differentially hardened, soft at the tip so they don't break but hard at the rear so they won't mushroom out from the hammer hitting them. A soft tip is fine, like Mark says they're only hitting brass.
I have made 2 new firing pins one for a ww2 walther p38 and one for an olympic 22lr. Bouth have been made from an bolt 8.8 grade (iso standard) i dont know if its the same for ansi. Its better to have a little softer material for a firing pin because if its to hard it will snap.
11:25 - why a "bigger beater" ?? Because it changes the shape of the force impulse; it lowers the peak force and broadens out the impulse, enabling the delivery of more energy (which is the AREA under the force vs. time curve if you measured it) with less peak force. As a mechanical engineer, I have all manner of instruments to both apply/measure calibrated impacts and record them. I actually have a half dozen or so "calibrated hammers" with LOAD CELLS afront. Deal with it! :D
You REALLY think he hasn't heard of them with as many years as he's been in the hobby? I get that you're "just trying to be helpful" but please, think: he's been in the hobby from a young age, he's been working on guns as a profession for (if memory serves) a couple decades now. He's going to have heard of them. He's addressed this in what feels like half his videos. He can make the part and get the gun back out the door far faster than they can ship it to him, and the customer's money and his time is worth far more than that. Plus, he's good enough that he can "Get in and out and no one will know he was there", which is his usual goal unless he's reworking something so far he puts his own marks on it. (Edited to be less bitchy)
You obviously research a firearm thoroughly before you touch it, as you look quite familiar with a gun you've never worked on! Lucky you getting to actually fire bullets out of such awesome weapons
Maybe not. He has books and has gone through them many, many times over the years and has taken apart many different guns. There are only so many ways to skin a cat and after you have seen enough of them you have most of your answers. I’m a plumber but due to the extended liability in this work I tend to just build houses instead. I’ve seen many ways to screw things up, and while I’m no engineer I can simply look at a set of plans and quickly spot a dozen or more possible issues, many of which I have never seen before. Think of it as being a fluent English reader and seeing a foreign language written before you. If I wrote a bunch of nonsense, you’d spot it pretty quick, but if I instead translated Russian you’d certainly know it was sensible even if you didn’t understand it. You would even be able to spot if I translated some Chinese in the middle of that Russian writing even if you didn’t know what any of it meant or what languages it was. (Except Hungarian, those guys have some serious weird language rules).
@@john-paulsilke893 Yeah I get ya. I'm an engineer too and have dealt with numerous situations where it's the same, but different LOL Many ways to skin a cat? Indeed!
You may not think of yourself as a rare gun guru, but compared to most of us jabronis you might as well be a walking encyclopedia of rare gun knowledge. Don’t sell yourself short!
@@randomidiot8142 I'm pretty sure that most firing pins are made on Swiss type CNC screw machines for the reason you mentioned - when I briefly held a job run a Citizen B12 screw machine, I thought it would be ideal to make firing pins.
@@machinist7230 plus their speed, flexibility, and capability to spit out parts like a good little robot. What tolerances would the citizen hold on diameter?
Stick a shim washer behind the old firing pin. Then I would reverse engineer that firing pin, make a few dozen of tool steel, then sell them on Ebay and retire for 4 years. :)
First video of this channel for me. Interesting content, I'll have to watch a few more. I'm going to get hate for this, but.... Kinda surprised to see him take the firing pin to the grinder when 3ft away he has a lathe. Same amount of time with a small fine file and that pin would have been beautiful and smooth all over. Also surprised that he used straight jaw vice grips on the locating diameter...
mark i cant remember what video you do it in but you describe how to rethread a hole that involves a screw going into bare wood if you or anyone else can link that video please lmk
Hey Mark, I got a question related to Black Powder rifles. On the channel Townsend. They do early Americana reenactment. Townsend was talking about making shot for the rifle, and mentioned using pewter. I am curious if that won't cause problems down the line with the weapon. Any reading materials you can refer me to? Thank you.
@@lightweight1974 Thank you. My fear was that it would have some other effect like certain black and brown powders. Even some eastern block propellants are caustic. I was more curious to know if pewter had any cumulative effects in the breach or bore.
What the hell's wrong with a dial indicator? I got a Mitutoyo 505 out of a machine shop where it was in the 90s and it's brilliant, well made and accurate.
@@fredmercury1314 Depends on the size of the yacht! Seriously, he is a professional, I think he has a pretty good idea of what he is doing, and how to use his tools!
