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First K43 ID info requested

I need to make a correction. The “piston” I keep refering to is incorrect. I meant “gas cylinder” NOT PISTON :facepalm:! Sorry guys for my inaccuracy.

Ive called it a piston sleeve at times, but yes we should use the proper terminology, especially if newer members are inquiring.
 
Ive called it a piston sleeve at times, but yes we should use the proper terminology, especially if newer members are inquiring.

Absolutely! I don't know why but the first word I think of when seeing that piece is "piston". I guess because to me it just looks like one.

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OK. Trying to do right by you fellows and this rifle and I have a final couple of requests to fulfil. I don't really understand the photo posting here, but will attempt to get the shots I took today to load here in the thread. I have pics of the hammer, bolt face, the firing pin carrier(?) and bolt group, some proofs I found on the lugs which I hope are not bad things, and a stamp on the top of the hand guard which Tiger 2 Tank thought might be there (I looked hard but no luck finding one on the stock, but I wasn't really sure where the keel was and found nothing in any case). That is all from this end unless someone has other requests. Thanks again.

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Everything looks good on those. Just can't see all the numbers on the locking lugs. Good find on the top of the hand guard. The "keel" is the very bottom of the stock. The stock maker waffenampt is what you are looking for. Most likely a e/WaAC10 or e/359. Like this d block that is in our picture section:

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See how hard it is to sort of see. Some of them are hard to see as the wood may have swelled and it's now shallow or just very lightly was stamped. You may have to take a strong flashlight and move it around to see it. I'll bet it's there, just hard to see.
 
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It doesn't look like it has been used much but it has been dry fired a lot and this took its toll on the bolt face.
The bolt will work in a dual lug receiver, is this one a dual lug?
 
And curious on the piston. It “looks like” an earlier one where someone drilled holes in it, but not sure.

I'm not sure the gas cylinder is original. I don't like the sharp contour/edge where it begins to neck down. None of the late war gas pistons I have handled exhibited the sharp edge. It looks like a cylinder that was turned on a lathe from a solid rod instead of being spun from a hollow pipe or die formed. Also, due to their locations the holes in the cylinder make no sense and don't do anything at all unless the piston has enormous blow-by.
 
I'm not sure the gas cylinder is original. I don't like the sharp contour/edge where it begins to neck down. None of the late war gas pistons I have handled exhibited the sharp edge. It looks like a cylinder that was turned on a lathe from a solid rod instead of being spun from a hollow pipe or die formed. Also, due to their locations the holes in the cylinder make no sense and don't do anything at all unless the piston has enormous blow-by.

Yes, the cylinder does look odd to say the least.
 
Does anyone have a Type 2 Gas Cylinder with two holes in it that they can post a pic of?

I checked Claus - http://claus.espeholt.dk/g43_parts.html - didn't see one there

I checked Numrich - they did sell it but are now out - no pic that I saw - http://www.historicalparts.com/g43parts.htm

I checked Apfeltor - seems to make Type 1 gas cylinders. http://www.apfeltor.com/html_pages/manufacturing/cylinders/hobnails.html

My K43 ac 45 4668 d has a Type 3 with a hole gas cylinder.

My googlefu seems to have failed.
 
Could it be the Type 2 cylinder with two holes that Weaver talks about in HG?

The only 2-hole gas cylinders Weaver mentioned were the factory made Type 3 and the modified Type 1. What the O/P showed was a modified Type 2 and the modifications done to it are absolutely useless if their intended purpose was to blow off excess pressure. In order to accomplish the same task ask the holes in Type 3, the modified Type 2 cylinder has to travel much farther, meaning it will have accelerated the bolt carrier for a much longer duration than the Type 3, resulting in much higher velocity, thereby negating the intended purpose of the bleed holes, which is to slow down the velocity with which the bolt carrier slams into the rear receiver. In addition, the holes are way too small for meaningful venting. The large hole in the gas piston can supply gas at a much much higher rate than the little pin holes in the cylinder can bleed gas off.
 
I don't know why I said Type 2 with 2 holes.

Numrich just called theirs mid to late war with 2 holes.

I have never seen a two holed gas cylinder. Only have seen the Type 3 with the one large hole. Do you have a picture of a two hole gas cylinder?
 
I don't know why I said Type 2 with 2 holes.

Numrich just called theirs mid to late war with 2 holes.

I have never seen a two holed gas cylinder. Only have seen the Type 3 with the one large hole. Do you have a picture of a two hole gas cylinder?

Yes I do. It's a phosphate cylinder off an ac45.

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Well this one is a four hole, no clue who, or why? Looks like a lot of trouble for a rifle which was not shot much, or at all? Very odd to me, but I've seen a lot of odd pertaining to old guns.

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Well this one is a four hole, no clue who, or why? Looks like a lot of trouble for a rifle which was not shot much, or at all? Very odd to me, but I've seen a lot of odd pertaining to old guns.

I stand corrected. Due to the better pictures I believe this could be a Type 2 cylinder, although I've never encountered one like this with the unusual curvature around the neck area. The bleed holes still make no sense. Are they internally blued or do the look like they were drilled after blueing?
 
Definitely after, you can even see little drill chatter marks. Though for the life of me I can't figure out why it would be done? It screams Bubba, but why would someone ruin a perfectly good gas cylinder as they are not cheap as you know, to just add a couple of holes based on what? A cylinder that was numbered to a gun at some time, so it brings into question lots of things that we will never know the answers to.

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I’ll bet a prior owner tried to tame the recoil and drilled those holes in a gas cylinder he found, laid the original gas cylinder to the side and once he sold the rifle, either lost or just didn’t bother putting the original gas cylinder back in.
 

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