G41, G43, K43 reproduction part overview

This is the place for owners of the aforementioned rifles to share their experience with reproduction parts. Sources, prices and pictures are not only helpful but encouraged. If you discovered a method for enhancing appearance or improving form, fit, function and color, please feel free to share this, too.

Let me start with the "reproduction" of a G43 Durofol hand guard.

If I had a hammer...

This cheaply made plastic hand guard doesn't even remotely resemble the Durofol part it is supposed to replace. Hands down the worst $65 I ever spent on eBay. It was advertised as a reproduction alright and the photo quality was about the same as my pictures here, just smaller in size. Usually, eBay pictures look worse than the real McCoy, making other bidders hesitant and allowing me to score great parts for little money. Not this one, though. I'm not exactly sure about the country of origin, it is definitely injection molded and I'm torn between China and Eastern Europe. When I saw the simulated wood grain I thought I could paint the part with cherry colored acrylic, then slightly sand and buff it so the acrylic only remained between the simulated grain, giving it kind of a Durofol-ish look. When the part arrived I noticed it was made from cheap, fairly soft plastic that would neither allow acrylic to stick nor would it be possible to buff it to a dull shine. The front part was too tall to allow the metal band to slip on, the rear part had ears almost 1/8" too narrow, allowing the hand guard to flop from the left to the right side underneath the receiver arch. No amount of work would ever make this abomination fit a G43. It would look cheap even on a cheap airsoft. In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't go out and buy cherry red acrylic. That would have been another $5 wasted. Sometimes, when I see this thing in the back of my parts cabinet, I feel like whacking it with a hammer to put it out of its misery.

Khyber Pass workmanship from Eastern Europe

The G/K43 trigger guard was the runner up for worst repro ever, trailing the dreaded Durofol copy only by a hair's breadth. As usual, this crown jewel of reproduction metallurgy was found on eBay. It sells out of Poland for a whopping $140 plus $10 for shipping. Compared to prices up to $250 on GB or similar sites, this trigger guard looked like a bargain basement deal. Being advertised as "Used" stirred up some hope that this might be a part the German armorer left behind when running away from the advancing Russkies. Well, the metal it was made of might have been "used", maybe it had a previous life as fender of a URAL dump truck, other than that it was so new I could still smell the foul odor of the cold blue. Never before had I handled a reproduction part with so many issues. The arrowed tip was asymmetric, preventing the trigger guard from going all way forward until the round boss for the front trigger guard screw touched the wood. Some filing fixed that problem. It wasn't bent right either, making for too wide of a distance between the trigger guard screws. It was also pressing hard on the spring for the magazine latch. A fair amount of bending brought the screw holes closer together and improved following the contour of the magazine cutout in the stock. The only downside was that the magazine wouldn't fit through the opening in the trigger guard anymore because the opening was too narrow. This was the result of the rim around the opening not having been folded exactly 90 degree. I'm not a quitter but this stellar example of Khyber Pass workmanship pushed my personal limits. It looks like such a basic part but obviously the blacksmith who pounded it into shape was overwhelmed by its complexity.

Liberté, qualité, reach deep into your wallét

Surprisingly, a lot of good repros originate from France these days. Aassniper98.com is a good address for quality reproduction parts far ahead of the competition. In all honesty, their parts are not cheap and they usually don't fit right away either but due to good material selection and outstanding workmanship, additional efforts to make the parts fit are justifiable. Their payment system is mickey moused and mainly geared towards European customers who prefer to pay by check or through direct transfer (expensive from the U.S.) but if you talk to them nicely and with respect they will also accept PayPal but may stick you with the PayPal fees. Make sure you don't mention "rifle parts" in your PayPal transaction or the mighty eBay powerhouse may come down hard on you. I actually called up the vendor to talk to him about accepting PayPal and between his funny English and my funny French it was quite an entertaining conversation.

I bought a stamped lower barrel band for my G41 and was surprised by the quality. It is stamped and welded, the weld has been ground off and smoothed out before applying another, crummy weld closely resembling an original German late war welding bead. The first thing I needed to do was correcting the contour of the band as it would touch the hand guard and stock in some spots and show gaps in other areas. I spent about 2 hours carefully tapping the band with a plastic mallet around deep sockets with about the same outer diameter as the curvature of barrel and hand guard. In the end, the band fit snug around the rifle and could barely be told apart from a genuine band. Just like the original part, the inner surface of the sling loop is made from a thin strip of sheet metal. On my band, the ends of the strip over lapped and didn't look right. I carefully lifted one end up and filed it short enough to not overlap. The band was a tad too wide, some minor filing and cold blueing took care of it. I then rubbed protruding exposed edges and the welding bead with a green Scotch Brite to achieve a worn look. Price is 145 Euros.



The barrel band spring a a single piece, contrary to the 2-piece spring usually found on G41 rifles. The appearance is good, as is the workmanship. The repro springs are not bent as much as the original springs but they nevertheless hold the barrel bands firmly in place. The looped end of the spring holding the lower barrel band in place seems to be about 1mm shorter than the original spring, allowing a loose lower barrel band to move just a tiny bit. This is a small price to pay in light of the fact that original springs are made of Unobtainium. Repro price is 35 Euros.



