Suomi Drum / M11 (RO) Conversion

[strobro32]

Does Centerfire have the best price on the drums?

Best price I've found. If you find better let me know.

Do you own a Suomi or are you going to join the build?

[chili17]

you people better not be buying all my drums. Some of us have suomis and m45s

[Vegas SMG]

Don't worry, I'm not 'gonna hack up or modify any drums. I just need some drums to compliment the collection of unmodified 36 round stick mags I own.

Now who has the best deal on coffin mags? Best price I've found is fifty bucks each. I promise I won't hi-jack the thread after this question.

[Inkfidel]

............ where's your coffing mag source?

[Vegas SMG]

............ where's your coffing mag source?

Ohio Ordnance Works has them. I think you can do better on price, but I can't say where. http://www.ohioordnanceworks.com/Parts/Magazines.cat

strobro32; Thanks for the price check. I just ordered half a dozen M-31 drums from Centerfire.
http://www.centerfiresystems.com/M31DRUM.aspx

I should know better than to sell gun stuff. I had a bunch of nice drums including one with matching numbers. I also had four coffin mags in the original leather pouch. The good news is the drums are cheaper today than several years ago. The bad news is the coffin mags are more expensive.

Thanks for indulging me in a few off topic questions. Any further discussion should be focused on modifying Suomi drums.

[strobro32]

Ok version 4.2 of the double Suomi drum contains a solution that seems promising. I've gotten the number of dummy rounds to 18. I think there is enough spring force to push them to the bolt. I will chalk the files and kick start the Dremel this week.

[medphys]

That's good to hear. I finished tack welding mine up tonight with a 20 degree tower angle. Hopefully this along with 4 3/4 - 5 turns on the spring, will take care of the nose diving.

[tyromeo55]

Well, I got my drum in and other then being greasy it looks great. I'm going to finish my reloading room before I get started on it but I cant wait. Dumb question time:... Are the drums intended to be loaded with the lid off or from the top like a regular mag? I've never owned a drum of any kind

[medphys]

Cover off.

Here is a nice tutorial:
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/pdf/mpa971carbine.pdf

[strobro32]

Here is a good link on taking the drums apart for cleaning.
http://uzitalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26742

Here is a downloadable PDF manual for loading the drums with good pictures.
http://www.icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/f...5/IC-M31um.pdf

[medphys]

Here is a downloadable PDF manual for loading the drums with good pictures.
http://www.icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/f...5/IC-M31um.pdf

I think your mind is on boating, as is mine

[strobro32]

Oops. My bad. Here is the Suomi loading manual PDF.
http://www.tnguns.com/shop/manuals/m...l_halfsize.pdf

[Vegas SMG]

For those of you engaged in the drum build...

I had my hands on a M11/9 Suomi drum conversion a couple of years ago. It utilized a plastic block inside the feed tower rather than a piece of steel to keep the rounds in a single feed configuration. I think it was a SCA build but the owner didn't know for sure. It was pinned in from the side of the magazine. A small slab of plastic or nylon may help the rounds slide up the tower easier than steel. Just an idea to help you guys building these drums.

[chili17]

For those of you engaged in the drum build...

I had my hands on a M11/9 Suomi drum conversion a couple of years ago. It utilized a plastic block inside the feed tower rather than a piece of steel to keep the rounds in a single feed configuration. I think it was a SCA build but the owner didn't know for sure. It was pinned in from the side of the magazine. A small slab of plastic or nylon may help the rounds slide up the tower easier than steel. Just an idea to help you guys building these drums.

Hah! Never knew that. All the ones I saw were metal. I used a peice of a plastic kitchen prep board (thick plastic cutting board) when I did mine

[Vegas SMG]

I don't know for sure that it was a SCA drum, but it didn't run for squat.

The plastic insert seemed like a good idea and I thought I'd pass that along and try to help folks get these up and running.

I'll bet someone will raid the kitchen and liberate the wife's cutting board.
Good idea!

[medphys]

Well, I headed out back to test it out one more time and...




...the magazine wouldn't lock into the mag well. CRAP!!!

When I changed the angle of the tower, I ended up cutting the tower length just short enough so that weld on the inside angle hits the magwell. Back to the file

[Vegas SMG]

I received my 6 Suomi drums from Centerfire Systems today. Overall the finish isn't nearly as nice as the drums I bought from them a couple of years ago, but other than the outside finish wear, they should be completely serviceable and are free of any dents. One is near new and looks to have been inserted maybe once and another has a good size spot of rust on the front cover and drum body but it'll clean up. As is pretty typical with the M-31 drums, none have matching numbers but I was hoping based on my order a couple of years ago. My memory of the copious amounts of cosmoline and oil didn't fail me and these will need a good long cleaning. I tested the spring tension on four drums by winding them to the max. Two don't seem strong but the other two had the nice spring tension I remember. At $19.99 each plus $9.99 shipping and handling for all six drums, they're still a bargain.

I also received the three fifty round coffin mags I ordered. Ohio Ordnance advertises these as being in excellent condition and I wasn't disappointed. They have clearly been refinished, come wrapped in clear heat shrink packaging, and look nearly new. I really hated to pay fifty bucks each but after seeing these, I can easily recommend these if you're in the market for near new condition Suomi coffin mags. Here's a rare case of a surplus product looking much better than the web site's photos of the magazine. Fortunately I still had a coffin mag loader, (and you WILL need one for loading coffin mags), as Ohio Ordnance is selling these for $25.00 each.



Hope I didn't get too far off topic, but I know some folks were interested in the drums from Centerfire Systems. Here's the M-31 drum link but don't expect the outside finish to look anything like their photo.

http://www.centerfiresystems.com/M31DRUM.aspx

[strobro32]

I had a good day with mine. I made a new tower from a Suomi mag. Finished a splitter, feed chutes and single feed block. I still have no idea if it will work but it looks good.

[strobro32]

Well, I got my double drum tacked together tonight. 140 rounds are heavy!

I tried stripping the rounds by hand and all three attempts jammed. The mixing chute is not timed right.

There is always tomorrow.

[medphys]

I need to redo my tower again. It's about 1/8" too short and won't lock in to the magwell. This is starting to get old.