Third Party Press

g43 question?

bjarne

bjarne

Senior Member
:biggrin1:Ok..lets start
i collect 98 k mauser rifles but i like to know more about g43 rifles
How can you tell if the rifles vere made in concertrations camps?
Ore was it only spare parts that were made in CC camps?,and what is the story behind CC camps and g43 rifles and manufactures?
Hope to get more wiser here!
Regards bjarne
 
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I'm far from an expert but I believe it's only bcd g43s that used camp labor for manufacture and assembly.
They are also the scarcist of the three makers.
 
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CanadianAR said:
I'm far from an expert but I believe it's only bcd g43s that used camp labor for manufacture and assembly.
They are also the scarcist of the three makers.
Click to expand...

Three makers you mean is qve/ac/bcd ?
And how many g 43 rifles vere made from jan 43 until may 1945? total!
 
Also duv was before qve.

I think there is an estimated 400,000 total rifles made roughly.....
 
CanadianAR said:
They are also the scarcist of the three makers.
Click to expand...

CanAR, I need to correct your spelling: bcd G43 are the scariest of the three makers (because of their workmanship issues). From a metallurgical standpoint they should generally be assumed unsafe to fire. Great conversation pieces when attached to a living room wall, easily turned into expensive junk when actually fired at the shooting range. Overrated pieces of history, unfit to serve the purpose they were intended for.
 
The BCD codes are assembled for sure at Buchenwald, however the receivers were made in France and shipped from St. Etienne. The Gustloff marked rifles were actually only assembled there, not sure if they made small parts or not in house? However, they are well documented as having been sabatoged, and all around cut corners making them poor candidates for a shooter.

Walther also had a factory set up in Neuengamme using forced labor, but these are difficult to tell as they have the same AC code as the primary factory. I don't know of a way to distinguish one from another. There is a theory that some of the parts marked with a "N" with a line are from there but not really sure?

As for codes:
AC-Walther
DUV and QVE- BLM (had a code change from DUV to QVE going into 1945)
BCD- Gustloff

By far the best reading on these would be Mr. Weaver's book Hitler's Garands. There is a wealth of information and documentation that discusses production methods, component variations, time tables and production counts, etc. A great read even if you were not collecting these, very detailed. It covers G41s and ZF4 scopes as well. These are fascinating rifles and tremendous fun to shoot, addicting too.
 
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Roger S said:
The BCD codes are assembled for sure at Buchenwald, however the receivers were made in France and shipped from St. Etienne. The Gustloff marked rifles were actually only assembled there, not sure if they made small parts or not in house? However, they are well documented as having been sabatoged, and all around cut corners making them poor candidates for a shooter.

Walther also had a factory set up in Neuengamme using forced labor, but these are difficult to tell as they have the same AC code as the primary factory. I don't know of a way to distinguish one from another. There is a theory that some of the parts marked with a "N" with a line are from there but not really sure?

As for codes:
AC-Walther
DUV and QVE- BLM (had a code change from DUV to QVE going into 1945)
BCD- Gustloff

By far the best reading on these would be Mr. Weaver's book Hitler's Garands. There is a wealth of information and documentation that discusses production methods, component variations, time tables and production counts, etc. A great read even if you were not collecting these, very detailed. It covers G41s and ZF4 scopes as well. These are fascinating rifles and tremendous fun to shoot, addicting too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!i see if i can buy hitlers garands book sounds interesting
 
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