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337 1940 with e623 barrel

Dugger93

Senior Member
Anybody seen a 337 1940 with an e623 barrel? I recently bought one, all matching but bolt with an e623 barrel. Band spring may have been replaced. I'll try to post pictures in a bit.
 
Yes, SDP barrels can be found on Gustloff (337/bcd) factory production 1940-1944
 
No, not very common. A few early production rifles, but most are m-n blocks. The rarest year is 1942, only a handful and all BLM receivers (finished by Gustloff), they overlap into 1943 production mostly.

SDP made a lot of barrels, probably on par with anyone else, certainly more than most rifle makers. They made far more barrels than rifles and most of SDP barrel production "probably" ended up in the ordnance system (depots and to other assemblers)

I don't have the figures for Mauser or Brno, but I bet SDP is only behind these among the rifle makers. Ruhrstahl probably surpassed them too, but probably comparable.
 
..Ruhrstahl probably surpassed them

Just by observation I'd have to say they were the most prolific blank producer. They seem to appear all over and for an extended period of time. Has anyone charted that aspect of barrel production?
 
You'd have to be a little insane to have examine barrel production more than I have...

I was talking about finishers, not blank suppliers, - Ruhrstahl was both but they made a huge number of finished barrels, mostly for Gustloff. (Ruhrstahl was not a single facility, is was a massive conglomerate, bigger than almost any we deal with, blanks were made at one facility, finished at another... but they made a large number of things. They were the only company to do both, make their own blanks and finish them)

They were probably both, one of the largest blank providers (if not the largest - Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG was also a part of Ruhrstahl) and also one of the largest finishers (probably not the largest though). Mostly they supplied Gustloff, they were contracted in 1938 to do just that, and ultimately they supplied most of their barrels. They also supplied SDP in 1943 and Brno in 1944/45.
 
You'd have to be a little insane to have examine barrel production more than I have...

I'd never suggest such a thing! :laugh: I do find the industrial interworking's behind weapons production interesting though
 

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