My new Lafette 42

[John Slater]

very nice all you need is some leather straps

[Hans Zeug]

Nice lafette.

Hi if that's the original paint on there you have done very well in getting that one, seems to be all there. Have you found many WaA stamps, these peices allways seem to have many. I suppose the correct optic is next on your list? Nice regards David.

[Patty D]

A big thank you to a couple of members for pointing this out, but I'm afraid this lafette turned out to be a post-war yugo m53 lafette!! It had been re-stamped (but lacking WaA stamps which turned out to be one of the bad signs), painted and aged very very well post-war. Luckily I was able to get my money back on this one, but thought it would be a good idea to warn others against this lafette should it come up again as an original!!

I did also manage to get some pictures of a few very small stamps that were another give away which I will get round to posting to help others out in the future to look out for!

[me6_130]

Patty,

Was it 100% yugo made or mixed up of german and yugo parts? It looked really good and the alu parts had that typical greenish finish...

Carles

[Patty D]

Hi Carles,

It was 100% yugo. And the greenish aluminium parts were one of the reasons that made me think it was original to start with, but had yugo manufacturer stamps! Someone took a lot of time to do this!

Patrick

[me6_130]

I hate fakers

Carles

[gurtsack]

Hello,
can you post a picture to data plate shoot, please?

by by!!

[Hans Zeug]

Dirty fakers!

Hi, I had my doubts about it when I first saw it, I mentioned to member Grossfuss about the lack of WaA marls on the cradle and what I thought might be filled in holes on the cradle where there might have been a riveted Yugo plate, see pic below. Very pleased that you got your money back. If you need any advice on a future purchase I'm sure people like Grossfuss or Bergflak would give you their thoughts. At the show last weekend there were several lafetten for sale some of which looked a bit iffy to me and the prices being asked! Sure am glad I got mine when I did. Best regards David.

[Grossfuss]

Lafette 42

Hi,
Just a few thoughts from a pal of mine who has handled more Lafetten than I'm ever likely to.
He first wondered if the markings on the top cradle were genuine and covered up post-war with a Yugo plate which is not uncommon. The traces of the rivets for the plate, as depicted in David's photo, appear to confirm that a plate was there but my pal isn't happy with the way the "btm" etc. seem to have dented the top of the plate, as in a restamp. The lack of WaA's is also a worry.
He reckons the optical sight block could be from Ohio Ordnance due to the lack of WaA on that.
Finally the rear mounting for the front shock absorber is Yugo being a different shape from the German (see attached pic).
The "btm" near the top of the front leg looks OK.
Are you able to show us the other little give-away stamps Patty D?
What's the general verdict on the elevating mechanism?
If there's money in it they'll have a go e.g. restamped MG42's and Gurtfuller34's.
As an aside - I thought the big give-away on the Yugo Gf34 was the pressing on the clamp of three lines in the form of an inverted arrow whereas the German version has parallel vertical lines.
Somewhere recently (poss eBay.de) there was a pic of a clamp ground-dug in Russia which bore the "arrow" stamping or was that a "cunning plan" to legitimise Yugo Gurtfueller clamps!
I apologise for going off on a tangent1
Regards,
Grossfuss

[Patty D]

Hello Grossfuss,
Thank you for the detailed description of what you and your friend believe was wrong. It was the lack of WaA's that made me start to doubt it, and then I found these markings what look to be a 'k' with number in an oval on many parts (mainly the small parts such as bolt box, optic block, adjusting handles), and read elsewhere that these markings indicate post-war Yugo made parts?
Thanks again,
Patrick

Anyway here they are:

[me6_130]

Yes, I believe those are yugo acceptance stamps

Carles

[David H]

Yes, they definately are yugo stamps, they are quite often shallow stampings so get completely lost under paint, last ones I saw were on the side of a bolt box, unfortunately they can be ground away quite easily

[Patty D]

Thanks for that David, there was actually one on the side of the bolt box on this example also!!! I am surprised the dealer that faked this up didn't grind them off, they did a good enough job on the paint it seems!