Third Party Press

Unusual G43

Good luck with your sale, unusual marking, yes agreed, buts it's a parts gun, with dubious provenance , at best, albeit with a really neat sling.

Frankly, there is absolutely no way to prove that the barreled action, bolt assembly, or stock ever left the factory together.

It is, at best, purest conjecture.
 
up for grabs??

I had multiple offers on here. It just wasnt enough for me. I dont know what you all do for a living, but I'm not rolling in cash. I need to close the gap a little bit more to get a new rifle.

Highest offer I has was 2200. If someone here wants to give me 2500, they can have it and ill pull the ad.

AH!! you do not know what I do for a living,,But I will be willing to trade you a nice rifle that you can shoot with out a problem,,Just the way it was brought home after the war:thumbsup:
 
G/K-43 slingski

Also, this strap was on the rifle as well. It is very old. It honestly looks period, and the teardrops are similar to german straps.

But K98/G43 straps were leather?





I have the same sling on one of my own G/K-43,,It near new condition as is the rifle
 
If Frenchy is offering to trade you a nice rifle, I can guarantee you it will be a NICE rifle....I know Frenchy's collection, it is amazing.

As is the man....nice to see you on here again Frenchy!

I was home for like two days for some meetings, saw our friends new store, looks like it is going to be awesome....sorry didn't have time to see you...
 
Interesting thread, but I got distracted for 10 minutes, then another 10 minutes, and another 10 minutes...I kept hitting that replay button.

Were y'all talking about something other than boobs?
 
Kind of late to this, I'd have the machinist friend set the bolt face up in a hardness testing machine. Test the center of the bolt face and step it out toward the edges of the bolt face. If original and unwelded, it will be a constant hardness throughout. If welded and machined, it will be super hard in the center and get progressively softer as you get away from the heat affected zone.

A hardness tester is what left the dimples on the edge of the bolt face, and the face of the extractor.

The dimple in the center was likely an early part of the machining process, giving it a locating center punch on some kind of specialized fixture. After that would come a spotting or center drill, then maybe a smaller drill (step drilling), then the final finish sized drill. Maybe then a reamer to finish and a countersink to deburr. That has been SOP for hole locating and drilling since the drill bit was invented.
 
Kind of late to this, I'd have the machinist friend set the bolt face up in a hardness testing machine. Test the center of the bolt face and step it out toward the edges of the bolt face. If original and unwelded, it will be a constant hardness throughout. If welded and machined, it will be super hard in the center and get progressively softer as you get away from the heat affected zone.

A hardness tester is what left the dimples on the edge of the bolt face, and the face of the extractor.

The dimple in the center was likely an early part of the machining process, giving it a locating center punch on some kind of specialized fixture. After that would come a spotting or center drill, then maybe a smaller drill (step drilling), then the final finish sized drill. Maybe then a reamer to finish and a countersink to deburr. That has been SOP for hole locating and drilling since the drill bit was invented.

I could get that done. I'd be curious to know.
 
I could get that done. I'd be curious to know.

IMO the hardness test would be the best way to detect if any welding has been done. With a semi-skilled operator on a calibrated machine, it would take just a few minutes and is non-invasive.

Welded and heat affected zones are a bane to machinists. I have used hardness testers, but do not use have/use one in my daily work. Heat treating and hardness testing are kind of a specialty niche in the machining world.

There are sets of files available for $70-100, each file of a different hardness to give a rough estimation of the hardness. They are only good for +/-5 on the Rockwell scale. Given the small area of the bolt face, I doubt they would be useful. I'd estimate a non welded bolt face to be below 50 on the Rc scale; if welded it will be 65+.
 
In Town !!

If Frenchy is offering to trade you a nice rifle, I can guarantee you it will be a NICE rifle....I know Frenchy's collection, it is amazing.

As is the man....nice to see you on here again Frenchy!

I was home for like two days for some meetings, saw our friends new store, looks like it is going to be awesome....sorry didn't have time to see you...

Sorry to have missed you,,Yes the store is in the right place and at a right price,,Let me know the next time you intend to come north--It would be nice to visit for a while--Most sincerely Frenchy:biggrin1:
 
Croatian Ustasha

Is it possible that Germany made weapons stamped with the “U” for the Croatian Ustasha? Just a thought since everything was marked with a “U”.
 
And for the record, to anyone one reads back to where things got ugly. This rifle was sold to a member here. I used that money and bought a shooter.
 
I just wanted to State this is the third G43 I have seen with the U marked on the receiver. All three were cosmetically machined receivers by St. Etienne. Also of note is that it is believed a high percentage of Walther WaA134 marked receivers marked G43 produced from late spring onward were assembled at Neuengamme. I also have a sling like this on my ac45 d block listed in a sticky here 1618d. Originals were very late war slings seen a lot on VG-1’s.
 
Here is a stripped K.43 qve45 U marked over the receiver’s e/214 stamp:

EFE2627B-54BD-4085-AF5A-BB1F20B2E3C9.jpgC830A4BF-1D77-4193-9D3F-781A24FA23C3.jpg

There was a crack at the top where a U stamp was applied:

88BB19C6-F9DF-4741-B78D-9798E28FECC7.jpg

Rejected receiver?

Photos by Leon Despain at lmd-militaria
 

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