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G43 with 8mm kurz chambering

40ford

Well-known member
Looking for information /photos/ specs on experimental g43 with 8mm kurz ( 7.92x33) chambering, using mp44 mags. Weaver's book (Hitler's garands) has a few photos/ info., but limited. Has anyone built a replica? Any other photos out there?
 
Scarce info on them, but I did find a pic (attached).

I think there were several experimental developments on the basis of Kar.43, including selective fire versions, as well as versions chambered for 7.92x33 Kurtz ammunition and adapted for Stg.44 magazines. Neither version entered production.
 

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It's an interesting adaptation of the G43 design. Could have been successful if used in troop trials, less wear and tear due to lower powered round. Lower recoil would have made training recruits easier.
 
short ctg. mod.

I used to see a guy at Knob Creek that did a fine job of building up a FAL in 7.62X39. Same concept. I know the earliest FAL was in 8Kurz.
Frank at Bartlein Barrels sold a Mauser last year that he barreled in 8Kurz.
Pete
 
G43 in 8mm kurz

Here`s a picture, I found a while back.
 

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The original FAL prototypes were chambered in 8mm kurz. Were you still planning on building one? I'd be interested in seeing pics of the result.
 
8Kurz FAL

The original FAL prototypes were chambered in 8mm kurz. Were you still planning on building one? I'd be interested in seeing pics of the result.

it's one of those "I'd like to do when I get time" projects.
 
A G43 kurz 'so rare it might start a controversy'

Hello all, I've been away from the forum for a while. So here is one that very few people know about. It must have been a top secret project that never made production as it failed in front line field trials. It might have succeeded if it had not been for Bubba. What a shame.
 

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Hello all, I've been away from the forum for a while. So here is one that very few people know about. It must have been a top secret project that never made production as it failed in front line field trials. It might have succeeded if it had not been for Bubba. What a shame.

Interesting. Who built it? Looks like a modified mp44 mag housing was used. Is it functional?
 
LTCar2, one can only hope that you are a Photoshop expert and crafted this abomination on your desktop in the pixel universe only. It pains me to see two collectible rifles (G43 and MP44) destroyed in order to create a boat anchor.
 
GK, glad to say I do not possess the skill set to photo-shop. Unfortunately, it is very real. I viewed this abomination several years ago while viewing a collection. I was sick in the heart to see a nice all matching G43 wasted like that. The real tragedy here is the current owner believes it to be an authentic war time experimental.
 
Looks like Bubba spent too much time on the can flipping through "Hitler's Garand", then getting the idea of building his very own G43/8mm kurz. A brief look at Weaver's book shows a similar magazine receptacle, except for being smooth on the outside without the typical MP44 ribs. Right there I smell a Bubba Special. Next, the rifle described in Weaver's book and in other places as well, was designed for fully automatic operation. Bubba's "MK43" is still a semi-auto. What is the purpose of a 30 round magazine if you can't go fully auto? Just for the pleasure of dragging an awkward 30 round flag pole of a magazine around with you? Looking at the rust pits on the remnants of the MP44 receiver and the virtually rust free metal parts of the G43 makes me wonder if the factory of army engineers seriously would cobble together such a piece of doodoo. The welding seams couldn't have looked worse if a drunk Russian would have done them, a far cry from known German workmanship. To top it off, the bolt carrier needed to be ground clean (hint: horizontal grinding marks where the number is, vertical grinding marks right next to it; but be careful Mr. Bubba, don't grind off all of the waffenamt stamp, only the lower part of it) and then renumbered using fonts found nowhere else on the entire rifle. Then the barrel needed to be chopped, the front sight relocated and in order to give this Frankenstein of a G43 a more menacing appearance, an MP44 barrel nut had to be attached. Well, too bad the nut would fall off after a few rounds because the G43 front sight doesn't have the same locking pin as its MP44 counterpart to keep the nut from spinning loose.

Anyhow, whoever claims this "MK43" is the real McCoy should contact me for another excellent addition to their collection. I just so happen to own the world's one and only Steyr M95/ZF4 Austrian Navy sniper (see link below).

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?8950-A-sniper-rifle-so-rare-that-it-might-start-a-controversy-%29&p=62500#post62500

I just took another look at the "MK43" again.... Holy sh!t, where is the Tylenol? :facepalm:
 
Yeah...it's obviously a work of imagination. Too bad a decent, albeit non-matching g43 was sacrificed to create it, but I've seen much worse bubba'd g/k43's out there. The difference here is that a collector believes it to be a genuine , rare experimental model and that's the real shame that someone sold it to him as such....still wondering if it's functional though.
 
I am absolutely certain this "MK43" is NOT shootable. It has disaster written all over it for anyone willing to shoot it. Such as: if the barrel was a standard G43 chopped down, then its still chambered for the standard 8mm and not the Kurz. The MP44 mag does not lock into the mag well properly. This is nothing more than a 'conversation peice' for the wall.
 

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