Armory Sponsor
Posted: 11/2/2013 4:04:27 PM EDT
|
It's official; I'm re-watting my RPG 2. My form 1 came back.
I can't start on it for a while yet, I'm overseas working, but the project is a go. Anybody load and shoot their RPG2? (or will I be alone :-) ). |
|
A friend found a "friendly" dewat RPG2 that was brought back from Vietnam and donated to a local museum. When the museum got rid of a bunch of duplicates, the RPG2 and a bunch of inert B40 rockets went on the market. I think in 1984.......My friend bought it and found it was still brand new and only covered with slimy grease which was coated with dust, dirt and other crap........he soaked it in a parks washer in his shop and it emerged gleaming..
The dewat process was a slug of lead poured in the bore over what looked like bamboo............and it was missing the firing pin. He Form 1éd it and melted out the lead and looked for firing pin, and ended up finding some parts out of E.A. Wilke in Canada in 1989............................Form 1 took 45 days back then! He had a guy in Florida who was molding black plastic training guns mold a copy of the B40 projectile and used model rocket engines......................a Navy EoD tech with the Mobile unit at Ft Story in Virginia Beach helped him put one together and fired it on the old Virginia Beach Police Firing Range in Creeds/Pungo.................which is an old drag strip/WW2 landing field. He fired a couple rounds and the molded rocket body got so mashed up he stopped building them. He used sheet metal fins that had a mousetrap style spring to deploy them. He has an old VHS tape of them firing it, but it would have to be converted to digital. You can do it, and B40 rockets are fairly plentiful in inert form............I know he was going to experiment with Bird Bomb style stab primers in the nose so the round would shoot dye powder out the back, but I think he lost interest. Sights are very crude compared to the RPG7, but fun just the same............if you have skills, you can make a subcaliber tube and fire model rockets out of it................................Good luck on your project and come home safe! 
|
|
Mine has a 'standard' demil, pinned bore through the firing pin hole, and a big hole under the heat shield. The firing pins are the same between the '2 and the '7, and I already have some replacement firing pins to install. I would LOVE to find one with a weak demil, though :-)
The PG2 uses a straight black powder launch charge, with no sustainer rocket, so making authentic launch charges should be easy and straight forward. Unless I can find some very cheap original projectiles, I will be making my own projectiles. The plan as of this moment is to make a mold of one of my original shaped charge warhead sections, and cast a dense foam 'nerf' warhead that looks authentic from a few feet away. I want them to be weighted correctly, and the launch charge correct so the projectile flies correctly and matches the range calibration on the sights. If I can fire them two or three times before they are damaged beyond repair, I will be happy. I will make the tailboom, fin assembly and launch charge cartridge. An important part of the 're-mil' will be finding a ninja welder to close up the hole in the side, as I like my head, and I would like to fire it from my shoulder. If anyone knows a qualified welder and/or a ninja machinist in Arizona, it would be helpful. Bonus points if they speak NFA. It occurred to me that the RPG2 and Panzerfaust are very similar, is there anyone out there shooting Panzerfaust? Edited to add: I already have a few projectiles, but if anybody knows of a source of additional projectiles, I'd appreciate it. The projectiles I have now are missing the section at the rear with the primer... so I especially would like a projectile with the primer section intact. Also looking for accessories like the backpack projectile carrier. |
|
I always use someone who is a certified nuclear or aerospace welder.
I have access to a few of both since there are many Navy trained folks in my area. A friend had a Pakistani RPG 7 launcher reactivated after BATFE approved his Form 1, and he had the hole dressed with a mill and then a replacement slug milled by CNC. He said the Factory RPG7 launcher tube was actually different tubes joined together. His welder was a custom motorcyle welder/fabricator..................and he had a machinist friend who line bored the ID of the tube to specs........................ He has never fired it other than with the rifle subcaliber kit/unit from Poland.............................he said it is not a hard job to do, but a Nuke or Aerospace welder will magnaflux their work and make sure the tube does not get out of spec or develop hard/soft spots or cracks.............. Good luck on your project.........sounds interesting. |
| Any decent welder could do the job, personally I would machine a brass rod and press it into place under the hole, use the brass rod as a backer so the weld will conform to the tube. Make your patch an eighth of an inch or so smaller than the hole and use weld to complete it. Are rpg-2's chrome lined? |
|
I'm pretty sure it's chrome lined, I'll have to look when I get home. After I have it welded, I'm going to do a few jumbo proof loads. I'd really hate to have it give while I was shooting it, I'm certain it would not be survivable. My consultation with said ninja welder will guide me to the best solution for plugging the hole. Since the hole is under the heat shield, I have also considered an external reinforcement over the patch, and buy a second set of heat shields and relieve the area inside the heat shields to clear the reinforcement.
There are also some RPG2s that have been imported that have the bore sized inerting hole poked in the front half of the launcher (exposed), I thought about buying one of those and I could chop the both RPG2s in half, and weld the hole-less front of mine to the hole-less back of another... but I think that might be an extra $900 that I don't need to spend. I'm looking for a more intact PG2 grenade than I have now. If anybody knows where I can find one, I'd appreciate the tip...or even just a tail boom with the primer section intact. 
This is the RPG2 in question, I don't have a better picture of it with me. A photographer friend used it as a prop in a photo shoot. 
Just in case anybody knows, I'm looking for the following info: -Projectile weight, either the projectile by itself, the launch charge by itself, both together, or whatever I can get. -Muzzle velocity for a standard projectile -Launch charge weight and grain size -Thread pitch and diameter of the nub the launch motor screws on to |
Armory Sponsor