Vive Lafette!

[pitfighter]

My wife was shooting my guns as a still life project - forgive my crappy cell phone pics, hers will be better -

The Lafette mount was a ground mount "tripod."
Your LMG (light machine gun) changed it's status and became an HMG (heavy machine gun) upon attaching to the Lafette.

It was originally conceived for the Mg34, then was re-configured for the MG42, then picked up by the Yugoslavians for their M53 after the war - it's still used in a bared down, lighter version to this day.

You set it up like any heavy ground mount, covering your field of fire you can set left and right + up and down traverse of fire, and then shoot blind, ducking behind cover, lol, if necessary.

This version is a post-war Yugo in almost identical configuration to the German wartime version.







I have shown it with the AA tripod as a reference.
The AA sights are quite rare - these came from Holland and were not so easy to attach.
MG42 on Lafette - movie gun - serial number means nothing as gun is not a gun
Lafette (post-war Yugo)
Lafette straps Yugo
AA sights original WW2
Ammo can + Belt and dummy ammo + tool kit all original WW2
Canvas breech cover Yugo.
AA tripod Post war Bund.
M53 is movie gun.
Assault drum is WW2
Shoulder straps are Yugo.

[Grendl]

Damn again man. Rockin' the hardware.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Excellent post once again Pit.

I do have an eventual goal of owning an MG42 or MG34 in semi auto legal config one of these days.

[2761377]

MG42's as heavy machine gun context- Seelowe Heights, searchlights, wheel-to-wheel Russian artillery and German teenagers running around with Panzerfausts. and then, their moms and sisters getting raped.

seriously, not to denigrate your cool stuff, just that is the mental image I get with MG42 as defensive weapon.

[GMG]

I have a MG 3 ground tripod which is similar to the Lafette pod, mine has a M1919 adapter for a Browning. I also have a MG42 AA pod with an adapter for a M1919.

Below is a pic of the MG42 AA with the 1919.

[pitfighter]

MG42's as heavy machine gun context- Seelowe Heights, searchlights, wheel-to-wheel Russian artillery and German teenagers running around with Panzerfausts. and then, their moms and sisters getting raped.

seriously, not to denigrate your cool stuff, just that is the mental image I get with MG42 as defensive weapon.

I quite understand 2761377 - I don't don't take your comment as anything but an honest reaction.

The MG42 in heavy mode was used very, very efficiently as an offensive weapon by the German infantry in the suppressive fire mode (as all full automatics should be) - the Lafette mount made a three man machine-gun team into a highly mobile, extremely responsive tactical support position - it was really a brilliantly vicious concept at the time. Two teams laying down 1200rpm could provide withering covering fire for an advancing infantry force.

All old hat by todays standards of infantry fire and maneuver drills, but this was when a British infantry unit had bolt action Lee Enfields and a single Bren gun -

By the fall of Berlin, men who knew how to operate an MG42 were in short supply (it is simple if you know how to run it, but a lot of moving parts to go wrong if you don't), and in the Lafette mode, it is too heavy to run with.
1200rpm is a lot of ammo to burn through when your supplies are dwindling. Hence the Volks weapons, Panzer fists and stamped metal last ditch weapons -

It is all just history, but important we don't forget it.

[pitfighter]

I have a MG 3 ground tripod which is similar to the Lafette pod, mine has a M1919 adapter for a Browning. I also have a MG42 AA pod with an adapter for a M1919.

Below is a pic of the MG42 AA with the 1919.

Look at my last picture - the tripod to the side is my AA tripod - it is basically identical to the one you own, without an adaptor for your Browning.
Interestingly they used to have a hook hanging below that you would put a full can of ammo on to help steady the tripod - I have one hanging in the picture - I notice there is no hook on yours, I wonder if this is a recent change?

Your MG3 mount is probably much lighter and easier to move around to my Lafette -

*For those with google-fu - look up Lafette straps, those are the two leather shoulder straps that carry the Lafette - check on the sale price of a pair of originals

My next mount will be for a sidecar - lol.

[tuolumnejim]

I should have picked a couple of those up when they were cheap, as is I've got two MG42AA mounts for my Brownings.

[pitfighter]

Yup - even post-war Yugo Lafette's like mine are well over $1K now - if you can find them.

You can still get the skinny post-war style Bund Lafette's for $600 or so - they are no use for movie work for me.
The post-war AA mounts are still out there for $250, or so.
Be careful because there is a thriving counterfeit business, aging and removing Yugo markings and making WW2 config AA mounts - Ebay - the WW2 AA mounts are about $1K sometimes more.

My Lafette came from IMA-USA, Christian Kranmer that old horse-trader told me over the phone that there were German factory markings on mine, as it was an early one, when Tito's boys used the leftover Kraut parts - BS of course, lol.
My AA came from the classifieds here on CG

[GMG]

Look at my last picture - the tripod to the side is my AA tripod - it is basically identical to the one you own, without an adaptor for your Browning.
Interestingly they used to have a hook hanging below that you would put a full can of ammo on to help steady the tripod - I have one hanging in the picture - I notice there is no hook on yours, I wonder if this is a recent change?

When I bought the AA tripod I noticed it didn't have the hook like yours, but for what I paid for it at the time I was happy.

[fal_762x51]

I don't know, but my MG3 tripod is a hassle to move. Adding the 1919 adaptor, 1919, and a can of ammo makes it is a fixed position gun.

[pitfighter]

Here are my wife's ambriotypes from the shoot:
All are movie guns - they look good but are demilled.

[pitfighter]

I don't know, but my MG3 tripod is a hassle to move. Adding the 1919 adaptor, 1919, and a can of ammo makes it is a fixed position gun.

One of the coolest modern mounts out there is the titanium framed M240 (fn mag) mount - if I was into such things -
For anything made from titanium they are really well priced, too.
DSArms had them, but they're out there.

[w55]

Great pictures! Thanks!

I have a Yugo parts kit waiting for retirement to put together

[Enfield47]

Your wife takes excellent pictures Pit!