It's to keep the stone clean (on the miro level the stone surface is rough so you don't want to fill that in with metal or else it won't actually polish) and the metal cool. You can use either water or oil depending on the type of stone used.
The pins are consumable parts. The shim and redrill was to confirm the correct length, and wasn't even the original complaint. 2 were later fabbed on the lathe, and went back to the customer wearing the new pins. Eventually had to fabricate most of the front end of the gas system also. Customer wanted an operational unit, and this one was wankered enough to make fabrication of parts necessary. In all of these videos, (and this one is 3 years old), there comes a point where the filming just has to stop.
I was tricked, I thought this was a new video. My attention to detail seems to be lacking these days. Was one of these used in Othias' "Project Lightening" videos?
I think the Lewis gun is about the coolest MG ever, not the best, but the coolest. I would own one if I could afford it. AND Sir, I do appreciate your work.
Being able to fab in your choice of today's alloys,would make this machine stand the test of time. I'm sure it's operator carried a couple of these firing pin,roll pin sets in his pocket.
I appreciate you showing what you can of these glorious machines. You are the man to send, the island of broken toys.
Main takeaway from these vids is with all the skills in the world number one is Problem Solving. Thanks Mark.
this vid will outlive us all and generations will watch it with the same fascination we do today. Thanks Mark!!!
Man, the amount of PRACTICAL craftsmanship you show is outstanding. You know allot, but not so much that you forget what guns REALLY are: machines. A gun can look like art, but if it won't run, what is it really? Awesome work!
If it doesn’t run or is just a wall hanger it’s Art or History possibly both. But if it also runs and is used it is Education, Entertainment and Captivating as well.
I like swords as well as guns, possibly more. But I didn’t realize I liked Warhammers and pole arms even more. However until I held such devices/weapons I didn’t “understand” them and was naive to any random comments on those subjects. Holding and using these tools is incredibly enlightening and they’re value far exceeds the total of these qualities.
@@john-paulsilke893 exactly. It's one thing to look at a tool. It's another to use it. You won't understand the true value of it until you understand it's context, and true active function. That's when art becomes alive.
A chicken and an egg are laying in bed together. The chicken is all relaxed smoking a cigarette. The egg rolls over frustrated and says, "I guess that answers *that* question."
Mark Novak and Ian McCollum are the reason i love firearms so much
Thanks
Why this man's channel isn't well over a million subscribers is a mystery I will never understand.
Because quality *and* quantity *and* spittin wisdom every other sentence *does not* a high subscriber count nor positive algorithm metric make.
The best gems are well hidden.
Sunday morning & a Mark Novak video, a great start to the day!
Mark, you ARE in fact one of VERY FEW people that have earned the rank of ‘Gun Jesus’!
Never undervalue your level of earned expertise! You are a master of your craft & your videos are but a small window into your world! We thank you for pulling back the curtain & showing us a very unique viewpoint into the world of a true craftsman mind!
Your hard earned expertise has saved me untold thousands of dollars...not even for all the technical details (which are infinitely useful), but more so for your credo...
’Do the maintenance’ -Mark Novak (circa 2019?)
Much appreciated. Thanks, and I'll keep on going
He prefers Gun God. Jesus is 2nd, and has long hair.
Lol... thought I was the only one who used sharpies for indicating surfaces. They work a treat. I also use them when making obsolete cartridges when the cases are binding somewhere during development. The other thing you can use which is sometimes even better are whiteboard markers. Super easy to clean up and they do the same thing.
Jam a crayon or chunk of chalk into a chamber as well. Not much use for it but there are occasional glitches that this can solve.
Sharpies are one of my most used tools in making obsolete cartridge brass
Please don’t sell yourself short Mark… you are an “All knowing Gun Guru” compared to most every gunsmith out there. It’s nice to see that you’re humble… like they say don’t ever stop learning and never think you know it all. I learn something from you every time I watch your videos. Real knowledge too, not fluff. Thank you!
You and this old tony are the best people who explain how to do stuff(that ive discoved) on youtube.
Love watching a real craftsman at work
Nice to extend the life of that old dog. I guessed the shim and redrill before you mentioned it. That comes from watching you work. Great work. Thanks for the video.
Amazing video as always Mr Novak. Seeing you work on a Lewis gun is super cool. Never thought, I'd have the privilege of witnessing that.
The Lewis did great service , super reliable , and YOU got to shoot one , how bloody cool is that .
