German small arms pics: The pictures

Hi all,

Here are the pictures of Bill's small arms collection. Enjoy!

 

Thank you Volkbert for publishing the photographs for me. I am currently photographing the U.S. Airborne jump jacket as used by U.S. forces during the Normandy invasion of France today, as well as the Kreigsmarine reefer jacket and cap from a former crew member of the U-564, other wise I would continue describing what is listed here. Just checking in for the moment.

But let me say this initially. All small arms are original, and all but the two Mg's are fully functional. Both Mg's have dewatt receivers ( i.e., a block of aluminum ), and can not ever be made to fire. Display purposes only.

I'll get back to this thread here after my company leaves today. Thank you all for your understanding.

Be good to each other.

Bill

 

Bill :

Question, what are the dates of your Karabiner 98's ? I see the late forward bands so 1943 or 44 ?

you need a Panzerschreck ! maybe a couple of teller mines as well ?


`E`

 

Greetings all -

Well, that went much more quickly than anticipated, so now I am back.

Concerning German small arms, the standard Mauser rifle as used in World War I, was deemed too long and bulky for actual combat use, there fore Mauser elected to shorten their standard military rifle and redesignated it the K98k, which ended up becoming the legendary K98 in World War II which was the standard issue rifle used by German troops in World War II.

I currently own five of these rifles. They are year dated 1940, 1942, 1943, and two 1944's. The one that I have pictured at the top of the thread is my DAK issue "dou43", "dou" being the code used by the Mauser firm at their plant in Bystrica, Czechoslovakia. It still has remnants of DAK tan paint on the butt plate, and the firing pin extractor which is located in the stock. This was the first K98 that I bought of the five.

The second photo shows my G43 with scope mount and scope. This was the second generation semi-automatic rifle that the German arms firms produced after previously creating the G41, and came before the more commonly located K43. It is the only G43 that I have ever owned, having owned a K43 previously. The G41-G/K43 series semi automatic rifles operated on a gas piston system where by the spent gases from the round fired previously forced the next round in to the chamber from a ten round box magazine that clipped in to the rifle from underneath. What is also interesting is that G43 marked magazines do not come up all that often most of them being maker marked as K43. I have three clips for this rifle. The one with the rifle is a G43 marked clip. The other two are K43 marked clips. I also have a rare original operators manual that slips in to a hollowed out compartment in the butt stock of the rifle.

The three pistols are fairly self explanatory. One, is the P-08, or Luger. It was used extensively by the German military during World War I, betwen the wars, and early on in to World War II, being phased out of production around 1942, although examples of this pistol were still used up until the end of hostilities. The P-38, was also a 9mm pistol that was used to replace the P-08 Luger as it was much easier to manufacture, required less maintenance, and was not as prone to malfunctioning if and when dirt, or other substances got in to the mechanisms of the pistol. The P-08 Luger, although popular with German troops as a symbol of German military heritage, could not say the same. The third pistol, manufactured by Sauer u. Sohn, is the 7.65 semi-automatic pistol that was popular with Luftwaffe pilots, and tank crews. Small, light weight, and accurate, it was easy to carry on the hip, and did not cause problems to the owner in tight spaces.

The Mg34 was the first modern fully automatic machine gun used by Germany's forces in World War II. It component parts were lathed, and precision was the key. Accurate, and able to with stand a lot of punishment, it was the secondary armament on aircraft, armor, and even ships of the capital fleet. Even with the advent of the Mg42 in later years, it would "soldier on" until the end of the war, and even be issued to other countries after the war for their own armies. This weapon, as mentioned before, and I repeat now, is NOT FUNCTIONAL, and is considered to be a display piece only for educational purposes.

The Mg42 was the replacement for the Mg34 as Germany found itself needing to manufacture a weapon system that did not require the finesse of the former lathed parts of the Mg34, as well as keeping manufacturing costs down. It would be an air cooled, system, with a cyclic rate of fire that would give many an Allied soldier nightmares.
Considered by many to be the most advanced machine gun design of the twentieth century, it was the design used to base the West German Mg3, and later the U.S. M60 weapon system on. It was being used still in the recent Bosnian-Croat civil war during the 1990's. As with the Mg34, the weapon could be belt fed using 50 round link belts, or drum fed using the same link belt system. As with the Mg34, the Mg42 pictured here is NOT FUNCTIONAL, and should be considered used for educational purposes only.

