G43/K43 Stock Question

Greetings

I've noticed on this part of the forum members stressing the question is the stock "sanded or untouched". I'm no expert on k98's but I know the ranges and years when the finish work fell off. My question is, did G43 or K43 ever have a nice finished stock, did it vary by the manufacturer, or was it always somewhat of a rough finished stock?

Thanks for your time.

Long Live the Republic

Well, the full production of the K/G43's really started in 1944 and there was already a drop in quality overall by that time, due to the urgent need to get weapons and equipment to the front ASAP.

Typically, an untouched K/G43 stock will show a distinct lack of final finishing of the stock, that rough plywood and sanding mark look that some of us just love . Also, there will certainly be some fairly well finished stocks, especially early in the production of these weapons.

The Walther made examples tend to show greater extremes in the levels of finishing, especially in late 44 and 45. One can easily find a stock that looks like "Bucky Beaver" finished it....and in the same letter block, a fairly well finished stock may also be found. Seems that much of this possibly depended on the person doing the stock..start of shift stock as compared to the end of shift stock??

Now, most of the Berlin Lubecker and Gustloff examples will show some pretty decent wood work overall. Not to often will you see a stock here that looks like "Bucky Beaver" finished it. However, I have seen a number of Berlin Lubecker rifles with what appears to be a factory repair in them (spliced in pieces of wood). It seems to me that Berlin Lubecker placed a bit more care in the quality department overall, at least in my opinion anyways. They also numbered their stocks up until the last day.

Hope this helps.


Brian

Thanks Brian

The reason I asked was two fold, I was looking at gun broker and saw a G43 duv44 with a very finely finished stock, and it stuck me as odd. Also I have a G43 ac44 early letter block on the line that I'm going to take a look at soon, all matching but missing the hand guard. I just wanted to have a better idea of what a untouched stock looked like.

Thanks again

Long Live the Republic

May I also suggest looking at the "Picture Reference" section on the Forum. Some great examples of G/K43 in there and throughout the forum.