It’s interesting to see the background on some of the other videos. Mark gets them to the point that Ian, Othias and Mae can rock them.
9:16 YES! Those bags are super useful. Even more so when you label them (when you're working on multiple projects or when it takes a bit longer).
They saved me a lot of trouble when i went to restoring my old 1960 moped.
Where do you get 'em?
@@monteharrison1478 You can get them from Ebay or amazon, just look for "grip seal bags" ;)
@@monteharrison1478 any time I get something in a little ziploc bag like that I stick the bag in a drawer with a couple dozen others for later use. I do the same with plastic grocery bags. Once you build up a little stock you'll never need to buy them.
I work on pneumatic nailers and staplers. In a few models, the pin that holds the fastener gate latch is small and easy to lose. I use a magnet, small round neodymium place gravitationally below to catch it if I don't. Flared roll pins are good. Love your intro music by the way. It reflects on the art at a time when it was so very important and classic as well. Keep on sir!
this is like precision transmission but with guns! love it!! i might just watch some more vids!
Number one thing most people miss when it comes to being an expert is knowing what matters and ignoring what doesn’t. People will hem and haw about things like taking the firing pin to a grinding wheel, but in the end, it works.
If you sold tshirts with that quote
" who gives a crap?I just got to shoot a Lewis baby!" I'd buy 10!
Kudos to Bruno for his excellent videography!
Really cool Mr. Novak !!! Love the care you put into preserving history !!!
Was going to comment on "how come you don't have a couple spare Lewis strikers, they're all over the"... Then I realized it's been 20+ years since I last worked on one, and remembered that parts for a lot of MG's have simply disappeared. I remember picking up a "lewis spares tin" with contents at a SAR show in Phoenix for around $5.00 just because a friend had one in .303" and I liked shooting it.
They are a ridiculously smooth shooting MG once you set up the clockwork spring to "balance" the action.
I can't imagine shooting one much now, as .303" that would be reliable in a Lewis has gotten a bit spendy. Even back in the 90's we had a lot of MkVII ball that was "maypop" where even a MkII BREN would not set it off.
(just checked, Sarco still has some strikers. For $15.00 a pop, used. Yikes. ).
i really love these videos. I personally have nothing to do with gun smithing or even older guns, I just love these videos!
For me, it’s the fun of seeing how these old guns were designed and how they work.
You have the best channel on TH-cam!!! Honestly, the best.
Thanks. Help spread the word please
I have never seen anyone shoulder fire a Lewis Gun before. That looked awesome.
Was done quite a few time in the Great War. Great way to remove Germans from trenches.
@@MadRS Well that method does not really remove Germans from the trenches, it just leaves them lying at the bottom of the trench.
I love how you actually shoulder fired that beast 😁👍🏻💪🏻💪🏻
A trick from the Guitar Repair Guy. When driving out a pin put a small STRONG magnet on the exit side below the pin to catch it as it comes out. I use the same Sharpe trick when dressing frets.
Another great video! Every time I see one of your videos it reminds me of how much I love work - I could watch it all day. :-)
... But I think the 24 hour Lewis gun parts store is closed...
I'm not certain theres even an offshore consignment shop in the corner of somebody's basement for Lewis gun parts. Thankfully it is just a machine and the designers had the foresight to make some parts simple and easily replaced.
A pleasure again good sirs, to watch craftsmen at work. Yes plural. A shout out to Bruno, because without his expertise on the camera, these videos wouldn't look nearly as nice. Thank you both, and everyone else on your team.
Fully concur about Bruno
Enjoyed this one immensely. All the variations of possible ways to repair a firing pin. AND, you got to shoot a Lewis gun.
After all the rare firearms you've handled in your career it's so rewarding to see you get so revved up about shooting one of them just like all the rest of us would get . I hope I never grow up !
Dude that was so funny when you said "who gives a crap, I Just got to shoot a Lewis..."
There are probably a hundred of those firing pins in a disused British warehouse somewhere.
Not to mention many other parts for old guns hiding in now defunct repair shops every where. I often think about that because most of the smiths in my area where getting along in years.
And that helps with putting things back together and I happen to lack in that capacity 😆 I'll never forget when I took apart my CT70 to give it a good cleaning and make everything shiny and then I got stuck because I couldn't put it back together again and my Dad, thank goodness for him, had to put it back for me lol.
God Bless dads! :)
I remember when I first took apart my C96 Mauser to clean, and couldn't put it back Together!
