Hudson PPSH conversion to standard blanks ?

[Hauser]

Hi i have just bought off a fellow reenactor a Hudson PPSH and i wondered if anyone has had any experience changing a Hudson pfc ? PPSH blank fire, to a standard sort of blank ? firstly i have no knowledge on types of blanks, but i am a mechanical engineer with a lathe and a milling machine access, so i have no problems beefing up the Hudson, and re chambering to suit a different cartridge, I have scoured the Internet and found a few pages on how poor the cartridge eject rail assembly is, but apart from that and a few you tube videos nothing. So is there a straight replacement standard blank for the Hudson Style 7.62 PFC cap system avalable ? thanks Rich

[ringer]

not even slightly possible

Ive built a few 9mm blank PPSH41s now and the only bits you can use from a Hudson are :

Steel barrel shroud
Rear sight
Stock
flippy mag catch part (not the actual catch)

you cant even use the mags but real drum mags are cheap ish.

the rest you have to make from scratch ( and is the reason Im not making any more )

best of luck as they are fun to fire
( although the ammo costs are huge due to ROF )

edit : about £20 every 4 seconds

[Hauser]

Hi Ringer thanks for low down ! well i could machine everything forward of the wooden stock if nessasary.... as i have access to a full workshop, but i bow to your wisdom.... and it looks like i need to go down the PFC Route, prob a lot cheaper ? i aint seen a 7.62 PFC round fire, so im off to you tube to see if i can find one in action ! thanks again for your imput Ringer

[GraemeMac]

I wouldn't bother with with PFC's....

As for machining, for the guts/chamber/barrel, etc aye. Remember the receivers and heatshield(one thing!), are stamped on the real one. Difficult to replicate otherwise.

There is an airsoft(Hexagon productions) ppsh that I was curious if its upper receiver could be used as a doner or not.

[ringer]

well sorry for yet more bad news........

7.62 PFC rounds are no longer available plus they are pointless for re-enactment

1) they make about as much noise as a small child farting
2) they were ( when available ) considerably more expensive than blank plus you`d have to pick the buggers up ....like looking for brass things in a sea of brass things !

if you can get some rounds they`ll be fine for a firing display on your stand (wont frighten the public )

or you could get one of those gas firing conversions fitted to your 41

not great solutions sorry and I really wish I could put a positive spin to end this post .......

I like what you`ve done with your hair ?

[ringer]

The airsoft ones ... although the blurb says " made with steel upper " you will find its that weird kind of steel thats about as hard as chocolate and about .5mm thick

certainly not the sort of thing Id want to be firing 9mm blanks with..

If you really want to fire blanks you have to bite the bullet ( sorry awful pun) and get machining.

like Graeme says the receivers were pressed and you can either make a template and bend some 2mm over them or machine it from a solid block.

the easiest bit to make is the trigger housing as you can use box section ...the magwell is a bastard

[Hauser]

Plan B boys ??? what about turning some brass reusable cartridges ?? eh that can possibly be refilled or take a smaller ...wait for it 22 blank or 8mm blank ? anyone gone down that route ?


added ... say turn some cartridges the same as a hudson PFC then machine them up so you can slide an 8mm into the round into it.

[ringer]

a good idea although an 8mm blank would destroy the Hudson pesh still ... .22 long blank is possibly a more suitable round ...however I have seen the Hudsons break with even the PFC rounds ( the pot metal really is crap )

Id really only use the Hudson from PFC demos or a gas conversion because anything else is going to break it ( roughly where the ejection port is ) and you will have spent some time and effort to end up with a pile of junk.

Trust me ...if it was easy ...everyone would have one





edit ..Im now off to get drunk as its friday night and ....... well its friday night !!

[Hauser]

Yup i understand but sometimes we miss the easy way even if its staring us in the face ...say i turned up a blank 7.62 STEEL cartridge ...and its shrouded the blank round in steel, the gun dont need modifying, if you smacked the round in the cartridge alone with a nail (joking) it would contain the blank energy, hence problem sorted, why would the gun need modding ?? 22 blanks would leave a VERY meaty wall to the cartridge ...what do you think ?


a box of 200 .22mm LR blanks £15.00 bloody hell there cheap as chips !

[nelz]

As ringer said , apart from various parts having to be newly manufactured and various bits machined to take the power of a decent blank , there is the issue of tuning the gun, the venting,mag feed, possibly changing the bolt spring type etc,... there is a lot to consider, not an easy task by any standards, especially if you have not done a conversion before.

Best of luck anyway.

[Hauser]

Nelz its apprecated your comments and im taking on board, thanks for sharing your skills with me ..! looks like im going to be burning some midnight oil in the workshop .....bugger me .22 LR blanks are cheap ! now found 200 for £12 it gets better buy the min ....anyway thanks again for your input regards Rich

[ringer]

Yes but the point that is being missed here is that the energy from the .22 blank will need to be used to allow the weapon to recoil (unless you are just building a single shot weapon ) , in order to do this you will have to have the venting spot on from the word go ..too large a vent and the gun just wont recoil ...too small a vent will cause too much pressure inside the gun and the bang will be the sound of it breaking in two ...

A .22 blank will produce more energy than the original pfc caps so the recoil spring wont be sufficient ... if you add a stronger spring then you are increasing the strain between the rear end of the lower receiver and the chamber and the gun will break just behind the wider part of the magwell as it tries to push itself apart.

Steel has a certain amount of "give" in it ... the pot metal ( esp from Hudson) is brittle and has no give whatsoever.

buy hey ..learning things for yourself is part of the process of life so go for it.


edit : Oh and the zinc bolts (breech block) are really brittle too and snap in half quite easily ...
another edit : and also , just behind the face of the bolt there is a piece of carbon steel inserted ( and not removable) to prevent people from adding a firing pin to them

[Hauser]

Ringer its apprecated you taking the time to respond to my questions ...however stupid they sound, i suppose a single shot 22 LR would be better than bugger all ...! LOL your 100% on the venting energy has got to go some where? too much and the bolts going to hit the back of the receiver like a hilti gun going off ?? so option is put all the venting down a pegged barrel ? and just manually "cock and fire" so no blowback sys is used, then its down to how quick you can cycle the weapon, and not having a long stroke locking bolt, but a short, cock in a second gun..! i would think you could use it ok ...but who know's its a suck it and see job ?? but again thanks for your skilled input, thanks Rich

[meyer]

edited co's i can't be borthered

[Hauser]

Noted not much info avalable on the Hudson, PPSH