I love this guy! "No such thing as a bad weld when you own a grinder"

As a WW2 reenactor who humped around a 1919A4, I appreciate your attention to detail. Guys that did it for life and death probably didn’t care, but for someone who had part of their own money in it, it matters.

This has quickly become one of my fav channels. Keep them coming!

Ha ha, you think you were wailing on that gun? I might have been one of the recruits that wailed on it in about the 1970s when I was a recruit in the IDF, and we were 18 year old's that did not consider the wear and tear we were imparting on our equipment. We were getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night, marching 20 Km. before breakfast and then going to the range to shoot maybe 200 to 300 rounds each, before lunch break and we never ever did any maintenance on any gun other than the personal weapon we were issued. I presume the machine gun you have just rebuilt was maintained by the ordinance division after we finished at the range, but we were maybe 100 soldiers at a time at the range and those guns never failed us. They were great. I am really happy to see them still in operation.

Old school craftsmanship will never die.

If you want to see some backwoods riveting watch the Pakastani Truck channel. This work is excellent but scary. They remake big truck frames and everything is manually heated and driven by hand some great big rivets. Amazing work by these men.

My dad was born in 1919. Thanks for coincidentally bringing him to mind.

Mark, as a retired Aircraft Structural Mechanic I am qualified to say this. If you take a piece of metal and drill a hole in it. Then put a rivet in the hole and buck it, the piece of metal is just as strong as if it had never had the hole drilled in it. Aircraft are riveted together for a reason. It is MUCH stronger to rivet two pieces together than it ever can be to weld or bolt them together. Those who think welding is stronger than riveting are just ignorant of the facts. Welding was around when the Empire State Building was built. The structural steel was riveted because it is stronger and more able to flex without breaking than welding ever could have accomplished. Of course, bolting two pieces together makes it easy to take them apart but bolting them together makes them inherently weaker than riveting them together. Structural mechanics is an art. Welding is a trade. Bolting is a menial task. Mark, you are a master of the Gun Smith art. Thank you for these outstanding videos. You teach this 74 year old something new with every video. And just to qualify things a bit. Those who think riveting is an archaic way to assemble something are wrong. Those that think welding is stronger than riveting need to go back to school and get an education. Saying "welding is stronger" is simply an uneducated statement.

That took back in time when kit guns were cheap, and cheaper by the 5 pack in the early 90s. I just recently rediscovered a 1919A4 kit. In my house fire burn out storage unit I had forgotten about. Real simple kits to put back together. I've reassembled them with both hot & cold rivits without any noticeable differences. But nice flush grind on the front trunion 60° rivit. I alway dug in to deep on that grind as if it was my trade mark. Sure would be nice if those kits were still available as they were in those golden day's

I am amazed that you had a graspable, left handed friction based holding implement just lying around ready to be inserted into the barrel bushing at the appropriate moment while you were setting one of those rivets. also. you are lucky to have a camera operator who truly understands how to light things up!

I enjoyed this video...again. The BATFE rules for building the semi 1919 have changed a bit over the years. When these parts sets first came on the market in the 1990's, the regulations required 'deep penetrating welds' of the side plate to the trunnion block. They have since changed that but that is how I built mine, back then. On the underside of the weapon, at the area in front of the ejection port I welded the side plates to the trunnion. On the middle trunnion 'Fat' rivet, I turned the rivet into a straight cylinder and chamfered the ends of it's hole in the trunnion. I tig welded it to the trunnion and ground those welds flat before the trunnion was sandwiched between the side plates. I heated that rivet(now straight pin) and tig welded it to each sideplate. When cool, it had everything rock solid and I had welded the side plates to the trunnion, per the old regulations of the day. One other thing they changed in the rules was the exact shape of the 'islands' of the semiautomatic right side plate. On the oldest original design it required the right ear of the trigger frame to be milled nearly paper thin. That right ear has broken on many of the early builds. I wish mine wasn't like that but you have to follow the rules exactly and that's what it was, back then. Great video and I would enjoy a thorough video on parkerizing. Take Care and be safe, John

Watching this took me back to my schooldays,I learned how to do this in metalwork, putting 45 degree rivets in then draw filing so you couldn't see the rivet.Loved metalwork class

It's really fun watching a guy who obviously loves his work. We should all be so lucky! Keep it up.

Nice work, Mark! Always a pleasure to watch.

First off, I really like your presentations, especially this on about the M1919 side plate. It brought back memories of when I was in Germany during the late 1970s as the NCOIC of a small arms repair shop in the 1st Armored Division. Periodically, we had to tighten up the rivets on the M2 BMGHB receiver and sometimes the .50 caliber M85 MG that was in the Commanders Copula of the M60A1 & A3 Tanks. We had a tool that was made from a 3/4 inch and 1/2 inch bolts that were set up as adjustable anvils that were inserted into the receiver and adjusted to snug up against the rivet that needed to be tightened. Have you or your friend ever encountered the M73 / M219 MGs? They were the coaxial MG that was installed next to the barrel of the Main Gun in the Tank.