I had just about given up and decided to find a gunsmith to do it for me, when I discovered a teenager from Switzerland, who had posted a video on the takedown and assembly of One!
I downloaded that video and review it every time I clean that Pistol!
Fascinating! Love learning from someone that actually knows and understands what they're doing
you're right in there with stoner and garand,great work.
I defy you Algorithm to find me another channel as great as this.
forgotten weapons :)
Mark Serbu
I could massage your ego and be sycophantic, saying how much skill you have etc etc, but I have no knowledge to say one way or another. I just enjoy being shown something by you, which I will never replicate, so I thank you.
You sir, are welcome
Another Great film...Enjoying them greatly.. thank you
Im not a gunsmith- but I love to tinker- nice analogy for the gun=machine! and I appreciate looking over your shoulder for the shop tips you didnt talk about (The power down of the grinder wheel before you rounded the pin) Love watching not what you do- but HOW you do it...
-Bravo my friend, Subscribed and thanks for the content- if ever we meet- coffee's on me.
At mark 9:42 the pin is a roll pin, and are made of spring steel. They are to go in with resistance so that spring compression holds them in place. There is another type of pin call a split pin, and they work the same.
11:09 Very sound advice on using a bigger hammer with the same velocity rather than making the smaller hammer hit faster. Easy to forget that materials have set capacities to deform from impacts, and the speed of an impact is as relevant as the actual force involved. A thing that will accept a thousand pounds of force very slowly may respond very badly if you apply just a fraction of that force too quickly for it to adjust.
Much easier to aim a heavier hammer going slower .....you make a great point also
Dad always said " If it doesn't work get a bigger hammer". I don't think this was what he was referring to.
@@umbraelegios4130 My Dad was a defense industry engineer, so part of his remit included solutions to solutions that soldiers and sailors came up with to solve problems with the equipment. The ability of the American fighting person to find bigger hammers never ceased to amazed.
At 13:53 Mark had one of those moments which is the main reason I stuck with German firearms for making parts for. Yes, you should remake the firing pin but usually make a run of them, about 100 should do.
Access to a right fine gunsmith working on an epic gun, count me in!!!!!! Love this channel!!!
Hi from England, I love this guys work.
We would love to see the rest of the work on this one
Yay a new rabbit hole to go down!
“Who cares…, I got to shoot a Lewis gun”! Yeah, Baby!
I love this channel! You have saved me so much $. If I ever come across a problem I can't figure out, I will gladly pay you
The smile on your face at the end said it all. When you started talking about needing to move the firing pin forward I though: can he shim just a BCH there in the mount?
Shim was rch but you get the point
@@marknovak8255 That would have been my second guess a RCH
listening to you being crusty with the gun was fun
brilliant fix for that firing pin. Would not have thought of that.
👍hit the sharpy marker with a little air blast and it will spackle an area quickly.
When you disassembled it, my first thought was that it was remarkably like a saw; in the way you took it apart!
That was actually the first time I had EVER taken one apart. Very intuitive
It's almost like the old guys that made it were smart and we're still following their examples.
Learn something new every time.
"If you do not posses the skills to perform at this level, do NOT attempt." Well dammit! What am I going to do with all these Lewis guns I have laying around??
hint. when you have to tap an retaining pin out and it could come loose and fly across the room just place a magnet about where its going to come out. when it loosens the magnet will grab it and you will not lose it.
Firing a Lewis gun would get me cranked too!
oh yeah, im a big proponent of saving all those little plastic bags for stuff. ive got a whole "bag o bags" that i pull out anytime ive got some small part i need to hold onto. probably used thousands of them over the years.
Hi Mark - great episode. I suggest trying a file over mystery steel like that to make sure it isn't air hardening in small sections. I am not sure about air hardening steel in 1914, but manganese and chromium could make it such. Heat and work as needed. But, try with a file (keep one just for this sort of thing). I do this with steel often. Just to be safe, so you don't accidentally put a glass-hard piece in. Forgive me if I am telling you something you already know/do. I love the channel.
As a retired gun smith , great respect
Thanks.
The Lewis is a brilliant early weapon. You should give it more love. It’s not just another gun.
Belgian Rattlesnake.
The design has continued up through the FG42 to the M60.
Not sure anything newer uses the same design, I know the MAG is an upside down BAR, and I think the Minimi is, too.