I hope you enjoy this quick educational thread on German small arms, and if you have any questions, please drop me a pm directly. Thank you.

Be good to each other.

Bill

[ 28. June 2003, 06:32 PM: Message edited by: Bill Smith ]

 

Erich -

Good eye. You are correct. As posted, one is a "dou43", the two 1944's depicted in the group shot are "dot44", and "byf44" pictured here.

You might also notice that I mention I currently own five K98K's but if one counts the rifles here, there are but four. The fifth one, "ce42", slant script, and rare manufacturer in terms of numbers of rifles produced, is currently under going some slight repairs to the stock, so I did not have it listed in the photograh.

Bill

 

Bill I have a K 98 marked ar 42 and yes it is undergoing some field repairs so to speak.....a lack of stock parts which I need to replace to make it complete and a half way decent shoulder strap too.
Have a wonderful short barrel Fallshirm G 33/40 marked 965 / 1940, stamp 7654, this unit has the metal/aluminum ? butt plate which is screwed in by the left side with 4 straight head screws...

Bill U should be proud of your collection....excellent !

~E

 

Erich -

That rifle was also used by the gebirgsjaeger as well as the fallschirmjaeger. Straight, unturned bolt. The side plate, as you might well know, was placed there so the gebirgsjaeger wouldn't scuff up the stock with their mountain boots.

These were remanufactured from Polish mausers, had their stocks and barrels reconfigured. You may or may not know that these rifles were no longer issued after early 1942.

Very desirable rifle to obtain, especially if one is a gebirgsjaeger or fallschirmjaeger collector. The last one I saw was one a friend of mine purchased one at a militaria show in Portland, Oregon for $900, and even that was deemed to be a deal, figuring that most start at $1,200 around here provided they are in any kind of good condition.

One question though, your four digit number 7---, is that stamped on the stock, or on the receiver, etc.?

Thank you for the kind words.

Bill

[ 28. June 2003, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Bill Smith ]

 

Has anyone got a picture of the Fallschirmjager K98???

 

Stunning collection bill. want them all, but the gew43 is the beauty!

 

Bill, yes the stamp is on the receiver and it may also have been under the safety but has since rubbed off.

Red, the G33/40 was used at Crete with the metal butt plate and the rifle with folding stock as well as the standard K 98.

~E

 

Ah the elusive folding stock. Has anyone got a pic? How did it fold? This is one of those things that has eluded me...

 

Ouitstanding collection Bill--thank you for sending the pics and thanks to Volbert for posting them.

All I have currently is My Mauser S 42 made in 1925 with the 25 round Magazine, My 1898 Krag Carbine and my AC-43 P-38. All are "live" weapons.

 

Thanks Carl -

I thought it was a "bang up" job. Now, if only I had not forgotten to take shots of the grenades!

Bill

 

Hmmmmmmmm. I wonder if I should ask....ok I will then.

Any anti-tank greandes Bill ?

~E

 

Hey Erich -

Unfortunately no. I have but an original, but dewatt model 24 stick grenade, and a reproduction egg grenade. ( I have never found an original egg grenade in my collecting career although I am sure they are out there. I've just yet to find one ). AT grenades would be a great addition, complete with launcher. Something to look for!

Bill

 

Looking forward to seeing the stick grenade. I was thinking of buying a repo stick grenade and making a lamp out of it. That would be cool--sitting next to my mil collection.

 

Bill,

nice collection. Is the scope mounted post-war?

Best regards/ Daniel

 

Hi Charlie -

Yes, the scope mount itself is a post war East German version from the 1950's modelled after the original.

Even though it is, it when I purchased this set up, the scope mount had an assessed value of $400 U.S. Today, it's likely gone up just a bit in value. Both are marked with "Fest" ( tight ) and "Lose" ( loose ) on the securing lever. War time examples also will have a waffenampt, where this one obviously does not. War time examples are very tough to locate. They are out there, but good luck finding one. In twenty two plus years of collecting, I have only seen two for sale and both of them were priced at over $1,000 U.S. This one, less the waffenampt, worked fine for my needs and saved me $600!

The scope itself is an original war time issue ZF4, with blue triangle indicating its being acceptable for cold weather use.

I don't have time at the moment for checking out the manufacture code ( work is about upon me ), but I will search out some information tonight on it, and get back to you.

Bill

[ 16. July 2003, 08:56 AM: Message edited by: Bill Smith ]