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G43 Wood Repair Question

JG14_Jagr

Member
So I have a K43 I'm cleaning up for a friend. Its been sitting for a long time in a basement and has some rust to deal with but other than the butt plate nothing serious. What it does have is a horrible duffel cut repair on the butt. The attempted repair involved a boat load of filler material and some brown stain/paint. The remainder of the wood is in good shape and I may be able to remove/reduce the brown coloring without eating into the wood and original finish but it will take a lot of time. The metal overall is going to clean up very well and does not appear to have any major structural issues. I need to clean more before I can see if just the butt was sanded and I would prefer to repair the butt than put a repop stock on it since most of it is good or better. I'm thinking of finding a crappy K98 laminated/cupped stock and use it as a donor for the repair piece I would need. Has anyone had any success doing that. Its a duffel cut and I can certainly do a far better repair than what on there now with a K98 with similar laminate pattern would be used... Thoughts? IMG_0199.jpgIMG_0195.jpgIMG_0200.jpg
 
I’m sorry but I don’t have any suggestions for your project. I was wondering if I could get the serial number and the maker and year code? I have an extensive G/K.43 listing on each maker and I was wondering if I could add this one.
 
So I have a K43 I'm cleaning up for a friend. Its been sitting for a long time in a basement and has some rust to deal with but other than the butt plate nothing serious. What it does have is a horrible duffel cut repair on the butt. The attempted repair involved a boat load of filler material and some brown stain/paint. The remainder of the wood is in good shape and I may be able to remove/reduce the brown coloring without eating into the wood and original finish but it will take a lot of time. The metal overall is going to clean up very well and does not appear to have any major structural issues. I need to clean more before I can see if just the butt was sanded and I would prefer to repair the butt than put a repop stock on it since most of it is good or better. I'm thinking of finding a crappy K98 laminated/cupped stock and use it as a donor for the repair piece I would need. Has anyone had any success doing that. Its a duffel cut and I can certainly do a far better repair than what on there now with a K98 with similar laminate pattern would be used... Thoughts? View attachment 265044View attachment 265046View attachment 265054

Pick up a sporter K98 stock and cut off what you need. A couple of smaller lag bolts and Accuglass and clamps and you will be back in business.
 
That’s stock is salvageable by the right stock repair folks. Hopefully you’ll get a good recommendation in this thread. I have a Walther G41 with a duffel cut on the butt end. It was cut through the sling well/cutout. It was repaired long before I acquired but whoever did it did a very nice job. You have to look hard to see it unless you know where to look, which I’ve told. Of course it was sanded a bit but still a nice save to the original stock. I just live with it. Look closely at the sling cutout/well.
521404e025a29a63bb48a344c5f1526e.jpg



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Fantastic job Joseph, great idea to line up the splice with the sling slot! It kind of takes your eye away from the repair.:hail:
 
Laminate stocks are easier to blend and patch than standard wood stocks if you have the right person doing it.
I had a k98 that was duffle cut, I was able to find a forearm portion on this web site and then a good friend did the work for me (cost ~$100 for the work). Blended the laminations so the cut could only be seen from the bottom of the stock. The guy is a true wizard, he even re-barreled a G/K43 for me and he has completed many a saving grace project for me. Truly lucky as he usually finishes projects within 1-4 weeks.
 
Laminate stocks are easier to blend and patch than standard wood stocks if you have the right person doing it.
I had a k98 that was duffle cut, I was able to find a forearm portion on this web site and then a good friend did the work for me (cost ~$100 for the work). Blended the laminations so the cut could only be seen from the bottom of the stock. The guy is a true wizard, he even re-barreled a G/K43 for me and he has completed many a saving grace project for me. Truly lucky as he usually finishes projects within 1-4 weeks.

Sounds like this is the "go to " guy.
Money well spent! I'd sure like to see close ups of his work.
:thumbsup:
 
I’m sorry but I don’t have any suggestions for your project. I was wondering if I could get the serial number and the maker and year code? I have an extensive G/K.43 listing on each maker and I was wondering if I could add this one.

I pulled it apart to get some grease off of it. The metal finish other than the Butt cap is in good shape. The trigger guard assembly has some surface rust on it but nothing terrible. The stock has been sanded and given a coat of some type of stain to try and match the ceramic paste they used to fill the duffel cut area. The only stock marking I can see if a faint serial on bottom of butt stock which seems to match the receiver but its only 2 readable numbers of 4. The serial of the receiver and the bolt don't match but they are strangely close.IMG_0476.jpgIMG_0477.jpg
 
So I used some soap and water to get the crud off the wood and this is what I have.. you can see the stain someone used to try to blend the repair Also, under the putty was a couple of stacked pieces of plywood screwed to the stock with 4 screws of ridiculous size that I would say are 40's-50's vintage and all 4 are different from each other.. but I was able to get it off without further damage leaving just what is left of the original stock (Makes me wonder where the heck he lost the part he cut off) .. So now I'm going to give my friend the report on what he has and what he doesn't have. The bolt and receiver are off by about 100 serials but visually the finish/wear looks identical. I don't know where the guy my friend got it from (he would not have been old enough for it to have been his bring back) but it sat in his basement since the 70's with a dozen other C&R types and he definitely did not do the work on it. The stock was cut and was sanded.. there is a serial number with a couple numbers barely visible on the very bottom of stock about even with the sling cut There is damage on the rear of bolt carrier as seen below. The butt cup is really roached but original with the red primer inside but severe exterior pitting unfortunately from where it touched the concrete floor for decades. So if he plans to keep it its going to need minor armorer work to modify the gas system and fix/replace the damage if he wants to shoot it plus graft on a K98 stock to repair it. If he wants to sell it would it be better to leave it as is (not repairing wood) and tell him to offer it it in that form rather than doing a wood repair that a buyer might have wanted done differently? And while it is a pretty cool weapon I would take a Garand over it all day, every day and it would not even be a close contest. ;)

IMG_0479.jpgIMG_0485.jpg
 
I’m sorry but I don’t have any suggestions for your project. I was wondering if I could get the serial number and the maker and year code? I have an extensive G/K.43 listing on each maker and I was wondering if I could add this one.

G43 duv 44. 4561 on receiver. 4658 on bolt
 
That’s stock is salvageable by the right stock repair folks. Hopefully you’ll get a good recommendation in this thread. I have a Walther G41 with a duffel cut on the butt end. It was cut through the sling well/cutout. It was repaired long before I acquired but whoever did it did a very nice job. You have to look hard to see it unless you know where to look, which I’ve told. Of course it was sanded a bit but still a nice save to the original stock. I just live with it. Look closely at the sling cutout/well.
521404e025a29a63bb48a344c5f1526e.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is one good looking rifle.. I'm in the camp that can appreciate something that's cleaned up and looks great as well as something that is left totally untouched and you have to allow for that. I do find it funny that people think what we consider "untouched" is how it looked when it left the factory before 75 years of hard use, age, and weather even if no one tried to "clean" it.
 
I just sent a duffle cut g43 stock to rob apfeltor, it also had a cracked wrist with old screw repair. I saw some of his work amd it looked great.....will post before and after when i get it.
 

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