panzerfaust help

[MILITARYMAN1000]

hello, I got this panzerfaust in the mail on Saturday and I am planning to restore it but I want to make sure it is original as I didn't ask before. the owner said it had been sandblasted and primed and was ground dug.

any opinions on originality would be appreciated

thanks in advance
john

[MILITARYMAN1000]

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pictures 3 & 4

[MILITARYMAN1000]

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pictures 5 & 6

[MILITARYMAN1000]

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pictures 7 & 8

[MILITARYMAN1000]

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pictures 9 & 10

[Gary Cain]

Hi John,

Yes, it's a real one. It looks more like the lake found ones to me, but it could also be a ground dug one.

[oberjaeger]

hello, this is a ground dug, normally water founds are in better condition....
best regards jens

[petopoint]

Nice pickup.

Congrats, original PanzerFaust in Ground dug condition.
Nice score, will you be retrofitting it and paint it too?

[juoneen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVIHBSsNJEA

This may just be the one you bought, and the water found ones are as he says are usually in a better preserved condition....than ground dug, and you will have to fill all the pitts, there is a product that is like liquid metal you can use....like on auto body work. Good luck with your project, and show us the end result when you have finished...

[Visniewski]

This is an original Panzerfaust 100, judging from the longitudinal closure strap (the Pzf 60 had a perpendicular one, sort of one-buttoned collar) and the position of the propelling charge retaining screw. The Pzf 100 had a double charge of black powder (compared to Pzf 60), so the screw was repositioned back along the bottom of the tube. The wooden stem of the projectile lacks spring sheet-steel fins - for Pzf 100 these should be triangular shaped (earlier models had rectangular fins with rounded corners). These fins were of rectangular triangle shape, ca. 4 in long and 3 in wide with rectangular corner side nailed to the stem base facing rear, with two or three simple thin furniture nails. I have seen ones with 2 or 3 nails, sometimes there were irregularities in placing the nails on a single stem, with e.g. two fins nailed with 2 and the other two nailed with 3 nails, or three nailed with 2, and then fourth with 3. I do strongly suspect these were not some sort of "models" but just anything that held the damn fin in place was good enough for the QC - the Pzf 100 was introduced in late 1944, and the German military was then LONG beyond nit-picking quality acceptance control.
This advice comes from my own unfortunate youthful experience: Make sure there's no charges left in tube (should be completely empty - the propelling charge for Pzf 100 came in two pellets separated by a cardboard filler - you have to flush both charges and unfortunately the spacer as well to get rid of the propellant) and of course in the projectile! The main charge was over a kilo hexogen laced with PETN, this is a VERY powerful explosive and you could have your ass in real crack if there's any of that stuff left in your toy when you go public with it. I know, mine was ALMOST empty, but I got into much trouble anyway. Fortunately the judge was a guy who knew a bit about history and stuff (old enough to have played himself with war leftovers, probably) so he just lectured me severly - and under the Commies rule illegal possession of explosives was a bad thing to have been accused of. I dread what would become of me, if I'd be judged now by some hysteric chick who goes ballistic at the mere mention of firearms or explosives :-)
OK, wrapping it up: a good haul, especially in the land of the free, where these were never used, so they do not litter the woods, but make double sure it's kosher before going public with it.