The upper barrel band needs to be fit together with the bayonet lug. In my case both parts were repros and didn't fit well together. Whenever I pushed the barrel band over the bayonet lug, the nose of the lug would start to droop the more I engaged the parts. The reason was the extremely pronounced curvature at the bottom of the lug assembly which made it too tall. I had to carefully flatten out the bottom curvature but still leave enough space for the cleaning rod to pass through. This helped a lot but I still needed to file the Maltese Cross cutout in the upper band a bit taller to keep it from pushing the lug down. The next step was to correct the curvature and height of the "wings" of the bayonet lug. I clamped the lug in a vise between two 10 mm square bars, then tapped a piece of pipe slightly larger in diameter than the barrel between the wings to give them the correct curvature. The last step was to shape the horizontal parts of the wings so they come to rest on top of the stock in the recess. Unlike the other parts, the bayonet lug was stamped Wa214. Price for barrel band and bayonet lug is 125 Euros each.

Nice thread - thank you for sharing your misadventures -

Every once in while there's actually good repro stuff on eBay, like this sliding dust cover for G41 and selected duv G43 rifles with the milled bolt housing. Which comes as no surprise as the seller miminana83 happens to be the aforementioned aassniper98.com from France. In regards to appearance, workmanship, material thickness and functionality it is equivalent to the original part. The spider pointed out one subtle difference: The V-shaped enforcement rib of the original sliding dust cover (the pitted part) becomes wider and deeper towards the engagement tab while the repro rib pretty much maintains the same geometry from one end to the other. The four tabs guiding the cover inside the bolt housing require minor filing to reduce width and the arched end tab needs to be knocked down just a little bit to clear the housing. I paid $45 plus shipping on eBay about 2 years ago, now it sells for 45 Euros on aassniper98.com. I should have bought more when they were still cheap.

Crap Hollandaise

This firing pin carrier is another contender for worst repro part ever. Not only did it require extreme efforts to fit, in the end it turned out to be unsafe to shoot due to gross negligence. As usual, this was an eBay part, sold out of the Netherlands for $35. In comparison, at that time an original firing carrier would sell upwards of $50, hence this seemed to be an economic way of replacing the delicate original carrier of an all matching rifle for occasional range shooting. At first glance the part looked good, machining and blueing closely resembled an original part. The front portion was a bit too tall to fit my duv43 bolt but I had noticed fitting problems even among original parts, so no big deal. 20 minutes of lapping allowed the firing pin carrier to slide all way forward. Now the locking lugs wouldn't fully engage because the carrier was a tad too wide. There was also a leftover hump from the machining process where the tabs of the locking lug ride up and down the ramp. Another hour of lapping fixed those problems.

Once assembled, on closing, the bolt starting having problems going past the magazine follower, accompanied by a scraping noise from inside the bolt. I lapped the round belly of the pin carrier but the scraping noise wouldn't go away. By this time almost no blueing was left from all the lapping. Comparing the repro carrier against the original part, I noticed a machining radius where the recoil spring pressed against the back of the pin carrier. Once the spring went into compression, the radius would push the spring upwards against the inner surface of the bolt, causing it to scrape and bind. With the correct end mill on hand, I removed the radius which put an end to the scraping and binding. Next I noticed I could not always rack the bolt all way back, sometimes it hit something inside the bolt assembly. Only then did I discover the bore for the firing pin extension was not drilled on axis but was cocked-eyed to the left side. Traveling backwards during cycling, the extension would either hit and cold stop at the recoil spring retainer or at the back wall of the bolt carrier, paving the way for immediate destruction of the bolt assembly. Once the seller was made aware of the issue, he investigated and nailed the problem down to a crooked drill jig. He offered full refund to all buyers but there may still be some of the dangerous parts floating around.

Anybody bidding on this garbage?

Another poorly made part from the Eastern bloc, of course on feeBay. Obviously made from two pieces crudely welded together. Unsightly welding seams on the inside, poorly disguised with fresh rust. Door is mounted too low and leaves a huge gap right below the hinge. Dunked in vinegar, then wrapped in plastic for a couple days to give it the tarnished surface of a "just discovered after decades of storage" treasure. Then advertised as "Used" so bidders think they really get a killer deal on a recently discovered WW2 butt plate and not something that just came out of a Khyber Pass style backyard shop in Prague. Guys, there are better repros around, even on feeBay. Use your brains.

My experience as far as for reproduction items go was the Dust cover. Not only they are bigger 1cm but if you try to bend the catch to run on the carrier they break very easily. Way to loose for tight fit. Lips are not correct spec at all. I had to use pliers and tap gently on both side for the lips to turn inside. If you tap hard it would snap! Did some but not quite. Probably some Chinese re pro crap-- Stay away!

