Parts for dou 44?

spallgard

spallgard

Member
I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I have a dou 44 that I inherited from my grandfather some 30 years ago. My grandfather did not serve in WW2. Sometime in the 50's or early 60's he came into posession of this rifle. I don't have any history on it. According to my father it came over in excellent condition.
When I got it I noticed the following: Safety latch has been brazed, no cleaning rod, sight shroud missing, someone removed and plugged the bolt disc holes. It's missing what I believe is the bayonet locking spring?(barrel band spring upper/lower???) It also came with a bayonet and sheath. The stock is unstained laminate which appears to have been given a coat of shellac or thin varnish. The handguard that came with it was cracked on top but still in place. I've acquired another handguard but it is stained. The sling ring on the fore-end appears to be incorrectly mounted as the sling slit is on the right side of the rifle. Looking at pictures on this site it appears that the slit should be on the left side. (Someone took it apart and forgot how it went back together)
The only corrosion is on the butt plate. The bolt still has some bluing but most of it is in the white. I've fired this weapon but not for many years.
Since I joined this site I have been reading about matching numbers on weapons. On mine very few numbers match. The stock is in excellent condition. No dings or dents. The only discrepancy is the bolt disc removal/covering.
I find these to be very interesting weapons. I would like to replace some of the parts since I am sure this rifle holds no value other than to me. What is the best place to look for parts? I want to get a bayonet locking spring (I may be mis-identifying this part. It's a 4" long piece of steel that fits in a groove in the stock with a button that protrudes from a hole in the metal end-cap) I would like to get a bolt disc, and possibly a new safety latch/lever. The brazed one works ok. And a correct repro leather sling.

After reading I am wondering whether I should take it to a gunsmith and have it checked out to be sure it is safe to fire. It worked perfectly in the past but if it's been assembled from other parts maybe the headspacing should be confirmed?

This post is longwinded and I apologize. If someone could give me a heads-up on where to find these parts or give an opinion on the rifle I would very much appreciate it.

Edit: Found some of these parts on Ebay. Still looking for advice/opinions...

*** Edit *** Pictures added to my Album. Please comment! (8-28-12)

Thank you.


Dave
 
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Hi Spallgard and welcome to the forum.

Alot of the guys here are all very knowledgeable when it comes to these old German girls and I'm sure they'll love to help you out. I myself am still learning but I'll try to help you out as best I can, but don't take my advice as gospel, lol.

The first thing that would help these guys out best would be to snap a few detailed photos of your rifle so they can see exactly what you got.

The locking spring your talking about is what holds the front band on to the rifle. The bayo simply slides into the groves on the bayo lug and sits there. The rear band being on backwards should be a very simply fix by just sliding (may require light tapping) it off and flipping it over. The stock may be a loss if your looking to restore the rifle depending on what it's been filled with, wont know till pictures.

As for parts, Ebay, Gunbroker, AuctionArms and GunsAmerica are the auction sites where you can usualy find random parts. You can also post a wtb add here in the trader and over on the trade Gunboards.com and that is usually a good way of finding what you need too.

As for the few matching numbers, what parts do you have that match?


Hope that helps a little

Dana
 
Dana,

Thanks for the welcome and reply. The only numbers that match are the sling band, stock and barrel serial numbers. Right now I have it disassembled for cleaning. My intention is to verify safe operation and then make the gun complete as I can. I intend to shoot it. As I said in my post, I shot it years ago quite a bit. It seemed to be very accurate. The bore is very clean. I will take your advice and take pictures as I go through it and then post them here. Then if I have questions I'll have something people can visually reference.

Thanks again!


Dave
 
Pictures of my rifle for comment and suggestions. I have been trying to bring photos into this post but not having much luck. If anyone is interested I have 8 pictures in an Album that I think anyone can look at. I don't know how to transfer photos from album to post. Don't quite know how this one got transferred because I can't duplicate the success!?
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