MP40 magazine receiver question

[mp38/40/41]

I finally put up the MP40 subpage on my website. www.mp40.nl/index.phpIt's still not completely finished but I need some more input on some questions. One question in particular I would like to have an answer to. Maybe one of you know it:

On the backside of the MP38 and MP40 magazine receiver there is a square notch grinded out. Most of the magazine receivers have this notch. Later models don't seem te have it. What was the function of this? Is it related to the production, does it have to do with the easier removal of the extractor?

I would really appreciate your thought on this.

Alex

[Schmeisserfan]

hey Alex,
at first I have to say :
Amazing webpage , I check that your information weblog almost every week

I´m not sure about the square notch at all, but I want to give my different thoughts :

- Perhaps it has something to do with the common problem " stoppage of the gun " . Without the square notch , the stiffness of the magazine holder was probably modified ( like the modification from not ripped to the ripped magazine ). At all this would be strange that the Germans found this out so "late" at the war

- an easy explanation would be the more cheaper production of the whole mp40 at the end of the war . The fabrication of the magazine holder became easier and faster without the square notch

- it has something to do with the "handhold " of the mp40 :

"German soldiers were trained to grasp either the intended handhold on the underside of the weapon or the magazine housing with the supporting hand (not the magazine itself) to avoid feeding malfunctions "

I myself noticed that actually, you can hold the magazine holder much more easier without that square notch at the back .

hehe my thoughts until now - perhaps everything inaccurate , but never mind
cheers schmeisserfan

[Schmeisserfan]

Probably you´re right : " does it have to do with the easier removal of the extractor? "

A friend of me also thought this

[stevezz1]

This is a shot in the dark, but i have noticed that the small slot on the back of the magazines line up with the cut-out on the mag housing.....
Maybe this could be a leverage point for releasing a jammed magazine.
I don't know how a mag would get jammed as all the examples i have seen have very loose fitting mags......
Just an idea.......

Steve.

[mp38/40/41]

Steve, I think you're right. That solves immediately 2 MP40 mysteries. The cut out in the magazine is at exactly the same height as the grinded notch in the magazine receiver. There would also be no other use for this cut out in the magazine.

I think at some point in time they realized this problem did not occur too much with the "new" ribbed magazine receiver and so they stopped making the notch in it.

Thanks!

Alex

[Cincylance]

Are you referring to the square notch on the backside at the top of the MP40 mag?

That's to hold the loader on the mag.

Postwar mags do not have this notch because they use a different type of loader.

Cincylance

[mp38/40/41]

Thanks Cyncylance, you are right but could it not fulfill 2 roles?

[Cincylance]

Thanks Cyncylance, you are right but could it not fulfill 2 roles?

I guess it could, but why? My guess is that's the only purpose for the notch.

Regarding the extractor removal, it is removed with an awl or a nail, not anything like this mag notch.

Here's a little trivia for the MP40 experts...what tool did the German soldiers use in the field to loosen and tighten the barrel nut on the MP40?

Cincylance

[mp38/40/41]

I'm not talking about the extractor removal. I mean removing the magazine. Not so much from a field experience point of view but from a designers point of view. Field experience proved it wasn't really nescessary and so the removed the notch in the magazine receiver with the later production.

Alex