Third Party Press

Original or fake.

pitfighter

pitfighter

Senior Member
Latest MP44 kit came without a safety lever.
Bought one from an on line source.
Fit and finish don't seem very concise - folded welds, filed over top - non centered alignment of detent spring.
Sharp edges.







It doesn't look quite right - compared with my late war safety (lower) - I have another safety but is not at shop.



Definitely different tooling - as lengths vary and angles are slightly different, too.


Note angle of cuts on detent spring - and surface of detent spring - real one is lower - new purchase is upper.


I don't really mind, but was sold as original NOS wartime manufacture -
Any thoughts here?

PS - anyone know the best source for correct sized steel e-fastener - ?

Cheers,

Pit.
 
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possible post war replacement say East German or Yugo

if its rust blued than i would say East German

Jack
 
That's a thought, Sprat - someone went to a lot of trouble to make this.
When it's on the rifle though, you cannot tell the difference - and works just fine.

*It was mailed from Poland.


If anyone has a chance - I'd like to see the detent spring on the inside of the PTR safety lever - workmanship is similar.

Just be careful to keep track of your E-clip (they fly off and vanish - lol)
 
E clips

pitfighter said:
That's a thought, Sprat - someone went to a lot of trouble to make this.
When it's on the rifle though, you cannot tell the difference - and works just fine.

*It was mailed from Poland.


If anyone has a chance - I'd like to see the detent spring on the inside of the PTR safety lever - workmanship is similar.

Just be careful to keep track of your E-clip (they fly off and vanish - lol)
Click to expand...

Re the E clips. Thinking they should be available as a metric item. I just never got around to measuring a safety shaft groove looking for some the right size. Could probably get a hundred for not many dollars.
Guys on Gunbroker would probably want $15 or more for one. Kinda like the guy with the $150 firing pin.
Pete
 
E clips

Just checked metric E clips online. 1.2, 1.5, 1.9, 2.3, and 3.2 MM $4.50 a hundred. Do not have a safety here to measure the groove diameter.
It'd be our luck to be some oddball size other than standard available metric on the safeties though.
I got 2 of those safeties from a guy in Poland. I need to look at them again. Best I remember they were identical to originals on my rifles.
Pete
 
Yes - I found a couple of hardware stores have them nearby, I'll take the safety with me -
Thanks for the reference, I'll post the actual size after I buy it (for pennies), lol.
Yes - Gunbroker has a few nutso sellers who seem to think they will get vast amounts for anything MP44 related - they just keep recycling their auctions month after month - I guess that's their choice.

Yes - the Polish contact (Dariusz), presumably the same as mine, has been great with everything, and sometimes throws an extra few small-parts into my order for good measure.
I am not disappointed, or feeling ripped off - the safety was thoroughly photographed in his ad - just curious after looking at it closely.

It works fine, I just wondered if someone on this site knew of these being made after the war, by anyone other than Dietrich and company - it just doesn't look like wartime machining.

The late war (presuming) BNZ barrel with this latest kit is interesting, it looks unused - and was still thick with very old crumbling cosmolene. Deep lands, and no marks at all on the feed ramp, like new - haven't had one like it before. What looked like crud and rust rubbed off reveal sparkling new finish underneath. I'll post photos if there are any other myopic MP44 collectors interested.

*edit - don't remove this part unless you need to, those E-clips ping off and vanish - actually they don't ping, they just vanish - I am really careful and have a clear work space, and good light, but it went. Magnet, brush, an assistant on his hands and knees, and then my daughters - gone. Now I need two replacements.

*edit 2 - neither the original or recent-purchase safety are waffenstamped - but then there are many parts on the MP44, especially the later manufactured ones that are missing the waffenmarks, that adourn many K98's and other 3R weapons.
 
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Thanks Wilhelm -

I have not found reference to post-war com-bloc parts manufacture - but that is just my research.

"...components for 80,000 STG44's (except receiver and grip housings) left over at war's end..."

Suhl and Haenal factories occupied by US April 3 1945 - all work stopped.
Herbert Haenel, Hugo and Hans Schmeisser supervise clearing work.

June 1945 US army leaves so that the red army can take control of the factories and staff - US army take souvenirs, including 1400 MP's, half a million rounds of ammunition.

Schmeisser went to work at the same factory as the 27 year old Mikael Kalashnikov -

It does say that all the Post-War assembling firms were located in either East Germany (Haenel, Sauer & Sohn, Erma) or Austria (Steyr.) However, other than ammunition manufacture - I cannot find literature pertaining to Post-War manufacture of parts for the MP44 in service by either East/West Germany, Yugoslavia.

It would make sense that somewhere they would see a need for making replacement safety levers, but, still looking for it in print.
 
E clips

pitfighter said:
Yes - I found a couple of hardware stores have them nearby, I'll take the safety with me -
Thanks for the reference, I'll post the actual size after I buy it (for pennies), lol.
Yes - Gunbroker has a few nutso sellers who seem to think they will get vast amounts for anything MP44 related - they just keep recycling their auctions month after month - I guess that's their choice.

Yes - the Polish contact (Dariusz), presumably the same as mine, has been great with everything, and sometimes throws an extra few small-parts into my order for good measure.
I am not disappointed, or feeling ripped off - the safety was thoroughly photographed in his ad - just curious after looking at it closely.

