Universal vulcan magazine and other questions

Thanks Jared.

I'm currently working on updating an Erma Werke web page. Hope to do the Vulcan page afterwards.

Jim

Jared

I checked my Vulcan with all of my .30 carbine mags, both GI and commercial. All lock into place. With only 1 cartridge in the mags the front of the cartridge pops up as with your pic.

Checking my Vulcan mags, the nubs on the rear of the Made in Mexico mag (that sit on top of the mag catch) are spread farther apart than both than the Universal mags and the .30 carbine mags. I don't think this is what causing your .30 carbine mag to not lock into the trigger housing. I suspect it's the distance between the top of the mag catch and bottom of the bolt.

I measured the distance between the nubs on your modified mag with brass pins and the GI mag next to it. The distance between the nubs appears to be the same on both mags. Seems like the one that seems wider is an optical illusion created by the indentation around it's nubs. If this is making sense.

I agree the modified GI mag with brass pins was likely done as a standard early on by Universal for their Vulcans.

Looking over the web page on the Vulcan, I'm going to re-shoot many of my pics and add the info you've contributed from your carbine. Hopefully we'll eventually get others to share info. It's going to take a couple weeks for the update to be done. Hopefully I won't experienced many interruptions.

Previously I indicated there is no way to determine if a Vulcan has the 3rd bolt lug by examining the outside of the rifle. I found I need to bleed off some of the methane gas between my ears ... that 3rd bolt lug is visible, as is the cutout on the top of the receiver that 3rd lug moves in and out of. One problem in examining the pics I have is that 3rd lug tends to disappear into the background/bolt body as most the pics from auctions aren't very good.

I may ask you for a few pics. I will wait until I'm started on the web page overhaul.

If you'll private message me your address I'll send you one of my Universal nylon Vulcan mags so you can compare it to the modified GI one and see if it works okay. I have 3 plus the Made in Mexico mag so you can keep the one I send. I should have bought those Larry Ruth had. One of them someone attached one Universal nylon mag on top of another and created an 8 round mag.

The lips on top of the Vulcan mags are closer together than the .30 carbine mags. Those lips are critical with a semi-auto but shouldn't be as finicky in a pump action gun. Long as the are out of the way of the bolt and not bent down so much the magazine moves up and down when locked in above the mag catch.

I haven't contacted the fella who bought Larry's Vulcan, been tied up on other things. I'll contact him as I work on updating the web page.

Last thing, the overall length of the .30 carbine cartridge is 1.68". For the .44 mag it's 1.61". The rear of the Universal nylon Vulcan mags are thicker than their .30 carbine mags, apparently to take up the 0.07" slack.

The two black mags are nylon Universal Vulcan mags. The silver mags are nylon Universal .30 carbine mags.


Also notice the lips inside the top of the nylon Vulcan mag (left) versus the .30 carbine mag (right).



Jim


Edited by sleeplessnashadow - Oct 16 2024 at 9:41am

Not sure how you measured, but the feed lips on my mags are definitely different. If you just tried to measure the screen/picture, that is probably why it looks the same. 

Looks great! 

Hi Jim. New member here just joined with a renewed interest in the M1. I recently ran across and purchased a Universal Vulcan,serial number 1566 in exceptional condition. After extensive research and reading your articles all the pics show only plain walnut stocks. The one I have is checkered and appears very professional done and don’t appear to have been refinished. Do you have any knowledge of any being checkered?

yes has the 3rd locking lug. The mag is the factory nylon with silver bottom. The checkering is aligned perfectly matching on both sides. Definitely don’t look like an amateur job.