Matchguns MG-2 ATTENTION TYCHO

[dnovo]

After the last thread, a friend who follows this group called me to say he had just purchased a new MG-2 RF (non-electronic trigger) and expected to get it delivered to his dealer yesterday. He asked me to come out with him to break in the new gun. I agreed.

I met him at the dealer and unpacked his new gun with him. I was impressed right off the bat with the balance and the design. I had not appreciated the, for lack of a better term, 'lever action' type of feed or the other features including an incredibly slick form of magazine. Loading five rounds into each of the magazine tubes was fast and painless.

We took the gun downstairs to the range and opened a box of 325 rounds of 'range fodder' (i.e. Federal 22 LR Automatch.) The entire box ran through the gun without a single glitch, FTF etc. I was quite impressed with the feel and accuracy of the gun and thought, 'I have GOT to get one of these.' Then the issues started.

Switching to another box of Federal Auto Match, every other magazine, in the second or third round, the gun would not fire. Recyling the action would get it to fire just fine and the rest of the magazine would function fine. When this happened again, I pulled out the round and saw that the bullet had a slight mark going in, which I guess meant that the round had not seated fully in the chamber, which is why the second 'pull' at the mechanism caused it to seat.

Then we began to get a 'stovepipe' every third or fourth magazine. I lubed the gun a bit and cleaned it, which did not seem to affect things.

I then suggested switching to a diferent bullet type, pulling out a box of CCI MiniMags I had in my kit. The first few mags went fine, then back to the non-seating issue.

The gun is serial number 21XX and what really mystifyies me is why, with simple range fodder it suddenly goes from 325 flawless rounds to these issues. I was all set to plunk down my money since the gun was a perfect fit for my hand, shot instinctly very well, and stayed on target without any effort with a loading system that is just marvelous. However, I wonder what the heck happened so suddenly to affect the performance.

Your thoughts would be appreciated, as I am really wanting to like this gun which, I agree with you here, is indeed a new direction and well thought out. The 'execution' however does concern me.

Dave

[Ernie Rodriguez]

Dave-Did you clean the chamber after 200/300 rounds of firing?? I run a non-metal brush through the bbl and chamber after 200/300 rounds to help reliability.By the way-Does the MG-2RF mdl call for std velocity or sub velocity rounds???Erod

[dnovo]

Yes. Cleaned the chamber completely. Could not find out what type of ammunition the gun is supposed to use. Help there would be appreciated since when the gun was working properly, I was VERY impressed. Dave

[Ernie Rodriguez]

Dave-I would stick with std vel or sub std velocity only-PROVIDING they function properly.The MG-2 is picky about what brand ammo it is reliable with. I found 3/4 brands of std vel ammo that works flawlessly in MY MG-2.Once you find the correct combination and keep the pistol clean-it will work perfectly.Hope this helps-Erod

[MG2-ist]

Hi, over there.
I have experienced similar problems during the break-in of my gun. A small piece of brass from a cartridge case had got stuck (firmly) under the extractor hook. This caused misfeeding, insufficient ectraction (and ejection), and hence stovepipes.
Remedy: remove the bolt, use a magnifying glass and inspect the ectractor. Remove any lodged brass fragments with a toothpicker (and bending the extractor outwards with your finger nail).

The brass fragment? A piece from a ruptured case? A fragment torn off a case by the new and sharpedged extractor claw? I do not know.
Removing the fragment improved the reliability.

It appears some of the problems that have plagued the MG2 is adressed to the ectractor. MatchGuns have just released a 3rd improved version of the extractor for the MG2.

Yes, I agree, Tycho. When the MG2 works fine, there is none better.

[Tycho]

Hm. Numero uno problem is usually the extractor/ejector combination, which must be why they changed that in the latest update. The newest version positions the cartridge about 2mm further forward, which seemingly solved a lot of problems.

Reading about your symptoms, I'd guess I see the reason why the 09/2006 upgrade includes new mainsprings, a new hammer and a new hammer spring, among other things. Do you have any idea when 21xx was delivered to the dealer, and if there were any updates made?

The barrel at least should be allright on a 21xx, the earliest series have to get their barrel hardened differently. It's too soft by factory.

