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Genuine MG 34 Patronentrommel double drum


maxfaxdude
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It's finally here.

 

With a lot of help from Dan Shea here and Greg Felton in the UK, I was finally able to import a genuine MG34 Patronentrommel double drum from England into the U.S.

 

It was not easy and the whole process took over 1 year!

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Yes, very nice.

what do you need....the tray/winder/loader, the top cover, maybe a new latch for this one (it may be an MG15 latch and won't clear the cover), then maybe you go down the rabbit hole and get the AA tripod. If you're real seriously deranged you get a second one and the two drum carrier and spend the rest of your life looking for bench style loader?

Some days I can't believe I went all in on that stuff, but the thrill of the hunt is all consuming! Nice find, there were a couple making the rounds last year but I was unable to connect on one, but I don't recall them being this nice?

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Yes, very nice.

what do you need....the tray/winder/loader, the top cover, maybe a new latch for this one (it may be an MG15 latch and won't clear the cover), then maybe you go down the rabbit hole and get the AA tripod. If you're real seriously deranged you get a second one and the two drum carrier and spend the rest of your life looking for bench style loader?

Some days I can't believe I went all in on that stuff, but the thrill of the hunt is all consuming! Nice find, there were a couple making the rounds last year but I was unable to connect on one, but I don't recall them being this nice?

I have a genuine German WWII top cover (repros are out there), 2 winding keys and the bench top loader as well. I don't have the special key winder yet that is used to make adjustments to the spring tension -- still looking for that one! If anyone has one or know of one for sale, please let me know!

 

I will post more photos of all that I have this weekend.

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2 Trommelhalter top covers used for the Patronentrommel 34 (Genuine WW2 German production on the top. Reproduction on the bottom). The genuine German top cover appears to be better machined of higher quality steel.

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Genuine WW2 German. Notice the Waffenamts have been obliterated. Many of these reportedly came out of Eastern Europe.

 

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Typical German preoccupation with serializing everything:

 

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The Patronentrommel 34 double drum fits very snugly but nicely into the Trommelhalter top cover. The drum needs to be rotated into and out of place and this takes some getting used to.

 

 

 

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I've also got a Patronentrommel 13 for my MG13. The thumb-actuated loader works on this drum as well. Also notice that the back is similar to the Patronentrommel 34 which allows for spring tension adjustment with special adjusting key.

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Edited by maxfaxdude
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Here's my collection of German double drums with accessories including 2 Patronentrommel 15 double drums which are quite common in the U.S.

 

Notice the two drum winding keys to each side of the the MG13 charger guide in the middle.

 

 

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What I'm still looking for is the Stellschlüssel which is the winding key pictured below that allows you to adjust the tension on the Patronentrommel 13 and 34. (This cannot be done on the Patronentrommel 15).

 

 

 

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Very nice. Congrats! I think a saw that drum on a UK website some time ago: it was quite expensive but very rare and very nice, nearly impossible to find.

A bought one 15 years ago, not as nice, i traded mine with Reidar Dae and you can see it on his website

Best regards

Pierre

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Thank you all for the compliments.

 

It took a lot of time and money to assembly this collection....not to mention some legal trouble.

 

Importing the MG34 Patronentrommel double drum almost didn't happen as the seller tried to export it out of the UK without an export permit -- a Big No No!

 

UK Border Force confiscated the magazine and it took over 550 British Pounds in fines and 9 months to get back. Luckily, no one went to jail. But the seller got a very stern warning from the British government.

 

Dan Shea (of SAR) and Greg Felton (a well known UK arms importer-exporter) were instrumental in making the UK export/US import happen and at a very reasonable price I might add!

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It gets quite addictive. I had/have no intentions of getting into aircraft guns, yet back in the day I couldn't resist buying 3 sets of PT-15 drums in carriers for $400 a set at the creek. Why....the craftsmanship and I figured I'd use them in a 34 someday....and the price, seemed like such a deal! Some bits and pieces in the pics. A few repro items as well acquired in group purchases.

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It gets quite addictive. I had/have no intentions of getting into aircraft guns, yet back in the day I couldn't resist buying 3 sets of PT-15 drums in carriers for $400 a set at the creek. Why....the craftsmanship and I figured I'd use them in a 34 someday....and the price, seemed like such a deal! Some bits and pieces in the pics. A few repro items as well acquired in group purchases.

Nice collection sir!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I had an original top cover and a real MG34 drum. Sold the drum for $6k and the top cover for $2.2k about 10 years ago when I sold my C&R MG34. It all worked like a charm and DT15 drums also worked perfectly too. I even had the loader assembly with the wood base and winder as you have pictured. I had the winding keys too. Sold it all to Ryan Schnee including a minty 34 lafette, a Portuguese parts kit and a panzermantel front end. The MG34 sure had a lot of bits and pieces to collect.

 

Cincylance

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I had an original top cover and a real MG34 drum. Sold the drum for $6k and the top cover for $2.2k about 10 years ago when I sold my C&R MG34. It all worked like a charm and DT15 drums also worked perfectly too. I even had the loader assembly with the wood base and winder as you have pictured. I had the winding keys too. Sold it all to Ryan Schnee including a minty 34 lafette, a Portuguese parts kit and a panzermantel front end. The MG34 sure had a lot of bits and pieces to collect.

 

Cincylance

The top cover Trommelhalter was $1750 about 1 year ago. I bought the Patronentrommel 34 for ~ $5200 in Jan 2020. Regardless of the money and time involved, it's definitely an addiction! I've heard that Ryan is a very big collector of this stuff as well.

 

And a very big thanks to JohnsonLMG41 for getting me the lead on the winding/adjustment key for the double drum which I was able to purchase from AAS in France!

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