Tale of a bcd4 MG barrel rifle

I have 1 bcd4 MG barrel rifle in the collection. It was actually one of the first rifles I ever bought from Gunbroker. We've all seen it, the guy who list a rifle for sale with a ridiculous price, and it sits there for literally years. Many times the photos are dark, out of focus, whatever, or they show exactly what you are getting and it's horrible. In the case of this rifle, the auction description was "mint bcd4", vet bringback, blah blah blah. No photos, and if you emailed the seller for photos you would never get them. So, I figured out the problem- his photos were so large that nobody ever saw them, as they would crash your system trying to download them in emails. I emailed him and asked for 1 photo, and it came through. The rifle was minty, phosphate, and had an MG barrel. A few other photos confirmed matching bolt, but alas the original stock was damaged beyond repair, broken through the magazine well to get it home in a duffel back, sort of a duffel bag break instead of cut. The original hardware came with it, as did a junker replacement stock. Fast forward 15 years, and I finally found an exact match to the original stock! It was by dumb luck, Bruce found a non-descript late bcd stock at auction, and missed out on it. He saw the same stock for sale online and ended up getting it, having seen the stock and knowing it was good. As he was selling it to another guy, he noticed the channel was cut for a machine gun barrel rifle-- they have a longer cut in the barrel shank area to allow the MG Barrel shoulder to fit. After working a deal with the other buyer, selling him a correct non-MG barrel stock for his, I got it. Now the rifle looks exactly as it came back, in a factory MG barrel late bcd stock with a disc. The odds of finding the exact correct stock are long, but it happened!

Here she is, in all her glory, back in action. For unknown reasons, quite a few MG barrel guns have standard type stocks with disc, at a time when other rifles in the same serial ranges were getting semi-Kriegsmodell stocks (many MG Barrel rifles have semi-Kriegs stocks on them too). I have a theory on that which I might share, and why you find a lot of MG Barrel rifles with stocks that are more finely finished than stocks of other late guns. It also might explain the mystery of why there are no 1945 dated MG Barrel guns reported, again at a time when bcd45 receivers were being used regularly.

I forgot one thing, the price. It's been a while, but I think the price was $750.00. At the time, a lot for a rifle with the wrong stock on it. I may have paid less, it's been a while.

god those things are cool. gotta get me one of them. when you say you got the exact stock, you dont mean numbers matching? Its unnumbered right?

That is a great rifle. Love it. Thanks for posting.

Yes, the late bcd phosphate guns all have unnumbered stocks. By exact, I mean this stock is from a factory MG Barrel rifle, and has a disc like the original stock did, and looks exactly like the stock that was destroyed. They are cool, and not as rare as many people think- there are probably 20,000 some odd guns made like this.

The chances of tracking down a correct MG-cut stock that nice were pretty slim. Some people are just lucky I guess.

What is the theory on the use of a non-SKM stock??? Don't be a tease.

bcd 4 mg barrel 98k

She's a real beauty, Mr. Frab. Tks for the pic layout
on this one.
Bob32268

Amazing piece! I never knew that a few of these rifles ended up with MG barrels.

Based on Weavers Volkssturm book, we know a lot of Luftwaffe MG barrels were released for building Volksgewehr sometime in late 1944, and probably early 1945. It seems plausible that Gustloff would not have assembled these components on the standard K98k production line, as the barrel component would require special adaptation to use on the K98k. My theory is a specific lot of receivers were sent with the barrels to a special assembly workshop, to fit the barreled receivers together. So, the receivers available and sent with the barrels at the time were bcd4 marked, as it was before introduction of the bcd45 receivers into production. It seems likely that this workshop could also have been tasked with modifying stocks for the special run, or developing the method to do so, and a group of stocks were sent as well. It's clear that serial numbers were stamped on the barrel AFTER assembly to the receiver, so the barreled receivers were probably sent into the standard production line once assembled. You do find regular bcd4 98k rifles with standard barrels in the MG barrel range, but they are few and far between. That's why I think the lot of them were dumped into the production line at the same time.

