Third Party Press

Interesting MP-40 Magazine

tsmgguy

Senior Member
Here's the only slab sided 98E (Steyr) 41 MP-40 magazine that I've ever seen, just added to the collection. I believe that this is one of the magazines that escaped modification to the ribbed body of the later design as it lacks the third waffenampt stemple characteristic of this modification.
 
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They weren't modified, either made as a slab side or ribbed.
I have a couple of 122 40 slab sides and one 98E 41. I'm looking for a 98E 40.
Sarge
 
They weren't modified, either made as a slab side or ribbed.

After March of 1942 they most certainly were modified. You can tell by the additional WaA and the ribs starting below the reinforcement at the top.
 
As Ryan said, they were modified, the reenforcement ribs added. You can tell as some bear the inspections of two different makers and the ribs run up under the top enforcement plates.
 
Here's a 98E 41 magazine that has been modified. It has a ribbed body and the additional stemples mentioned, lacking on the subject of the original post.
 
I find it impossible to believe that they took slab sides apart and restamped (Modified) them!
In 41 they changed the style of stamping to the ribbed mag body. If you want to call that "modified" OK, but I don't. It was a new style of mag body.
A good comparison is the MP 38 u. MP 40. The 38 was milled and when they came up with stamped receivers they redesignated the 38 as a 40.
Since there was no seperate designation for the mags there was no change in the markings between the slab side and ribbed. They were all marked MP38u40.
I've never paid a lot of attention to what makers had how many WaAs on them, have to look thru my pile and see what I find. I also don't remember seeing any with WaAs to indicate 2 different inspection teams.
Oh well, I won't have anything to do after the SoS so I can set down and look thru 60+/- mags and see what I find.
Sarge
 
I have plenty, plenty slab sides, plenty modifieds. This:
According to a directive LVIB from March 23. 1942 all new magazines should have ribs. It's called type B magazines. The slab sided magazine is called type 0 magazines. The most interesting is that all slabsided magazines were to be altered to the new design. It's the type A magazine. The reason for that was that the ribbed type isn't so much affected by sand and dirt. It's reasonable to believe that the modification was done according to a special contract by Haenel and they used WaA387. It's possible to distinguish the type A (the "afterribbed" type) from the type B magazine because the ribs start a little below the reinforcement on the top of the magazine. The follower was altered too. The first has a dent in the back part of the follower. The last type a bulge out at the front part. The reason for the change must be the same as above.

http://claus.espeholt.dk/mediearkiv/mag40_c.pdf
 
A Haenel (WaA387) modified ayf 40 and a kur43. Note the ribs on the side of the kur43 are under the reinforcement but stop just short on the ayf.
 

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They didn't remove the top plate Sarge, just pressed in the ribs on slabside mags. I have a number of these converted mags. On Ryan's pic note the additional WaA387 of the conversion facility. The mag was originally made by ayf (Erma, WaA280) and was a slabside.
 
I find it impossible to believe that they took slab sides apart and restamped (Modified) them!
In 41 they changed the style of stamping to the ribbed mag body. If you want to call that "modified" OK, but I don't. It was a new style of mag body. . .
Sarge

Ah, but they did! This is why slab sided magazines are comparitively rare today, and why we see magazines with early dates that have ribbed bodies when these were not produced prior to March, 1942 (Thanks, HB!).

One of my favorite finds was a nice set of three unmodified slab sided 98E 40 magazines. They run great, but then again, ice, mud and snow are not problems in West Texas. I also found six unissued ribbed magazines marked 98E 41 & 42. This code, of course, changed to kur in early '42. These are literally brand-new-never-been-in-a-gun. They have all been modified and are so marked.

Could it have been less expensive to modify all of those magazines than it would have been just to make new ones? Probably not. Was the feeding/jamming problem with slab sided magazines so severe that it required this likely expensive measure? Appearently so.

The only WaA stemples that I've seen on modified mags (besides those of the original manufacturer) are 37 and 387.
 
I think with the right roller press you would simply remove the mag guts, slide the magazine on the same form you used to make them and roll the ribs onto each side and throw them in a pile for reassembly. Heck, it was probably the same process as making the mag, except that the ribs were rolled into the square mag form before the feed lip plate was installed. That would be quicker than having to stop the roller.

TSMG, I believe I have seen some mags with Steyr stempels too, on ayf mags. WaA387 is also found on MP.40 mag components, followers I believe. That stempel may be for one of the other contractors. I think it is. Given the foregoing, it would make perfect sense that a mag maker would already have the equipment necessary to add ribs to mag bodies which would be a simple process, simpler and cheaper than making a new mag as you skip all the other processes and no additional material costs.
 

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