AGM MP007 (MP40) review (no pics yet)

SpitfireIV

Hi

No pics this time I'm afraid, perhaps I'll add some later when I get more time (damn college work!! :mad:)

Anyway, just thought I'd put down a review of the AGM MP007 aka. MP40.


Had this gun a day now, have looked over every inch of it, used it, tested it, etc etc, so I'm pretty confident I can give a good review of it. First off, I got this gun off MIA, the sale was grand, no issues at all and fast enough postage.

Being a WW2 buff and after seeing many war movies in my youth the MP40 was one of those guns that 'stood out', whether it be 'Where Eagles Dare' or 'A Bridge too Far', the MP40 had a pretty unique, if not somewhat ugly look off it, so, I had to satisfy my curiousity and get myself one


Package
The package comes with the MP40 (of course) one low cap magazine, a speed loader, battery, charger, cleaning rod and instruction manual.


The Gun
The gun itself is pretty heafty! Not as heavy as its real steel counterpart, but never the less very heavy, about 80% of this guns construction is metal! With the side panels and grips being plastic.

The gun features a folding skeleton stock (which I'll come back to later) which is a nice feature, and allows for more rapid firing from the hip (with the stock folded) and aimed, more precise shots when the stock is extended.

As I mentioned, there is a lot of metal in this gun! Most of it in fact being stamped steel, the top reciever certainly is, the lower may be white metal or some such, but its metal! The barrell is actually pretty nice and feels substantial it seems to be turned steel, so you can really feel the solidness in that. The front sight assembly is nicely done too, nice detail up there. There are faux seem lines with weld marks down along the front, middle section of some of the parts to simulate the construction technique of the real steel gun. The only marking are on the mag. Right side says 'M.P. 41' and 'PATENT SCHMEISSER' and on the left it says 'M.P.38u.40.' Thats it, no inspection stamps, no manufactures marks or dates to be seen anywhere unfortunately.

The finish is a satin type paint finish, its nice with maybe a few blemishes, but its only a paint job, so will scrath, mark etc.

The guns safety is a power switch located on the bottom of the pistol grip. Yeah, does the job, but I'm contemplating getting rid of it, just joing the wires direct and filling up the hole.

As I mentioned, the gun is pretty heavy, I was surprised, and after a while you'd know you were carrying it, its so heavy in fact that I almost find it awkward after a little while to manage, the weight isnt evenly spread, seems to be more front heavy, and as the pistol grip is so far back it makes for uncomfortable holding unless you are holding it by the forward grip or magazine (who remembers Clint Eastwood in 'Where Eagles Dare', 2 MP40's, shooting them at the same time :rolleyes::p) but perhaps I am more used to my steyr where the grip is situated more so in the middle of the gun.


Shooting
Accuracy on mine was pretty good, with the '200m' battle sight flipped up and aiming at targets at approx 15m away it was pretty much dead on and was spraying shots pretty well into a tree 30m or so away. The box says 'effective long range shooting 60-70m'.....ermmm.....that might be a bit excessive, 30m seemed good, but after that the shots were falling rapidly. The hop up is easily adjusted, pulling back the cocking handle opens the 'ejection port' revealing an easy to use sliding hop up system.





Ok, now, this is where I start bitching, so be warned :pac:

The folding stock! Nice feature as I mentioned, but its construction is horrid! Its loose, rattly, locks into place when both extended and folded, but still it shakes and wobbles about loosely. May need some work to strenghten it up.

The plastic side panel and grips feel thin and perhaps a little cheap, real steel MP40's would have had bakelitte side panels and grips, of either a brown or black color, but these grips and panel are straight black, so I'll have to try out the 'fake bake' process. They too need work!

While we're on the sidepanels, that nasty 'fire selector' switch , shouldnt be there. That will have to go when the fake bake process starts. The gun can in fact fire single shots even when set to full auto, you just have to be careful with your trigger pulls.

The mag wont stay in my gun, it'll click into place, but if you wobble the gun, or shake it lightly, out she falls :rolleyes:, not very practical should you be using it 'in the field', but perhaps its something simple, ie the mag catch needs looking at. I cant pick up the gun but the mag falls out, its annoying! :mad:

Again with the mag, its only a low cap, 50 rounds which wastes very quick! So quick in fact that its hard to believe you've fired off 50........but wait, you havent, because when ever I remove my mag there's always three bb's sitting loose on top of the mag! :mad: What the hell?! These usually fall onto the ground when I take the mag out unless I'm careful!

