Third Party Press

Mp-44/STG-44 mag catch assembly Question

sprat

Senior Member
ok

thought i would ask the collective minds on the MP-44 here.
before we start I did consult my copy of "sturmgewehr"

last week I purchased a complete magazine catch assembly based on the photo in GB

it arrived on time packaged well, I opened the box to find a mag catch assembly in 4 pieces not three

An original WW2 original mag catch consisted of three parts : the button, spring and release lever

button is threaded on the inside and the release lever is threaded on the end

the one pictured below has 4 parts

the button, spring release lever and a philips head screw securing the button to the lever verse

the button on this unit is held in place with the Philips heads screw. In the picture below it is hard to see the philips head screw


I contacted the seller to tell him in my opinion its was a shoi or Airsoft part, he promptly refunded my money

yesterday I get a e-mail from the seller telling me, someone on GB told him the part is a original modified by IMA for there dummy guns. I had a dummy IMA it had a standard WW2 manufactured part

your thoughts????????????
 

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The original 2 I have the button is placed on the post and it is peened in place like the MP40. My guess is that when disassembling at IMA rather than do it the right way they pried them apart causing the peening to straighten out and then tapped and put the screw in.
 
KSH57

ok then why no threads inside the button? why grind down the theads on the arm end??? philips head screw no less.
oh so your saying very late production some where press fitted on . I did not see that in the book

oh one more thing the metal finish was either made to replicate a used gun part refinished or it was converted it had been re-blued or appeared to be re=blued

love to hear what others think

Thanks for the replies
 
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It appears identical to many of my mag catches. There are variations on how the catch itself is made, but every one that was taken off a gun that I've seen was drilled even though pressing is easy and allows it to be reassembled as original. None were screwed together during the war - at least none I've seen in person or museums, which is a big enough sample to assume that pressing was standard.

The seller was correct - IMA used to reuse them by drilling and tapping for a small screw. The better way to repair is to machine a new section of post and weld on to the catch so there's enough material for the button to be pressed on and the post expanded.
 

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