Need help ID'ing this receiver piece

[navygunner72]

All-

I recently purchused a MG42 receiver section with just a 4 digit number electro penciled on the left rear section? Left top rear has eagles stamped on top though...just never seen one with only a number stamped...any help is greatly appreciated. All the others I have a MG42 and/or dfb...and so on...Not sure what I'm buying?

Thanks!

[www.Prussia.us]

Could you perhaps supply a picture?

[gdmoore28]

Could you perhaps supply a picture?

Ditto.

It will be all but impossible to help you out without good, clear pics of the receiver and stampings in question.




GeeDeeEmm

[navygunner72]

Hope these help...gold color is from flash...

Thanks in advance for any help!

[PvtJoker]

That, if I had to venture a guess, LOOKS like a wartime MG-42 that has been rearsenaled and had the numbers and ID marks ground off and force-matched to the new one. As to who might have done it, it could be any number of places. Maybe the East Germans, maybe the Russians, maybe some guy named Fred in a warehouse in New Jersy. No telling, really. But look on the bright side- you DO HAVE an MG-42 receiver, period. Post war Yugos were not waffenamped.

[www.Prussia.us]

NavyGunner72,

Looks like a nice receiver, the other tell-tail sign is the taper of the ventilated barrel shroud. The M53 tends to have a more graduated taper going down the towards the boaster from the caming piece, whereas the MG42 has a fairly abrupt taper.

She looks like a nice receiver.

Pvt Joker is right, at this point it would take the powers of Kreskin to figure out who put those numbers there and scrubbed the old ones. I would guess Yugoslavia, but that is just a guess. Either way it looks like it is on its way to a new life

[Bullwinkle]

Late war MG 42 usually have a assembly code and a date code. Sometimes the manufactures code of the receiver is there as well if different from the assemblier...That being said, with nothing else other than a SN it's a WWII made receiver that was later used by the West german Army as MG1, MG2 gun. They ground the left side marking to varying degrees and sometimes the top waffenamps...Most receivers you can still see parts of the markings...

Here are a few examples....Notice the bottom receiver section..the SN is stamped NOT etched like normal. You can see part of the old number inside the bottom of the 5...



Below is the same reciever in whole...notice the tool marks towards the front section, as they approach the rear of the receiver the finish gets shiney smooth...an indication of grinding/polishing




Below is a perfect example of a receiver "scrubbing"..you can still see the assembliers code "swj" which tells us Steyr made this in 1944-45. There should be a date code and or MG42 and DEFINITELY a SN etched in the same manner as the assembliers code but it is missing. This was demilled as a 7.62x51 MG3 kit..notice the West German Army eagle and 84 date code under it. (Stamped)



Below is the same reciever on top. The Waffenamps have been "scrubbed" but if you know where to look they are still visible (partially) Look EXACTLY between the two rivets to the left and right on the outer edge of the receiver and you can see numbers/marks..the eagles are all but gone, but the inspector code number is still visible.

[Bullwinkle]

EDIT button would be nice...


This is one of my favorites...(soon to a members kit!)

You can see the way the MG42 was ground away but not totally....You can see numbers inside the new SN....It's ALL still there, just ground down. This was a MG3 kit as well. Waffenamps on top were UNTOUCHED. Someone got lazy "scrubbing" these or proud of their origins...



Below is the same section but I used a sharpie pen to highlight the markings!



NOTICE how sloppy the markings are..they look electro-penciled in...some Assembliers (there is a difference between who MADE the receiver shell and who put it all together) Used very high quality etching machines, others scratched them in. POST WAR receivers are STAMPED...

[gdmoore28]

Bullwinkle --

Thanks for the info!

Nothing brings clarity like nice, clear pictures.

GeeDeeEmm

[Bullwinkle]

Looking for the edit button...

Notice the date has been almost completely erased at the top of the last picture but you can still see the top of the 9 and part of a 4...sharpie missed that one!

[navygunner72]

Lots of good info!!! Thanks for educating me! I'll have to post some of my other MG42 projects...and receiver pieces

[Bil]

Thanks for the pics and info,Bullwinkle! On receiver 5511 you can also see BH-Bundes Heere-post-war German army markings.Some on the markings were real nice and neat,some put on by a kindergarten class.I always wondered how they stamped some of the small parts without damaging them.The stamps must be real strong and sharp.Has anyone seen one of the actual stamps used? ---bil

[Bullwinkle]

Bil, you must be a glutton for punishment!!!! You want STAMPS.."We don't need no stinkin' STAMPS.." or maybe they do. Here are just a few!


Booster area


This is a good one.. ONLY found on right rear recievers of demilled MG3 kits...NEVER seen on original MG42 kits...What I mean by this is the left side markings are always "scrubbed" when you find this on the rightside.


The "X" is also on MG3 demilled, never on original MG42 kits...NOTICE also the stamped dates..97 (something unreadable in center) and 56...probably dates the receiver was rebuilt into MG1/2 and MG3 configuration but a just a guess on my part.


A pistol grip...the most stamps on grip I've run across...


Grip panel..a little off topic but good to stress the GERMAN need to stamp/date/proof everything possible...


Again, another good one for the UBER STAMPER crowd...


Bil....don't get me started!!!!

[Bullwinkle]

Okay...a little expansion of previous comments.. Just because a receiver has a manufacture Code etched on the side the receiver like the receiver (M.U. on top for Gustloff-Werke Suhl . "CRA" on lower one which stands for Maget. The GH at top is a date code 1943), Maget or Gustloff may (or may NOT) have actaually pressed, folded and welded the receiver. Sometimes the actual MANUFACTURE of the receiver flat was done by a SUBCONTRACTOR. In that case a STAMP was placed on the lower left of the receiver markings to indicate who actually made the shell.


Phelps 7th GOLD MEDAL break....


The "arz" stamp (and this one of the few STAMPS on the rear leftside of WWII recievers you'll find, "rea" is another) is the maker of the receiver, who turned it over to Gustloff for building into a completed gun.


Several maufatures built MG42's from scratch so most markings do not have a stamp to indicate a seperate maker of the receiver.

[gdmoore28]

Quote from Bullwinkle: ["Bil....don't get me started!!!!"]



Awwwww . . . Come on, Bullwinkle -- get started There's a large number of us stamp-lovers out here!

I'll also restate Bil's question: Does anybody possess or has anybody seen one of the original stamp die? Like Bil, I suspect that they must have been extremely sharp to avoid destroying the tiny little parts they were sometimes used on.

Military Minutiae -- you gotta love it.

GeeDeeEmm

[Bil]

I meant the actual tool to make the stamp! It is like the diferance between a foot and a footprint! But thanks for the pics of the footprints,er,I mean stamp-prints! ---bil

[PvtJoker]

That's VERY interesting. I was wondering about the "rea" stamp on my 42. Who was "rea"?

<img src="http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i78/J ... C00713.jpg">

[PvtJoker]

Try that again... (Man, I DO wish we could edit our posts sometimes.)

[Bullwinkle]

PvtJoker,
Yours is a Gustloff-Werke receiver made in 1945, hence the "svq" code. The "bpr" is Grossfus, unforetunately, I don't know who "rea" is although I have several with the seperate markings.

[42rocker]

A Great old tread with info on side markings and some of the other markings.

Later 42rocker