Are you worried about the 7.62 causing damage to the roof, the rate of fire on that is a couple hundred rounds a minute as you know I would be worried that the vibration of the 240b would cause stress fractures on the thin roof, even with a proper mount you would need to brace it. I think its an excellent idea on that I would love to accomplish, its badass to have a fully automatic machine gun spitting 400-500 rounds per minute down range, on the most capible civilian vehicle made. Happy hunting my ass, happy killings!
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned a sort of exo cage that goes into the roof and bolts to floor inside cargo area, or much like an interior roll cage that extends up through the roof. Just seal it up good were it slips through the roof. Otherwise I can't wait to see the final outcome!
I have shot a LOT of MGs off of civilian trucks. The 5.56 guns (M249 & M16) do not have any ill effects on "weak" mounts. The 7.62 guns (M60 and M240) work great in a soft mount. The mount has a recoil system built into it to take the vibration out of full auto fire so the roof does not fell hardly any of the forces. A hard mount is still not too bad but I have always had a stigma about shooting costly guns on solid mounts.
The ring weighs about 30# and is made of alloy. The plate it mounts to is 1/2" alloy plate (50"x36") so the whole package is less than 100 lbs.
I am using 3 gutter towers per 36" side so there will be a mount every 12".
The July 4th shoot will tell me if my theory is crap or good-to-go. Here is a table a friend and I built this weekend so we can shoot two M240s at a time to compete with each other. The square holes in the top of the table is for ejecting brass since these guns eject from the bottom. There is a belt loading tool at the rear of the table to keep the fun going.
The fab is done. I will not have time to paint it before the shoot so it will go in the raw. I still need to mount ammo can holders and drink holder.
Special thank you to Gamiviti. Gobi had no interest in selling me towers for this project so I was told to try Gamiviti. Excellent customer service and a solid product. He even called me on the weekend to see that the assembly was going well.
I forgot to plug OME. The truck has a 2.5 OME Heavy kit installed (Thanks Patrick). The truck has 15,000 rounds of 308 ammo in the back for this picture and it is still sitting level.
These springs are working out great for how I use the truck.
Yowzaa! That's a neat thing, but the only thing to put on it that's legal in this state would be a camera
Yep, everything mobile has to have built-in drinkholders to make the thing highway legal these days.
Have you got any funny looks from cops with that ring on yet? Even in Texas...? 'Course I've not been to Texas since the 60s. Maybe they've gone all liberal...?
I mix the shoots up with mag fed and belt fed guns. You can have a LOT of fun on 3K-5K for a Sat & Sun shoot. A one day shoot of 3K is a full day and I am tired at the end. I fill the heads of flamingo yard ornaments with explosives and it makes for good targets. RTV the neck so the binary stays in the head and you can shoot the body all day. Hit the head and... Boom. Headless flamingo.
This mount will be shot with a silencer so the muzzle blast does not break the sunroof glass. I don't run silenced autos too hard so the round count on this mount will stay low. The table will see a LOT of heavy fire.
Nice work! I'll have to say that most of us will never be able to attain that kind of awesome on our rigs. Especially those of us who live in California.
Please post up some more detailed pics of this, i.e. the sliding roof, the interior and some action shots.
If you guys are serious I designed a mount that will accept ANY gun with a rail so you can mount an AR15, bolt action rifle, 50 cal, etc, etc... ANY gun with a rail. You don't have to have a machinegun in the mount. For varmint and hog hunting this is a very stable platform.
I own a military museum and we support ops with our sheriff's dept. I have a thermal imager that will take the place of the gun in the ring for locating people (escaped convicts, post disaster relief, missing person rural searches, etc)
Food for thought. This has cost me:
1. Plate $500
2. Ring $900
3. Rag top $400
4. Rag top labor $200
5. Gamiviti towers $200
I forgot to plug OME. The truck has a 2.5 OME Heavy kit installed (Thanks Patrick). The truck has 15,000 rounds of 308 ammo in the back for this picture and it is still sitting level.
These springs are working out great for how I use the truck.