For a old art of attaching parts rivets are so much better than bolts, as you mentioned they shrink when cooling to draw the parts tighter together but where a bolt has to have clearance thru the part for installation as does the rivet how ever the rivet expands to the full internal size of the hole when swedged so there is no looseness in the fit for the part to rattle loose. Very nice job

Built one years ago when the kits were cheap and plentiful. As for those rivets on the bottom plate, I used two awls on each end and everything in between came into center. Now here is where masking tape is our friend. As you set in each rivet place some masking tape behind them to keep them in, preferably one long piece. As you run the bucking bar in from the back pull on the tape towards the front of the frame keeping it close to the outside so as not to pull out the rivet and keep sliding the bar in one rivet at a time. Old Yiddish saying, Man comes into this world with great Oy, And goes out with Gevault.

There is nothing sadder than watching a 1919 in semi. Repeal the NFA!

There is not one firearm I own now or in the future that I would not trust Mark with; the guy is astonishingly amazing. He knows his business, from simple ARs to Antique one of a kind firearms to firearms that require hot rivets or welding as part of the construction process, Mark is truly a Master Gunsmith!

You are the man Mr. Novak. Thank you.

IF I HAD A HAMMER I'D BUILD A 1919..🎶 Awesome job, I didn't know you spoke Yiddish.. God Bless you and your loved ones Still think you have the best job on earth

Thank you for archiving you craft, I was smashed into shape by crazy SOB and every time I see you work I am reminded of him. There are not alot of Craftsmen I see in my journeys. Hope you have a apprentice, as what you do should never die!

truly, a riveting video...

To keep your hammer from getting too hot while riveting, rest the face of the hammer on a surface such as the granite block and let the block absorb some of the heat while the next rivet is being heated.

This video was so freaking satisfying! Now i wanna just rivet everything together :D

I've still got my old T&S side plate 1919 in the safe. Work of art really. Mine was built before the BATF "deep penetrating welds" in the bottom plate requirement was dropped.

Angle grinder on a 1919?! Mr Browning would be proud!

Dang, Mark, that was a lot of work, but the results look very good. When we put a couple of Israeli 1919s back together about two decades ago we made a punch with a concave face on it and peened them cold. No heat was applied. It took a while to peen them, but we didn’t discolor anything, so the only part we had to apply a finish to was the new side plate.

If anybody wants rounded revit heads for whatever project. A rounding tool can be made by using a rod a little bigger than the desired revit head size. Put rod in lathe & with a ball endmill of the proper size to mach the revit head, 😊😊plunge in to desired depth. A small block with same half round hole for the back side to keep the original head from flattening

You filled one of my lessons I wanted to learn...riveting a M1919. Great job. Thanks for the video.

Excellent work, it’s always great to see a craftsman at work. Every time I hear about the I D F i remember their attack on the USS LIBERTY, and how they tried to start a American/ Mid East war back is the 1967 by intentionally attacking an American ship.

"No more fuzz hanging off the plate anymore. Fuckin a" i laughed way too hard at that lol

You are a freaking Ninja Sir; pleasure watching you work.

Who are the 7 sourpusses who didn't like this? FWIW, I fired the Canadian 7.62 conversion of this gun many times. The tweaks to make them run well have stayed with me. But I never really paid close attention to the physical construction of them. Kinda wish I had been less interested in turning Her Majesty's treasure into noise and flames, and more on the machine part of machine guns.

im about to build a mg42 and this helped me understand the riveting

I've performed three builds on 1919's and M2 50.BMG's. You made it look easier than what I did. My first 1919 build took me three days and my first M2 Build took me 6 days!!! Even then, both of them took hundreds of rounds to get the parts to "fit" and seat like they were supposed too and these were for Papered Full Autos, which I have heard that the semi's can be more testy to work with. Great Work from North Carolina!!!

@Mark Novak +1 for that featherlight touch with the hand-grinder.

Man of many talents! Thanks again Mark!

Great video, Mark. Please keep them coming.

1919....the CHEVY 350 of MACHINEGUNS.... they ain't pretty, but they work excellent with enough oil, which they spit out everywhere. nicely done Mark... always enjoyed watching rivets being driven, and hot spotted.

"The rivets are huge." *shows massive rivet* Jeez, that's how that design has lasted over 100 years.

A thing of beauty!! Thanks Mark. Edit: Oxy-Acetlyne torches are simply incredible devices. Edit: So Many Rivets!

Riveting, a skill not so well known today. Thank you for the demonstration.

Your precision is wonderful to watch

A grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't.

Watching Mark working on guns is like watching Bob Ross painting landscapes. Btw, I hand peened the rivets on my great helm for the SCA with a ball peen hammer. They were soft steel rivets Ace Hardware used to sell them. I think some lawnmowers used rivets for various fixtures at the time (about 30 years ago).

