closed bolt and open bolt conversion

[drw]

Saturday, I was able to fire my Uzi for the first time..,, The form 4 should have been mailed today. Life is getting better. Mine is a full auto, RR, IMA model A, which fires from a closed bolt
This raised eyebrows amongst the Vector owners where we were shooting. A few commented about the first shot accuracy and longer range first shot accuracy potential of this gun. It is also much faster. Close to MAC speed.
This is my first SMG and while waiting for the form 3, I had purchased an open bolt spare parts kit. I have seen several responses to other posts indicating that an open bolt/closed bolt conversion is possible. This would only add to the fun! I would appreciate any information or links.

thanks,
Daryl

[RoverDave]

Since most guys have open bolt guns, everyone is interested or at least curious about closed bolt guns so I'm sure the Vector guys did want to have a look. An open bolt conversion would slow it down significantly and should be possible. I know converting a closed bolt Mini to open bolt is basically drop in parts and the same should be true for the full size UZI. Finding a closed bolt for a full size is the hard part and you alread have that.

The thing to watch out for are the legalities. Since your gun is a registered receiver, it would have been okay to remove the bolt blocking bar. Has it been removed? If not, then you would need an open bolt with a slot cut in it to work. That's a problem because an unregistered open bolt with a slot cut is illegal. If your blocking bar has been removed, then you could use an unmodified open bolt. BUT, you'll have to make sure that the closed bolt in the gun now is not some configuration that would be illegal to remove from the gun. It should be okay but you should make sure.

If the legalities can be dealt with, you'll get a lot of fun out of having both open and closed bolts.

[drw]

thanks RoverDave for the information. How do I find out if my Uzi
can be legally modified to use an open bolt? Is it supposed to be specified on the form 4?
I have reviewed the illustrations in the tech section and couldn't find a reference to the bolt blocking bar.

[JClem555]

There was some discussion on this topic here:

http://www.uzitalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2056

There is also a picture in that thread of a receiver with the blocking bar removed. If the bar is gone already, then it was a straight up RR conversion. If you look at a semi bolt, there is a very distinctively different slot cut into the right side, running from the opening where the bolt face is, all the way to the back of the bolt. The blocking bar is a small rectangular bar welded into the right back side of the receiver, inside. It will be obvious if it is there.

See a bolt comparison here:

http://www.uzitalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1445

[drw]

Thanks JClem555

The removal of the receiver block was addressed by MadMike to allow the use of the SMG bolt in the reg. receiver. Has anyone here had the modification done and how much did it cost? I cannot recall if my gun has the block or not. There is another excuse to go see my FFL/C3.

thanks again,
Daryl

[treedawg]

I spoke to mike reguarding the removal of the blocking rail and bringing my "B" up to proper SMG specs and he , quoted me ~$450.00. This price also included refinishing the gun since it would be necessary after heat treating.

TD

[dustindu4]

heat treating makes me feel warm and fuzzy

[DAN]

I would like to see what a bolt for a full auto closed bolt looks like. Could you post some pics of the bolt?

[drw]

Sorry Dan, I don't have a digital camera or the knowledge to post them if I did!

Daryl