Another thing I noticed this year, and which is only a problem with tubular mags, is the outer diameter of case rim. Beside the MG2, I'm playing around with my CM102E; the cradle of the 102E is a bit tighter than the one of the MG2, and this season I ran into some Fiocci that wouldn't cycle in the 102E, due to a case that wouldn't fit into the cradle. SK Standard worked fine, as usual. So I started to run trials, and the same Fiocchi gave me some trouble in the MG2, too; not as severe as in the 102, but a vertically standing cartridge now and then, which not only looks silly, but is a pain i.t.a. to get out. So while the MG2 seems to eat through everything in case of velocity, case dimensions could be an issue.

[dnovo]

Thanks. My friend is willing to swap me the gun for a target rifle I am selling and I will contact the US dealer and follow up on your comments. I helped him take the gun down and clean it up (the amount of dirt and general garbage from the first couple hundred rounds was substantial.) Perhaps that will help. The US dealer seems willing to work this out, and given how well it performed initially, I plan on taking a crack at making the gun right. Thank you again for your input. Dave

[dnovo]

Thanks. My friend is willing to swap me the gun for a target rifle I am selling and I will contact the US dealer and follow up on your comments. I helped him take the gun down and clean it up (the amount of dirt and general garbage from the first couple hundred rounds was substantial.) Perhaps that will help. The US dealer seems willing to work this out, and given how well it performed initially, I plan on taking a crack at making the gun right. Thank you again for your input. Dave

[Tycho]

:-)

[Mark Briggs]

Dave - I've found that high velocity ammo is more problematic than standard velocity ammo. I've not had a lot of problems, period. But when shooting really hot ammo I've had more problems than when using good standard velocity stuff. Mine likes Eley Target Pistol, PMC Scoremaster, Remington Target, Winchester T22, RWS250, and a few others I've forgotten. This is a good pistol. Feed it good ammo and I think you'll find you get better results overall.

[MG2-ist]

I had an outing with my rebuildt MG2 yesterday. Functionality was tested for different ammo types: some ok, but a few stoppages.

I tried some Lapua Championship, ca 1985 vintage. Loaded 5 rounds, and pulled the trigger. First shot ok. At the second discharge I noticed much gas blowing out from both sides of the gun. And there was a stoppage caused by the 3rd round not entering the chamber. I tried to chamber that round, but it refused.
Then I notices the castridge case, less most of the rim and bottom was ripped off the case. The remaining cylindrical part of the case was stuck in the chamber. A cleaning rod was used to clear the case from the chamber. The case-remnant did not stick hard in the chamber, surprisingly. (The chamber was reasonably clean, btw.)

I chambered the next round and pulled the trigger again. Same thing. I fired the remaining rounds, same thing happened with all firings.
At firing of the fifth round, the small "baseplate" of the case fell out of the action. I was able to recover another "baseplate" from the range floor.
Four out of five rounds had the case base torn off! Was this caused by the relatively soft brass of teh Lapua ammo? (I have had som GECO .22 ammo featuring brass-coloured, soft cases rupture at the extractor cutout, but this was different).

Then I changed to S&B tzekkian ommo (harder cases, I think), and the gun funtioned normally.
Anyone out there with similar experiences?

[Fred Mannis]

I don't think I would have had the fortitude to fire the remaining cartridges after the first event. :-)

[Vlad]

hi, i saw a picture of an standard MG-2 on the SAM site, the pistol is 21xx serial, and has the buffer for the slide, i tought that the buffer was there for the reduced mass rapid fire slide, does someone knows if there is concern about the standard's frame longevity, or it is there for manufacturing simplicity?

thanks

Vlad[/img]

[Tycho]

I know that there were some problems with the first RF slides. I hope they have been solved, as my RF should be shipped in the next days. The rubber buffer seems to be standard nowadays, it's part of the regular 09/2006 update and included with both types of slide. They also changed the springs and put in another hammer which I suspect is slowing down the slide. But don't ask me why, my first series (without 09/2006 update) still works pretty good, the only new thing is the hardened barrel end - the earliest ones were too soft... Haven't heard any complains about the frame 'til now - must be the only part that actually works... on the other hand, let's wait for the .32...