Anyone mounted an A&K (airsoft) M60 on an M142 cradle?

[Aswayze]

Anyone? Figured this would be as good a place to check as any since these things are a fraction the cost of a normal dummy gun.

 

[M813rc]

They are a good looking replica gun, and I say that as one who was an M60 gunner in the Marines (many moons ago). I am picky about such things, and own two of them. If I had seen them before I bought a dummy from one of the well-known replica makers, I never would have been saddled with that piece of junk. (And if a certain V100 man on here reads this, I'm not talking about the demil I got from you, that one is outstanding!)

They do have a more modern (that is, post-Vietnam era) trigger group, but 99% of folks won't know, or won't care. If someone is bothered by it, let them buy you an original trigger group, which will pop right in.

They lack the forward cradle mount under the barrel, but several of us have found that not difficult to remedy with a little fab work. It is the part, inside that small square hole under the foregrip, that engages the front vertical post of the M142.

They are less rugged than a real gun, or dummy made from real parts, but unless you intend to go some serious off-roading with it in the mount, you shouldn't have any problems.
If you look on this site for Quonsethut's gun truck replica, all his M60's are A&K

Cheers

 

[Aswayze]

Perfect, I would be looking for a post Vietnam one anyhow since East Wind is set in the late Cold War.

Are there any pics of his mods to the front out there or is it so obvious as to not need one?

 

[maddawg308]

I owned two replicas made from real parts, at $1K each. They were worth the money, and I have since sold them to someone else for their gun truck project. However, I will say that I used them for display purposes only, and when I buy a new set, they will be the airsoft replicas. They are close enough, though the ones I have seen have a M16-style flashhider instead of the M60 one. That might be remedied by some fabrication and/or J.B. Weld.

 

[M813rc]

First thing I did was yank that M16 flash suppressor off and put on a real one. Easy.

I don't have any pictures of the front mount addition, I'll take some though. It is easy to figure out, and whatever you do is virtually invisible inside the handguard.
On the real gun, it is basically two ears that come down from the gas tube and have a metal rod that goes between them (90* to the barrel). Circled in the attached M60D pic. The one I put together was a mashup using a couple of pieces of metal, a short piece of steel rod, and a hose clamp. I meant to do a better one later, but it is pretty much invisible and worked well, so....

Cheers

(pic finally uploaded)

 

[M813rc]

Okay, that picture came out rather small! Here is one with just that section, maybe it will come out a little better so you can see the detail. I'll take better pictures of the guns when I get a chance (they are locked up out at the farm).

Cheers

 

[historyfanatics]

I use the A&K airsoft M60 in my displays as well as on my gun truck. In fact, we just installed a mount to better display the gun on the truck. I'll have to take some photos to post on here.