G43 repro parts

I too have had bad luck with the repro dust covers-Type 3 ones. I recently bought one from Darrin Weaver, and it is a very good one, fit right on, works well. I think he is charging $25.00 or so. Much better than the two others I sent back to the sellers.

Turd Alert

There is a G41 reproduction bayonet lug offered as original WWII part on fleeceBay. Quoting from seller's description: 90% of original WWII finish still remaining. Lug is Nazi proofed. This couldn't be farther from the truth. The lug is Nazi proofed (sic) e/135 for Mauser Oberndorf which is totally bogus. The way it looks, the lug is probably a gussied up repro from Aassniper98.com which can be ordered for $145 Euros online. Sticking it into an original stock for pictures doesn't make it an original lug. The lug that was originally in the stock already sold 2 weeks ago for $600 (second picture) although I'm not convinced that wasn't a clever fake either.

The feeBay seller offers it at an opening bid of $400 or $600 BIN. Anything of value in our hobby attracts fakers. Kids, please do you homework, will you?




UPDATE: Someone actually bought this fake bayonet lug for $400.
This item is not as described, it is not an original WW2 part. Whoever bought it can still return it for full refund under eBay's Item not as described policy and save $200 by buying the same lug from Aassniper98.com.

Does anyone have any experience with the locking lugs, made by Frontline Militaria?

GunKraut said:

There is a G41 reproduction bayonet lug offered as original WWII part on fleeceBay. Quoting from seller's description: 90% of original WWII finish still remaining. Lug is Nazi proofed. This couldn't be farther from the truth. The lug is Nazi proofed (sic) e/135 for Mauser Oberndorf which is totally bogus. The way it looks, the lug is probably a gussied up repro from Aassniper98.com which can be ordered for $145 Euros online. Sticking it into an original stock for pictures doesn't make it an original lug. The lug that was originally in the stock already sold 2 weeks ago for $600 (second picture) although I'm not convinced that wasn't a clever fake either.

The feeBay seller offers it at an opening bid of $400 or $600 BIN. Anything of value in our hobby attracts fakers. Kids, please do you homework, will you?

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stahlhelm35 said:

Does anyone have any experience with the locking lugs, made by Frontline Militaria?

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AAS Sniper98 sells the repro pair for EUR 35.12, about $40. I don't know how well made/fitting they are, though. When the bolt is in battery, the rear surfaces of the lugs lock into the receiver groove while the front surfaces of the lugs position the bolt against the chamber. The dimensional stackup of locking lugs and bolt has an impact on headspace.

http://aassniper98.com/en/recherche...troller=search&orderway=desc&search_query=g43

Thanks. I hate not knowing how parts like these are made. Kind of a crucial part, to be poorly made.

GunKraut said:

AAS Sniper98 sells the repro pair for EUR 35.12, about $40. I don't know how well made/fitting they are, though. When the bolt is in battery, the rear surfaces of the lugs lock into the receiver groove while the front surfaces of the lugs position the bolt against the chamber. The dimensional stackup of locking lugs and bolt has an impact on headspace.

http://aassniper98.com/en/recherche...troller=search&orderway=desc&search_query=g43

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Turd Alert

There's a G43 trigger guard on eBay offered as Original WW2 German Relic Wehrmacht G43 K43 . The seller is located in Germany, the trigger guard is a poor reproduction made in Poland, same kind I elaborated on earlier in this thread. Several distinct features give it away as a repro, workmanship being one of them. The same garbage is being offered for $255 by another seller on GB. Save your hard earned $$$ for the real deal.

I'll second all of Gunkrauts feedback on the bands/bayonet lug made by AASSniper98. Other than a bit of fitting needed, they were of great quality and really helped complete my project. I still need to do a little more tinkering to fully prevent the bayonet lug from drooping, but for repro parts, these are top notch-

I'll also throw in a plug for the reproduction laminated g41 stock made by Fox Militaria (Leszek Foks)-- the laminations are the closest I've ever seen to the WW2 german patterns. In addition, he does a great job keeping the dimensions very close to originals. Mine was about 99.9% ready to go. I only had to do some minor fitting with the butt plate and recoil lug.

GunKraut said:

AAS Sniper98 sells the repro pair for EUR 35.12, about $40. I don't know how well made/fitting they are, though. When the bolt is in battery, the rear surfaces of the lugs lock into the receiver groove while the front surfaces of the lugs position the bolt against the chamber. The dimensional stackup of locking lugs and bolt has an impact on headspace.

http://aassniper98.com/en/recherche...troller=search&orderway=desc&search_query=g43

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I have a set of those if you want to borrow and review

chrisftk said:

I'll also throw in a plug for the reproduction laminated g41 stock made by Fox Militaria (Leszek Foks)

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I'll second that. He's doing a lower for my bubba'd QVE45 right now and he seems to really know his stuff. I heard good things from other folks who bought his stocks as well.

Hey guys I am searching everywhere for a part for my g41w. It’s missing the bolt locking lever that sits on the back of the bolt. Does anyone know of a new made one or it’s specs for possible new made machined one? Thanks in advance

Good show Phil!