G-K43's

[Frank Mills]

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[R_Hessian]

g43

Frank,
I sent you a "pm"
Robert

[Willi Z.]

Hi Frank,

Those late-war G/K43 buttstock manuals bring up to $150 today. They are rather common to G/K43 collectors, since there are so many mint G/K43s out there in collections which still include the buttstock items. Yes, a standard k98 oiler fits in the buttstock too, along with extra firing pin, extractor, etc. I have had several mint 43s with all the goodies including one with a matching numbered scope mount.

That book "Hitler's Garand" is a must!!! Before I focused mainly on FJ items, I used to have a pretty large collection of G/K43s and k98 snipers..... along with collectable (all matching k98s).

Willi

[Brian M]

Hi Frank,
I would tend to agree with Willi about the price on the manuals. $150 for a nice one is about right.... those wouldn't happen to be my repop manuals on ebay, would they? next best thing for $10.
actually I have three versions of the manual, and one of the mp/stg44 manual. hopefully I will soon offer an Fg42 manual.
check out my website for a little filler info and stats on the G/K43 whilst you wait for your book, Brian's G/K43 collector's page

Willi, it is good to see you here! see you at Odessa, I'm one of Erich's new troops. met you at Reading. take care,
Bri

[Frank Mills]

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[R_Hessian]

Hey Brian!

Hey Brian,
I even find you here, nice surprise! Thanks again for looking at that sun shield for me, Ya I'am happy to have it!
See you on the g43 forum.
Robert

[Willi Z.]

Frank, what kind of K43 is it? Coding and date?

Brian, I did not know it was you. Yes, I remember meeting you and look forward in chatting about G/K43s at Odessa. I still own several choice ones, and my dad collects them too. I saw your FG42 comments. I guess you know Mike F. also? Are you going to the Max too?

Have not visited this firearms thread very often. Still have some mint matching k98s and long side rails, high turrets, zf41 k98 and all the bells and whistles.

Willi

[Frank Mills]

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[Frank Mills]

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[Willi Z.]

Frank,

The Waffenampt stamp should be WaA359. That is the WaA for Walther, the maker of your rifle. So, maybe what looks like an "0" is a "9". Only WaA214 would be the other code on a stock, and it would be on the opposite side of where the WaA359 one is.

"gcb" is a coomon maker of mags for these. The "aye" is only alittle less common, but a "G43" marked mag is getting tough to find.

Willi

[R_Hessian]

call

Frank,
After ten would be great. The wife is in surgery every monday so I try to help out alittle more with the kids. But lets talk !
Robert
"Ein Hessian"

[Frank Mills]

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[Brian M]

Frank, I think you did well on the trade. You have a very late 1944 production Walther gun.
Willi is correct on the WaA359 code for Walther. BLM (DUV and later QVE) used the 214 code and gustloff used 749.
The Gustloff guns will bear the WaA749 stamps twice on the same side of the stock as the BLM guns.
BLM is the abbreviation for (Berlin Lubecker Machinenfabrik).

Walther (AC) made the guns at the main factory in Zella-Mehlis, and also at a second facility (Walther Werke II) at the Neuengamme concentration camp. these guns can be very difficult to tell which facility they were made, but in some cases it is possible.

the Gustloff guns (BCD code) were all made within the confines of the Buchenwald concentration camp, and not at the Gustloff main factory. the reason why Gustloff is the rarest maker is that in August 1944, the R.A.F. destroyed the Gustloff G43 facility in Buchenwald on a raid aimed at destroying a V-1 rocket plant also within the compound.

Aye and Gcb are as Willi stated the two most common codes, although like stated, the G43 marked mags are less common and will command a $25-50 premium over K43 marked mags.

[Brian M]

Hi Rob! small world! I seem to run into you everywhere!
again, great pickup on the long shade. if ever I can do anything for you, you just say the word.
Bri

[Brian M]

Frank,
on the scope mount, if it is not an original, it would either be current reproduction (there are umpteen companies making various qualities ranging from so good it's very difficult for seasoned collectors to tell the difference, to something that looks like a talented second grader could make. there are postwar mounts, which were made by the CIA, and also post war mounts made by the Czech's (the Yugoslav's used these as well. they are actually rarer than original German mounts, but command less money. I would say a nice Czech mount is worth in the $500-700 range. the East Germans used the original Nazi mounts. they had a nasty habit of rearsenalling these rifles, whereas the other countries that reissued them generally did not.
East German guns follow a tight pattern. they are all dip blued, reserial numbered with electro pencil on all parts usually including the mag, and some parts like the triggerguard and buttplate will be stamped with the number. they also tend to be mostly Ac rifles utilizing renumbered BLM bolts and other parts you can tell this by the difference in waffens on the parts. they also have a curious habbit of showing up with the Durofol phenolic resin impregnated handguards. the recievers will bear the Russian "X" capture proof, and the DDR "VOPO" sunburst stamp.
now, don't confuse this with the sunburst found on all Gustloff rifles, this is an inspection proof from the Gustloff factory. interestingly, Wilhelm Gustloff Werke was the only arms factory under direct Nazi party control, and small parts bear a small letter "v" within a circle in lieu of a waffenampt.
the only real "tell tale" trait of a Czech or Yugo gun is the large letter "R" burned into the buttstock.

wow, kind of got away from myself there, hope it doesn't sound like rambling!
Bri