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Something very odd with the barrel jacket markings on this 34.
With that serial number it should be coded '936' not BSW and dated 1939!
No Mg34 was ever made as early as 1934, very strange indeed!

Jonathan.

Wow, that's a first for me.

I have not heard of a dot 1940, until now.

Excellent stuff.

Jonathan.

Hello Craigster,
Could you please post some pictures of the barrel jacket markings?
Jonathan.

Hello Gavin,

You are right, it is a Mauser made Mg manufactured in 1945.
DF date code for 1944 and 45.
3019e serial number.
dd Mauser manufactures code in 1945.
As they used the same date code for 44 and 45 you would have seen a manufacturers code ar
on 1944 made guns.

Jonathan.

Hello,
To me it looks like a 'type 3' making it a late war Mg42 or an M53 which someone has added
an AA sight bracket.
hqu is not a code used on any WW2 German receiver.
ehs stamps are a positive though as to it being WW2 German.

Jonathan.

Hello Tim

Rask Antik also has one for sale, the condition is not as good as the one you posted.

Jonathan.

Hi Rob,
I can't help with the pin, but I do think the sight is early.
My understanding is the early ones have the groves on both sides, later ones only on one side.
As for data I would say 1942/mid 43.
Jonathan.

Thank you very much Frank.
Jonathan.

Tom, Yes those holes were used by all manufacturers. They were fazed out during the first half of 1944. It seems that Mauser stopped first with the other manufacturers following suit soon after going by observed 42s. I don't know why they stopped using the holes, but a half educated guess on my beha...

Is it original to the rest of the gun? If so, what is the maker, date, cocking handle type etc? Tom. Hello Tom, The gun is for sure later than the flash hider, which is rare and desirable. Where the flash hider screws on to the 42 and then tapers in slightly an early one would have two rows of smal...

Hello,
bnz mg34s are by far the rarest manufacturer with approx 7,000 made between 1940-41 out of over 400,000 mg34s made in total.
Jonathan.

Hello, I agree its the Umschalter. Tim I spotted your safety lever is stamped with the rare 5A code. I luckily have 3 early ones bsw 37 and 38 plus a Mauser 39, all have these early features and all are sadly empty. I believe only the earliest of the production third variants 1936/7/8? left the fact...

Tim,
Congratulations, I think one of the panels I had needed some rigorous persuasion to part company with the grip frame
Have you found any hidden waffenamts or markings?
Kindest regards,
Jonathan.

Hello Tim,
Very nice, a truly impressive collection you have.
Jonathan.
ps next episode of Combat Dealers is on in 20 mins.

I agree with everything 42rocker has stated. If we could take a step back in time to 1944 when the 42 left the factory it would have had a wooden stock fitted. Production of the bakelite stocks stopped in early 1943 I believe. Looking at known serial numbers for Mauser in 1943, only a very small num...

Of the 2 guns all being equal I would say the ar "Mauser is more collectorable because they made far fewer than cra "Maget"
ar production approx 54,000, cra production approx 165,000. Jonathan.

I need glasses, I didn't spot the fact it says bk marked. Game over, Yugo she be.

In my opinion the flash hider is Yugo, the reason being, that the grooves on the rings are "chunky" they are (on all my German flash hiders) closer spaced and not as deep. The one Yugo flash hider I had looked like the one for sale on ebay you are looking at. As ever I could well be wrong, so wait a...

If I were you, I would buy it as a repro, it doesn't seem like a bad price for a repro from what other well informed folks have said here.
If it turns out to be an original, it's a nice bonus.
Jonathan.

Hello yours is indeed WW2 German, DF is the year code of manufacture 1944. 5546c is the serial number. AR is the manufacturers code for Mauser. The letter in serial number means 10,000 made, so 5546c means yours was the 35,546th Mg42 Mauser made. Jonathan.