THE MG-42 / 10-22 DRESS-UP KIT FROM CHEROKEE ACCESSORIES

By Jeff W. Zimba

What the heck is Krieg Hahn? It is a new column that will be appearing in Small Arms Review that goes back to the beginning of many of our passions for military style firearms. The focus of this new column will be the semi-auto military style firearms than many of us owned before making the jump to Class III ownership. We will cover the obvious, such as AR-15’s, AKS’s, Mini-14’s, L1A1’s, M1A’s etc as well as those lesser known. We will gather information on their available accessories, ammunition options, detailed breakdowns, production numbers, and even pre-post ban lists when available. For many of these firearms, the pricing and availability is something many of us in the Class III world barely remember and many newcomers only dream about. Some enthusiasts haven’t made the step to Class III ownership because it is becoming very expensive, even at entry level. Others have not taken the step because they do not have a choice as laws in some States prohibit ownership. Many of us still collect these guns as well as their full auto big brothers and this column will be a source for information relating to them. I hope you like it. – Jeff

This initial column deals with an accessory that transforms a fairly common, somewhat traditional “sporting” rifle into something a little more fun to shoot and certainly more fun to look at. It is called the MG-42 Dress-Up Kit for the Ruger 10-22 from Cherokee Accessories.

The Ruger 10-22 itself is an excellent addition to any firearms collection for several reasons: It is a proven design that functions great. It is very inexpensive to shoot. There are several accessories available for it including high capacity magazines, match barrels, trigger systems and several stock designs. At this writing, the manufacturers suggested retail for the Ruger 10/22 is $235.00 and they are available almost everywhere. Now we have that established, let’s get back to the accessory at hand.

The MG-42 Dress up kit is a very well made, polymer stock kit for an otherwise factory rifle. It transforms the common 10-22 to something that looks very much like the German MG-42 machine gun. No permanent modifications are necessary so it may be brought back to its factory appearance with little difficulty (If you ever really wanted to). The kit doesn’t change the functioning at all and utilizes the original trigger system and barrel.

After I received the kit from Cherokee and installed it, the first comment uttered from the lips most who handled it was an immediate “How much?” The second most popular statement was “this is a 10-22?” All who saw it decided they should probably have one in their collection, and many are now on the hunt for a used rifle to accessorize.

The new stock is comfortable and the fit on the rifle is top notch. Everything on the kit is very tight and nothing rattles or makes any foreign noise at all. It doesn’t hinder the use of any high capacity magazine I could think of and still allows the use of the 10 round rotary magazine from the factory. The factory magazine release is utilized with this kit and the function remains unchanged and comfortable to use. It can be used with a select fire 10-22 rifle and the degree of difficulty in fitting the stock would vary by the type of conversion. As for use of a suppressed rifle, some serious opening of the interior of the barrel shroud would be necessary and at least one screw in the new rear sight assembly would need to be shortened. Use of a Harris style bipod is optional by installing a sling stud in the pre-drilled barrel shroud.

The sights on the kit are completely adjustable for both windage and elevation. They are useful, but quite basic in comparison to the original factory sights, which must be removed with a drift punch prior to installation of the kit.

Installation of the MG-42 dress-up kit.

Remove the magazine and make sure the firearm is unloaded. The factory stock must be removed. Remove the barrel band.

•1: Turn the rifle upside down and unscrew the receiver screw in front of the magazine well.

•2: Before the stock can be removed, the safety must be placed in a position halfway between safe and fire in order to fit through the stock. (Use caution handling the receiver outside of the factory stock as it utilizes a few cross pins that are prone to fall out as they are held in place by the stock.)

•3: Using a brass punch, remove both the front and rear sights from the factory barrel. It may not even hurt to remove these sights while the action is still in the stock to further prevent those cross pins from falling from the receiver as noted above.

•4: Remove the magazine catch pin and replace it with the longer one supplied with the kit.

•5: Place “push nuts” on each side of the longer pin.

•6: Remove the recoil cross pin at the rear of the receiver.

•7: Slide the receiver into the rear stock portion of the dress-up kit. Use caution when sliding past the push nuts, as the fit is exceptionally tight. When the receiver is all the way inside the new stock the recoil cross pin hole in the receiver will line up with a corresponding hole in the stock.

•8: Insert the longer, internally threaded pin supplied with kit through the recoil cross pin hole.

•9: Place an Allen head screw with lock washer in each side of the new recoil cross pin. •10: Attach the rear sight base on the barrel shroud with Allen head screws from inside of shroud.

•11: Secure front of rear sight with Allen head screw.

•12: Attach screw and spring in center of rear sight. This is the elevation adjustment screw.

•13: Install front sight with Allen head screw and snap half-moon ring on opposite side. This holds the screw in place causing the front sight to slide side to side while turning it for windage adjustment. Slide the barrel shroud over the barrel and rotate to allow the factory front sight base to pass through.

•14: Rotate back to upright position and align hole in shroud with original receiver screw hole and insert new receiver screw. The kit is now completely installed.

For less than two percent of the cost of a transferable MG-42 you can have this functional “look alike” in your collection. As a matter of fact, the left side of the receiver is built so it will accept a short belt of linked .223 blanks for an even more “militaristic” look.

I like the MG-42 dress-up kit and would recommend it to any fellow firearms enthusiast who would like to dress up their 10/22. It was an immediate hit with all who came in contact with it and even sparked the interest of a few who never owned any type of firearm other than traditional hunting rifles. The assembly was easy and the necessity, prior gunsmithing knowledge was minimal. As with any job though, having the right tools makes the job easier. The MG-42 Dress-up kit is available from Cherokee Accessories for $139.00. Cherokee Accessories