Third Party Press

Opinions Needed on MP44-- Refinished or Original?

Meridius

Meridius

Senior Member
Hey guys, I was wondering if I could get yall's opinion on the barrel assembly (barrel, gas block, front sight post, etc.) on this MP44. Does it appear refinished? It appears a darker, duller finish than what I have seen on my other past rifles, then again this gun is a much later fxo assembled rifle with phosphate trigger group. And the barrel has clearly been out at some point. Whether or not it is original to the gun or a replacement is unclear.
 

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The cosmetic condition of the barrel shows less wear than the metal of the rest of the rifle. The barrel pin looks like it has been replaced, supporting your theory of possible barrel removal/replacement. The real question is, why would anybody remove the barrel from an otherwise well preserved rifle? Was it totally shot out, internally corroded or had it been de-milled? Does it have the matching bolt? If the bolt is mismatched, maybe it was a pre-68 European dewat with drilled barrel and ground-off bolt that somehow made it into the country?
 
GunKraut said:
The cosmetic condition of the barrel shows less wear than the metal of the rest of the rifle. The barrel pin looks like it has been replaced, supporting your theory of possible barrel removal/replacement. The real question is, why would anybody remove the barrel from an otherwise well preserved rifle? Was it totally shot out, internally corroded or had it been de-milled? Does it have the matching bolt? If the bolt is mismatched, maybe it was a pre-68 European dewat with drilled barrel and ground-off bolt that somehow made it into the country?
Click to expand...

The bolt is supposedly un-numbered. Everything else matches except for the stock iron. It's hard to say I guess, it's not papered as a REWAT or anything else. It's a C&R rifle. I assume the barrel is a replacement. And it is priced as such. I just don't want to buy a rifle with any refinished parts, that's where I draw the line.
 
finish on barrel

I have a number of parts of receivers that have a quite black, somewhat rough (like they were sand or oxide blasted) then possibly black oxide finished.
They look to have come from never used, but refinished rifles. Maybe East German guns they got after the war?
I've seen barrel assys. that have that finish.
That rifle might well be original WW2 German with a replacement barrel that had the refinish done on a gun it was taken from.
I do not think the original rifles were ever produced with that black finish.
Kind of hard to tell from just pictures.
Pete
 
I've asked the seller for some better lit pictures but I think you are probably right, Pete. That black finish does resemble a similar black finish I've seen on refinished east german mags.
 
I'm making the drive next week to go inspect this rifle in person, is there anything in particular I should be looking out for?
 
Barrel

Hey

If the Barrel is different, is the gun already able to shoot ? Are there differences between the Barrels, from which manufactorer ( Mauser, Steyr, sauer, ....) ?

Greetings
 
Nice!

It is nice looking MP44! If the barrel was replaced, then it is a shooter, which in my opinion is great. If you can get it for $15K or so, then buy it and shoot the heck out of it. If the barrel is refinnished, the who cares if it is replaced anyway.

I would rather have a shooter than a mint $25K collector, then buy one, put it in the safe and enjoy it.

From the photos, this looks like a nice rifle, and would make a great shooter. Will you have an opportunity to test Fire it?

Pat


Meridius said:
I'm making the drive next week to go inspect this rifle in person, is there anything in particular I should be looking out for?
Click to expand...
 
I will take a stab, this thread of over a year and half old, plus we do not know if the OP purchased the rifle and where it is now

barrels interchangeable?? sure why not if they are MPs/STG's although headspace may change as noted the barrel pin has been replaced . was that to refinish the barrel or change it??? with out the proof marks it hard to tell
if pete says it looks east german well that is probably a fact . in the mid 90's sarco imported a number of east german mp-43 kits, and g-43 and k-98's rifles and luger and luger parts from EG
this front end ( Barrel, front sight, base and muzzle nut) could have come from a imported kit

collector rifle?? well as discussed probably not, but a shooter for sure,

since we do not have new information or pic's of the proofs, its all conjecture
 
First thought was:
Wrong sight hood, sight hood finish matches barrel, so perhaps barrel was refinished at the same time.
A C+R ringback with a damaged barrel, that was replaced out?
I had a MP44 from a kit, that had a slightly bent barrel - possibly a demill by way of a French wall somewhere.
Point is just because to was C+R doesn't mean the barrel was perfect - owner swapped it out with a DDR refinished barrel from SARCO or one of the other vendors, and thought nothing of it probably.
 
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