FG42 #49 at National Army Museum, New Zealand

[Guillaume d'Orange]

Hi folks,

I contacted the curator at this museum and he sent me a couple of pics (that I am not authorized to publish unfortunately).
The museum is half closed at the moment and he can't take the photos I would have liked.

Here is the rifle (pic taken by @a j s ):



The serial number is #49.
As you can see, the buttstock has no reinforcement ribs (which are a classical feature of Type 1/Type E). It may be a buttstock reused from pre-production series (a look at the s/n on the buttstock may bring clarity)
It has an extended triggerguard : add-on or factory original ? This is a riddle to be solved.
Like #190, it has no "Fehlerstempel" F and the BAL 2 stamp looks identical.
Last, like many FG42 before #1000 or so, it has no notch for the grenade launcher on the upper part of the receiver below the "FG42" stamp.

I hope I may get additional pics from the museum.

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

According to the curator, it has been captured at Monte Cassino.

 

[a j s]

Well done Guillaume on contacting the museum,can not believe they put a freeze on the photos they gave you,anyway here are 2 more photos of that FG 42 that i took there in 2016

 

[R.Blue]

Well done Guillaume on contacting the museum,can not believe they put a freeze on the photos they gave you,anyway here are 2 more photos of that FG 42 that i took there in 2016

I can.
Museums are like prisons.
And oddly enough…being that their purpose is to promote the admiration, preservation, and interest in particular historical items…the more interest and desire you seem to have for something- the less interested they are in allowing you access to it.

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

@a j s, @R.Blue :
I was surprised about the freeze, but I got help and I hope I will get some more when they reopen.
The way I see things museums who own valuable or rare firearms like FG42s shall be very open and transparent about them.
It will attract more visitors, please researchers and be a cheap theft insurance policy.
One of the most advanced museum is the IWM with their online search engine "find an object".

 

[jithaca]

Figures 314, 315 and 316 in Peter Senich’s The German Assault Rifles: 1935-1945, are of Krieghoff Type E s/n 49. The pictures dont show the butt stock, but looking at the ejected cartridge dents on the right side of the handguard, it does not appear to be the same rifle. It is indicated this rifle is in the Q E II Army Memorial Museum.

 

[jithaca]

Correction, Death From Above, indicates the QE II owned rifle is a Type D, not an E

I am assuming that Type C, Type D and Type E rifles do not have consecutive serial numbers. That they started over at 1 for each type of rifle ?

 

[Guillaume d'Orange]

Correction, Death From Above, indicates the QE II owned rifle is a Type D, not an E

I am assuming that Type C, Type D and Type E rifles do not have consecutive serial numbers. That they started over at 1 for each type of rifle ?

Thank you very much for your comment.

The "Type"/"Ausführung" thing is a collector's/researcher's term. Unless I am mistaken, it first appears in the articles published in "Waffen Revue".

What is a Type D ? That's a very good question.
If one believes "Death from Above" :
1) that's the kind of example shown in the first edition of the FG42 manual D. (Luft) T.6194.
2) they were made by Rheinmetall-Borsig and tested at Tarnewitz

#49 has been made by Krieghoff (or any subsidiary of the company), hence it is surprising that Dugelby & Stevens consider it as a Type D.

"Death from Above" states that around 50 Type D were made (not quoting its source). #49 would indicate that the numbering of Type E started over at 1.