It works fine, I just wondered if someone on this site knew of these being made after the war, by anyone other than Dietrich and company - it just doesn't look like wartime machining.

The late war (presuming) BNZ barrel with this latest kit is interesting, it looks unused - and was still thick with very old crumbling cosmolene. Deep lands, and no marks at all on the feed ramp, like new - haven't had one like it before. What looked like crud and rust rubbed off reveal sparkling new finish underneath. I'll post photos if there are any other myopic MP44 collectors interested.

*edit - don't remove this part unless you need to, those E-clips ping off and vanish - actually they don't ping, they just vanish - I am really careful and have a clear work space, and good light, but it went. Magnet, brush, an assistant on his hands and knees, and then my daughters - gone. Now I need two replacements.

*edit 2 - neither the original or recent-purchase safety are waffenstamped - but then there are many parts on the MP44, especially the later manufactured ones that are missing the waffenmarks, that adourn many K98's and other 3R weapons.
Click to expand...

You would be well off to find metric clips at a local hardware store. I've looked around here but all they have is inch stuff and none are close enough to the size needed to work. Good luck!
Putting a little tent of masking tape around a clip you are removing works pretty good. Or do your disassembly in a plastic bag. A friend of mine lost 5 or 6 little ball detents trying to get his S&W revolver rear sight back together. His salvation was discovering the bag trick.
Pete
 
shortfal said:
You would be well off to find metric clips at a local hardware store. I've looked around here but all they have is inch stuff and none are close enough to the size needed to work. Good luck!
Putting a little tent of masking tape around a clip you are removing works pretty good. Or do your disassembly in a plastic bag. A friend of mine lost 5 or 6 little ball detents trying to get his S&W revolver rear sight back together. His salvation was discovering the bag trick.
Pete
Click to expand...


Thanks Pete,

The bag trick would have worked! Neat.

Yes - I cannot believe I got caught out, I am pretty concise when it comes to this stuff.

We have some major hardware and fastener shops near here, so I'll do a search in short order.

I will find a source for the e-clips before disassembling my business partners PTR-44 :facepalm:
 
Claus thinks it's a reproduction safety made by Tom Fried -
No post-war safety's made for military contract.
 
Almost off of the subject, but being mailed from Poland or anywhere in the former East bloc may not make something automatically suspect. I recently bought six 98E 42 marked MP-40 magazines from a seller there. He said that they were in original new condition, and had come out of the original factory crate. Sure enough, they're perfect. This can't be faked.
 
agreed back in the mid 90's lots of luger frames appeared on the market along with un-numbered parts, they all came out of East Germany, the east germans rebuilt everything, the soviets gave them. plus what they found in the rubble, replacement parts were extremely common. stg wise look at the eg 1001 marked mags, slings, etc. this is why I suggested its possibility also there passion to rust blue everything

but if claus says otherwise he knows more about stg's than me
 
True, true, but stg44.eu has been great to me in that past, with 100% original items, so this was a surprise.

But, I am OK with it, it is a very minor issue - and unnoticeable unless stripped and examined with magnifying glass.

I am prepared to believe he did not know it was a post war reproduction.


Pit.
 
e-clip assortment #13325 from: Dorman HELP!
Bought at Auto parts store $4.35

The safety catch on the MP44 requires the 3/32" or 2.3mm E-clip to hold it in place - there are three in the pack.

Looks exactly as the original did - I needed two new ones after my "late-night" compare the safety catch for the K98 forum session!!!!

Picked up another MP44 kit - matching late war (not Haenel) - no finish on Stock ferrule or fore-grip - had manual and tool-kit in stock - seller sold those separately on GB last week!!!!
I did get a primo trunnion from the same seller - over paid on GB, though.

Does anyone else worry about having an addiction to this stuff?
 
pitfighter said:
e-clip assortment #13325 from: Dorman HELP!
Bought at Auto parts store $4.35

The safety catch on the MP44 requires the 3/32" or 2.3mm E-clip to hold it in place - there are three in the pack.

Looks exactly as the original did - I needed two new ones after my "late-night" compare the safety catch for the K98 forum session!!!!

Picked up another MP44 kit - matching late war (not Haenel) - no finish on Stock ferrule or fore-grip - had manual and tool-kit in stock - seller sold those separately on GB last week!!!!
I did get a primo trunnion from the same seller - over paid on GB, though.

Does anyone else worry about having an addiction to this stuff?
Click to expand...

I follow GB everyday I have not seen a original manual or tool kit for sale Im missing something. pretty nasty incomplete kit sold today

jack
 
Yes! - if you didn't see them you are missing something :biggrin1:

A hint: not everyone calls it an MP44 -

I'll send you the link to the auction I just won, the other two auctions were the same seller and running concurrently last week.
 
pitfighter

as I explained in the PM

these items are not posted under MP-44 or stg-44 but under gun parts or gun kits

so when you do a search under MP-44 or stg-44 they do not come up

I never questioned your integrity and never will

jack
 
sprat said:
I follow GB everyday I have not seen a original manual or tool kit for sale Im missing something. pretty nasty incomplete kit sold today

jack
Click to expand...

Nasty and incomplete....I still think a saw cut mp44 should have fetched more. I think alot were asleep on the wheel with that auction. I figure a complete trigger pack fetches $1000+ The receiver sections were pitted, and the barrel was probably terrible, but damn!
 
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