There are some cross head screws in places on this gun (just counted, 7 in fact) which look very out of place!! And dont fit in with the historical contect of the gun! Might try find some suitable slot head screws to replace them, they're buggin me!

The cocking handle only goes back about an inch and a half, just enough to open the election port, then a piece of metal prevents it from going back further, but I believe this piece of metal can be removed to allow the cocking handle to go right back and up into the 'safe' posistion.


Overall, hmm......not terribly impressed with this gun its ok, I like it, but maybe I was expecting more from it, maybe after I do a little work on it, fake bake, age it, etc it'll appeal to me more.

Pro's
- Nice weight
- Some nice detail and construction (in places)
- Pretty accurate out to 15/20m
- Nice gun for WW2 enthusiasts/historical weapons enthusiasts

Con's
- Shaky skeleton stock
- Lack of markings
- Cross head screws! (:()
- Plastic side panels and grips need work
- Fire selector switch

SpitfireIV

Ok, heres some pics, finally got around to taking some and doing some work on this gun.

As mentioned in the above post there were some issues with this piece, some I've sorted, some I havent, but since I've aged her a bit I'm a lot happier with it. Sure, its not really a skirmish piece, but for a wall hanger, or a representation of an historic piece its great!

Before pics:






After pics:

SpitfireIV

'Fake Bake':



As you can see from the 'before' pics the side panels and grips were straight black, a satin finish, which, of course is not 'historically' correct (if you care that is ). A 'bakelitte' version is availible (often incorrectly referred to as a 'wood version') but even still it doesnt look like the real deal. Original MP38/40's would have had either a brown or black bakelitte side panel and grips, with the latter color usually more commonly seen in later war MP40's. Bakelitte has a distingtive 'mottled' finish when you look at it closely and the shades of brown can vary as well as texture, from a woodgrain effect to a mottled effect.

After looking about the net at real steel MP40's and viewing other attempts and descriptions of the fake bake process I just had to give it a try . The panels and grips were removed. The fire selector switch removed and the holes filled, I got a file at the corners to add a few 'battle scars' and general knocks and bumps, then all the parts were given a light sanding down. A primer applied, then a couple of layers of a chocolate brown color. Then with acrylic paints I mixed up a number of colors, the first was a dark scarlett, this was then dabbed on with a piece of crunched up newspaper. Over this I appled a yellowish brown, again, applied with the same method. Over this again I applied a dark brown/burnt umber, and then on top of this was a black. The layers were added one after the other while still wet, so they sort of blended into each other. Its really just a case of trial and error and getting a look that you are happy with.

With the colors applied I added 3-4 coats of spray varnish, a satin finish to protect the pieces.




Internal work:






As you can see from the before pics, you can see the blue battery pack through the bolt slot. I removed some of the metal which was blocking this slot, so now, it looks as if the bolt can be put up into the 'safe' notch (even though it cant), I also cut the slot back further, as per the real steel.

To cover up the gear box and battery I got a piece of aluminium pipe, cut it along the lenght and then it simply slided over the gearbox with a tight grip and was just large enough to cover the battery too. Its very secure, allows the reciver to slide on over it and still allows the bolt handle to be worked! It looks somewhat accurate too as the real steel MP40 had a telescopic bolt, so in a way you would see a tube through the slot, but just a number of tubes fitting into each other.



Markings:




Tried adding a couple of markings, but I guess I havent got the right equipment, or a steady hand . Anyway, what I was trying to get was:

MP40
ayf 42

ayf is the production code for ERMA and 42 the production year.

SpitfireIV

Some random images:

All the original paintwork was removed with paint strippers. It was litterly bet with a hammer then and any other hard blunt object I could find paying particular attention to the corners, raised areas or areas which were likely to get abuse and wear. All these marks and knocks were then sanded down until smooth with wet and dry paper. When a knock or blow happens it has sharp, clean corners, but obviously over time and with handling these wear down and become smooth. A lot of seam lines and mold marks were also ground down and smoothed over.

The parts were sprayed with a matt black, then given a light coating of brown, I wanted to get a bit of a patina going, make it look as if it had been 'sleeping' for 60 years. This finish was worked with 0000 wire wool to reveal the high points and in areas remove the brown to leave just the black. When I was happy with it the finish was sealed to protect it.