I think his point is that people will look at a relic like that and forget what it REALLY is: a gun. A machine. If you dance around it because it's art, and are to afraid to bang some stuff around and find somewhat 'crude' ways of solving operational issues, then you are probably left with a paperweight with allot of historical president. Nothing wrong with that, but for it to truly be historical, you sometimes have to think outside the box to keep it running. The way it's intended to be experienced by design. I personally would rather have a gun that shoots than a gun that is 'to spec' and as historically accurate as possible but can't fire.
@@ScottKenny1978 similar use as the MG42 or the M60, but no comparision with the BAR (who comes to late for WW1): the Lewis was a heawy weapon (~15kg with full magazine), close twice the weight from the BAR...Only the Chauchat had a similar weight to the BAR...the ww2 technological successor for the Chauchat or the BAR was the FG42 (fallchirmgewehr)
You looked so natural firing that Lewis!
We have a24 hour Lewis store.. sadly they are out of firing pins.... The only thing left in stock is 3 rounds of .303 :(
It's always fun to watch a true professional at work.
1:40 looks like mishandling damage to the firing pin and not damage from normal cycling? I can see why it would be preferable to have a softer pin so potential oopsies can be tweaked and the gun kept in service until a proper replacement is available. If it was harder it would likely just break. The softer pin would also take the majority of the damage instead of transferring it to the next weaker area of a large part if it were made indestructible.
Reminds me of the hubs on my ford. People complained about blowing hubs, so they made indestructible hubs. Then they started breaking everything but hubs. The hubs were easy to replace, but the u joints and shafts and differentials were not. Sometimes a weak link is preferable, so you know what the point of failure will be and can plan for it.
I'm reminded of the firing pins on old Holland & Holland doubles. They're differentially hardened, soft at the tip so they don't break but hard at the rear so they won't mushroom out from the hammer hitting them.
A soft tip is fine, like Mark says they're only hitting brass.
The male shoulder fires a Lewis to show dominance.
It is heavier than you might think. Lifted it on pure adrenaline
@@marknovak8255 Shoulder fires Maxim 1904.
With tripod?
Nods approvingly.
Just the water in a Maxim weighs damn near 24 pounds.......
@@stevenmajor9513 mark has his own tripod
I love watching these videos, thanks
I have made 2 new firing pins one for a ww2 walther p38 and one for an olympic 22lr. Bouth have been made from an bolt 8.8 grade (iso standard) i dont know if its the same for ansi. Its better to have a little softer material for a firing pin because if its to hard it will snap.
Love you and your work.
Greatings from the Netherlands.
Yahoo, time for another mindless resizing reloading session and watching Mark. Cold snack and cigar in hand
Yah doin it right. Yeah……
11:25 - why a "bigger beater" ?? Because it changes the shape of the force impulse; it lowers the peak force and broadens out the impulse, enabling the delivery of more energy (which is the AREA under the force vs. time curve if you measured it) with less peak force.
As a mechanical engineer, I have all manner of instruments to both apply/measure calibrated impacts and record them.
I actually have a half dozen or so "calibrated hammers" with LOAD CELLS afront. Deal with it!
:D
Those pins are spring pins. They are fairly easy to procure. I've seen them at lowes and home depot. They are pretty common in industrial machinery.
This is an outstanding channel.
Mark,
You can get a brandy-new striker from SARCO in PA. 15 bucks and they ship it to you.
You REALLY think he hasn't heard of them with as many years as he's been in the hobby?
I get that you're "just trying to be helpful" but please, think: he's been in the hobby from a young age, he's been working on guns as a profession for (if memory serves) a couple decades now. He's going to have heard of them. He's addressed this in what feels like half his videos. He can make the part and get the gun back out the door far faster than they can ship it to him, and the customer's money and his time is worth far more than that. Plus, he's good enough that he can "Get in and out and no one will know he was there", which is his usual goal unless he's reworking something so far he puts his own marks on it.
(Edited to be less bitchy)
He did once say, in reference to a "just buy it from SARCO" comment:
"Who do you think makes the part for SARCO?"
Mark is legit the best smith on the planet
Beautiful job!
You obviously research a firearm thoroughly before you touch it, as you look quite familiar with a gun you've never worked on! Lucky you getting to actually fire bullets out of such awesome weapons
Maybe not. He has books and has gone through them many, many times over the years and has taken apart many different guns. There are only so many ways to skin a cat and after you have seen enough of them you have most of your answers. I’m a plumber but due to the extended liability in this work I tend to just build houses instead. I’ve seen many ways to screw things up, and while I’m no engineer I can simply look at a set of plans and quickly spot a dozen or more possible issues, many of which I have never seen before.