Great grandfather was an Irish tinsmith, I love this shit. Many thanks.

Enjoy you work, in Aircraft the rivet is work harden with the rivet gun or tool that squeezes the rivet to shape. If your happy I'm happy!

I see that you just videoed this. Hoping the next step(s) of sanding, sand blasting and parkerizing will also soon follow. (Now I can't wait to see the finishing steps). Amazingly impressive work, as usual Mark. Thank You.

Hey mate I thoroughly enjoy your vids and being an old infantryman like seeing RAEME at work lol

haven't nookie in30 years,reminds me of high school, thanks Mark

Beautiful gun, very nice job loving your videos!

Great Video ! I was hoping you would get to assemble the whole thing!

The Grinding for a result. Customer should send a video of the 1919 spitting out a few, its the honorable thing to do.

When I was taught to rivet my teacher would after filing, make me drawfile the whole workpiece so it all looked the same, you know that old business where you had to fill the file with chalk so it hardly touched the metal at all ?

Invest in a small Bridgeport Milling machine to get those rivets down close to plate with no nicks! love your Vids. :)

grinder and paint makes me the welder i ain't

Last night I had a dream I where Mark Novak sold me a ballpark hotdog from an old-timey wooden shack by a mountain lake. Strangest thing I've ever dreamed.

another very informative video thanks mark!! because of your great videos i have started to learn gunsmithing !! cheers from bc canada ehh

Thank you for protecting the Gats!

I know it's a decommissioned one, but at the critical moments of this video, I can still hear my old machine tool instructor shouting, "DON'T HAMMER THINGS ON THE SURFACE PLATE!" :)

Kinda left field but I feel like making a binary trigger would take this to another level. Outstanding work as always mark!

I don’t know how it never occurred to me the metal shrinkage itself would make the rivot joint stronger.

Very good video, you bring the coolest things.

This video didnt make me nervous the first time I watched it but it is this time. I was having visions of slipping of the rivot with that grinder and crapping all over the side plate.

Haha that "f-in A" caught me off guard

I've found milling machine is great to level out metal surfaces, no worry about slipping and gouging your work.

Great job Sir, it must be frustrating to do work like that but never see the completed project.

NFA and Hughes amendment are a load of BS.

There's probably some little old lady sitting around who could assemble this thing in an hour with her eyes closed back in the day.

"The older I get, the better I was."

Outstanding work!

WOW, another great video. Thanks

Wow! Great job! Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful work.

Who would dare to say that Mark Novak would do anything wrong? All hail the gun wizard!

Women used to make these during the war. Maybe Mark got his assembly tips from his grandmother.

Spud would be called a 'podger' here in the UK.

Old shop teachers everywhere are yelling at you to clamp the work piece.

If I visited Mr. Novak’s shop and all these metal shapes were resting on his bench, I would never guess these were machine gun parts.

Good video Mark! I often wondered what the ball of a ball pein hammer was used for.

Mark this was for me the best 50:11 of my.....Day....l loved every min. of it....Thanks very much my friend....!

I use rawhide mallets to hit metal without damaging it. Don't bounce like rubber.

Thanks again.

All I can say is you Learned your trade for some very good gun Smith and go Navy Yuck that was hard for me to say I’m an army man

Would the side plates have received an oxide treatment before assembly to prevent corrosion between plates after assembly and finish?

Ive no experience with a 1919, but the m2 is put together the same way and I've never seen one with the rivets worn out

So friggin cool

I would think you would be better off using a heavier ball pein hammer on the heavy rivets.

I wish they wouldn't worry about the production side of it so much... I WANNA SEE him take a while to get those little rivets in place... Just everything like that... I don't care so much a out if he is in the way once in a while.. or if no one is talking...I'd rather learn

using a hammer to pound on something on top of a smooth face granite block (??????) Brilliant !!

Rivets are still the default option for metallic aircraft structure (Boeing etc) by expanding and filling the hole they are good for fatigue properties. They don't really work with composites unfortunately.

I have built 4 M1919a6's and if I am correct, your Hot Riveting was not the way to assemble of the Right Semi auto sideplate. The sideplate is heat treated to Rc 46 per the military standards and by bring the plate to a blue/red color you anneal the heat treat out of the side plate. I was impressed by your methodology, but I believe you were using to large of a nozzle and heating the side plate. When trained the idea was to heat only the rivet.

I would have used flap disc as it doesn't take much off like grinder discs do

When he first fired up the grinder nd the sparks were comin at the camera I safety squinted lol...

What a bummer that you didn't get to see it all together or working. Oh well, I guess that happens.

Have you of an induction heater for nuts & bolts ,there use to heat rusty nuts on cars. I think you mite like it ,no flame.just heat.

Lost footage reposts are the best... I don't suppose there's 'custom mauser' stock making reposts for the man who had a face like a shovel coming is there? :D

Did the customer say it worked fine after it was assembled?

But I've been down that riveting path before on my dads old IHC/MD sycklebar on the old mower unit