Some interesting sidenotes, there are no MG Barrel LSR rifles reported that are legitimate, meaning not humped up. I've seen a few pretty convincing ones, but the ones I have seen had issues. It makes no sense to build a sniper rifle using one of these MG barrels, so I'm pretty certain there are no legit LSR MGB guns, and no legit bcd45 marked MGB guns. If one is ever reported I'd want a good look at it. One thing I have learned though, never say never or you will get your a$$ handed to you. One other interesting sidenote, the later (after the serial rollover) MG barrel rifles all have the early type firing proof, while non MG barrel rifles after the rollover show the new style proofing. This is right in the adoption range for the new style proof, but interesting that none of the MG barrel guns have the new proof. I have an LSR in the same range as the MG Barrel guns and it has the new style proof (Sn 2189 I think). I should note that a few examples seen do not have the longer recess cut in the stock channel, so it would seem a few got by with the standard stock relief or these are restorations. I would imagine a few got by myself, it was almost 20,000 guns and there had to have been errors.

Anyone in a production environment knows that any changes to standard procedure will muck up the works. I imagine the MG barrel program was more of a pain than it was worth from a production standpoint.

Attached is a few pages from Kriegsmodell. There is an error in reporting 1 bcd45 MG barrel gun which we are fixing in the book we are coming out with, along with updating a few photos of this rifle (and a good reason to post it here).

great rifle and stock .

Original auction text had an opening bid of $900 but he might have lowered it over time.

RyanE said:

The chances of tracking down a correct MG-cut stock that nice were pretty slim. Some people are just lucky I guess..

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It has always been my experience in these things that patience,diligence,and determintion have more to do with it than luck..

When luck seemingly does play a roll I prefer to think of it as karmic payback more so than a fortunate turn of events.

But that just me.

What ever the case....good looking weapon....congrats on the find.

Steve

Something familiar here....

Great rifle, congrats on finding the stock!

If I had to guess I would say that the same tooling cut the "c" stock on my bcd4 LSR when you compare bolt cutouts. Rear edge has the same chatter and tooling marks. The stock on on the LSR is an SKM type. Is there any markings at all in the barrel channel?

Awesome rifle farb. Alot of "dumb" luck has been floating around our forums lately. I love to hear stories about finds like this.

Thanks for sharing!

MGB Production??

Nice 'farb, and great info update in the thread, theory, and correction ie., no (apparent) bcd45 MGB!

mrfarb said:

They are cool, and not as rare as many people think- there are probably 20,000 some odd guns made like this.

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I am wondering out loud on the production estimate. Here's why...

=> in Pisgah serial study, sn 85xxx to 99999, only about one-third are MGB listed, so that's about ~5,000 of the 15K made in that range. In the 110 to 5799 serial range, about 75% are MGB.... or ~3,750. Unless I am missing something in Pisgah's data, less that 10K MGB were made?

=> Pisgah's data: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?86-Gustolf-bcd-4-bcd45-serials-and-data

Bob in OHIO said:

Nice 'farb, and great info update in the thread, theory, and correction ie., no (apparent) bcd45 MGB!



I am wondering out load on the production estimate. Here's why...

=> in Pisgah serial study, sn 85xxx to 99999, only about one-third are MGB listed, so that's about ~5,000 of the 15K made in that range. In the 110 to 5799 serial range, about 75% are MGB.... or ~3,750. Unless I am missing something in Pisgah's data, less that 10K MGB were made?

=> Pisgah's data: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?86-Gustolf-bcd-4-bcd45-serials-and-data

Click to expand...

Good points, hence my "20,000 some odd" number. I would think the majority of rifles in the 0-6000 range are MGB, and maybe a higher percentage from 85,000-99999 are as well, but a more realistic number might be 10-15,000 I think. My production estimate at 20,000 some odd was a bit high, but It hink 5,000 is too low with the large number reported. Then again, there could also be an over reporting of bcd4 MGB rifles as they are unique and people notice them more.

That is a really cool rifle! Great find on the stock. Thanks for sharing the pics.