Think of it as being a fluent English reader and seeing a foreign language written before you. If I wrote a bunch of nonsense, you’d spot it pretty quick, but if I instead translated Russian you’d certainly know it was sensible even if you didn’t understand it. You would even be able to spot if I translated some Chinese in the middle of that Russian writing even if you didn’t know what any of it meant or what languages it was. (Except Hungarian, those guys have some serious weird language rules).
@@john-paulsilke893 Yeah I get ya. I'm an engineer too and have dealt with numerous situations where it's the same, but different LOL Many ways to skin a cat? Indeed!
I envy your skills and knowledge, but mostly envy getting your getting to shoot a Lewis Gun.
Based dial caliper operator.
Me Too!
Their batteries don't go bad!
You may not think of yourself as a rare gun guru, but compared to most of us jabronis you might as well be a walking encyclopedia of rare gun knowledge. Don’t sell yourself short!
I hope to see firing pin fabrication in the future.
I made an AR15 firing pin. Not as sexy but quite a pain turning something that thin and long. That conical shape looks much easier to one off.
Should honestly be pretty easy. Big part, fairly short.
@@randomidiot8142 I'm pretty sure that most firing pins are made on Swiss type CNC screw machines for the reason you mentioned - when I briefly held a job run a Citizen B12 screw machine, I thought it would be ideal to make firing pins.
@@machinist7230 plus their speed, flexibility, and capability to spit out parts like a good little robot. What tolerances would the citizen hold on diameter?
Pretty sure it was already in a video.
lovely bit of history
I would have been way more geeked up than you were at the end.
my first idea was why not hard solder a little bit on the front of the firing pin, maybe a stupid idea of me but thats were it is warn.
Stick a shim washer behind the old firing pin. Then I would reverse engineer that firing pin, make a few dozen of tool steel, then sell them on Ebay and retire for 4 years. :)
The Unspeaking Blue from ANZACS would be proud, cobber.
That's a beautiful machine right there.
Thank you Mark, very cool.
Maybe the bend is to do with negative or beyond tolerance headspace that you mentioned other day.
Absolutely
Nice video as always 👍
First video of this channel for me.
Interesting content, I'll have to watch a few more.
I'm going to get hate for this, but....
Kinda surprised to see him take the firing pin to the grinder when 3ft away he has a lathe. Same amount of time with a small fine file and that pin would have been beautiful and smooth all over.
Also surprised that he used straight jaw vice grips on the locating diameter...
In the time it would have taken him to chuck the pin up, he was done, and it was serviceable.
Love these,stay awsome bub.
"But honestly, who gives a crap...'cause I just got to shoot a Lewis, baby!"
The perfect line to end this video. :-)
People named Lewis: “I’m just so proud… 🥲”
mark i cant remember what video you do it in but you describe how to rethread a hole that involves a screw going into bare wood if you or anyone else can link that video please lmk
Hey Mark, I got a question related to Black Powder rifles. On the channel Townsend. They do early Americana reenactment. Townsend was talking about making shot for the rifle, and mentioned using pewter. I am curious if that won't cause problems down the line with the weapon. Any reading materials you can refer me to? Thank you.
Isn't pewter mostly lead and tin? Can't see how that'll hurt a muzzleloader.
Yes, use it because anything softer than iron is good
@@lightweight1974 agree
@@lightweight1974 Thank you. My fear was that it would have some other effect like certain black and brown powders. Even some eastern block propellants are caustic. I was more curious to know if pewter had any cumulative effects in the breach or bore.
@@marknovak8255 Thank you Mark!
What the hell's wrong with a dial indicator? I got a Mitutoyo 505 out of a machine shop where it was in the 90s and it's brilliant, well made and accurate.
Incorrect application? There's nothing wrong with a 12" rule, until you're trying to measure the draft of a yacht with it.
@@fredmercury1314
Depends on the size of the yacht!
Seriously, he is a professional, I think he has a pretty good idea of what he is doing, and how to use his tools!
6:35 what's the purpose of the blue stuff? if you're tryna do abrasive things, why oil?
It's to keep the stone clean (on the miro level the stone surface is rough so you don't want to fill that in with metal or else it won't actually polish) and the metal cool. You can use either water or oil depending on the type of stone used.
OUTSTANDING! Once again.