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Found a really nice panel cut g43

Caesar1

Senior Member
IMHO a really nice matched un-sanded panel cut g43. It all matches internally. I have been reading that more than a few of these K blocks had Durofol Hand guards, dont know if thats the way it left the factory but interesting that it has it and is a K block.
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Congrats, a very nice looking pickup, love a clean and untouched stock, so hard to find. If there is one letter block to have a Durofol handguard the k is the best chance for being factory, I believe there is a pretty sizeable sampling of these showing up then.

Nick
 
Thanks for posting this one. I had one report of it in Jan/2019 and it was kind of vague, so I didn’t get the details I have now on her.

So, according to “Hitler’s Garands” by Darrin Weaver, page 304 under title “Walther and Durofol Handguards”, he states that FOUR ac44 coded rifles in the k block were reported with Durofol hand guards. Weaver goes on to say that he believes it is a coincidence and could have been field replacements or switched by collectors. Not sure what “report” was taken then as that’s been approximately 20 years ago, or so, when this book came out. In chapter 8 of the same book, he goes on to say that Durofol hand guards were exclusive to BLM production. I have “heard” (I don’t recall where) that a very few Walther rifles were produced with Durofol hand guards. Possibly in this k block, p block or somewhere right near ac45 production. Very possible as it looks like a lot of weird things were happening with these rifles at this point, just before and right after ac45 production began. No armorers were issued these as replacements. Weaver is coming out with his new series of books before long on these rifles. We won’t know the latest information until these books finally come out (if there is any new information). So, I think, as stated above, that if some few Walther rifles were made with Durofol hand guards, this one has a chance of being one of those. Right now, it’s inconclusive. Another collector (can’t name names) once said that the wood ones burned up, got damaged frequently, so some Durofol hand guards were found and put on the Walther rifles. Another unconfirmed “story”, but could have been the case as well. I had a p block with a Durofol on it.

G.43 ac44 #1216k (next rifle reported before yours in my listings), reports it had a Durofol hand guard on it.

G.43 ac44 #2729k (four rifles reported after yours) reports it has a Durofol hand guard on it as well. The three rifles before #2729k does not report which hand guard they have.

G.43 ac44 #2906k has a Durofol hand guard installed.

G.43 ac44 #3935k has Durofol hand guard installed.

G.43 ac44 #4974k has Durofol hand guard installed.

(some rifles between 2906k and 4974k have wood hand guards)
They are hit and miss all through the k block rifles it looks like.
 
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How can you make a judgement on something like that?

Collectors like Hambone and Prusakowski have stated how people were putting Durofols on Walther rifles - because they looked "better" - throughout the decades since WW2.

Prusakowski went through my collection and took Durofols off of my Walther rifles and put them on my BLM rifles. I don't have any "k"s and I don't remember which ones he did change.

Can't really say anything is for sure unless you see wartime pics, can you?
 
I acquired a closet/attic fresh G43 that had so many dust bunnies in the barrel, you could barely see any light coming through. It too has a Durofol handguard and is serial number 5549k.


Prusakowski went through my collection and took Durofols off of my Walther rifles and put them on my BLM rifles. I don't have any "k"s and I don't remember which ones he did change.

I'm sure in the course of time many rifles have been made "more correct" when they didn't need it.
 
We don't know for sure

We will probably never know the truth...that being said I would never take a duro off a Walther rifle....

Just like the "expert collector" who took a Mauser stock off my bcd/mauser dual code and put on a bcd stock...
 
There is always new information coming to light so who knows! Random question, where does this letter block fall time wise? Is it possible that it was around the time BLM was bombed by chance??
 
I sold my ac44 a while back, but it was one of the 4 k block reported with Durofol in Weaver's book. I think the number showing up in this block is more than a coincidence. I will be interested to see what Darrin has about this in his updated book.
 

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