Around the corner BBL

[cobra]

I just obtained a German around the corner BBl.unit. It seems to be a grenade launcher for a 98-K with a BBL. bent at a 45 degree angle attached to the launcher. The BBl has four holes drilled in the top to relieve pressure ?? The unit is old and was acquired from a former WW-2 vet. with two 98-k,s .. Does anyone have any info on this item ? I have seen pictures of ones for the MP-44 with a prism attached to use in tanks. The BBL was welded to the launcher with the launcher tube off.COBRA

[noonxnoon]

wow! you got a round the corner barrel??

Are you sure you can shoot with it? I heard those things get 'burnt out' after a low amount of rounds pumped through it.

Really cool find you got.

[www.Prussia.us]

Holy Jeebus,

Nice find Cobra, I will have to go digging through my material to see if I can find any info.

So I understand this correctly, it looks like a standard 23” 98k barrel with the (bent 45 degrees) with the launcher attached, yes?

[cobra]

It,s just as you described. I would put a pictuer up but,I still have not found out how to do that just yet. Tomorrow we are going to put a optic light down the 98-K bbl attach the launcher and see if it is lined up . Thanks for the comments. Cobra

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Are you sure it was not meant to be used with the MP-44? A 7.92x57 round would be much too powerful for a Krummlauf. I hope you do not intend to shoot with it. I understand that the Krummlaufen would wear out very quickly. They were generally not designed for infantry to "shoot around corners", they were made to shoot from tanks to spray bullets over the exterior to keep enemy infantry off. Quite a rare find. The holes are indeed to relieve pressure. The bullets would usually be shredded into bits or heavily bent and deformed, so the Krummlauf was only good for very short distances, sort of like a light shotgun.

[cobra]

Darivs,You just might be right, we will take the muzzle nut off of one of the MP-44,s and see how it fits. I am not going to try firing a round through this thing. I would hate for it to come apart. It,s too late in life to play soldier with something I have never used before. I will let you know the results later on today. COBRA

[MP44]

They were all made to be used on the MP44. Besides the pictures you usually see in the books, I have an old LIFE magazine from 1945 that has a few pictures of them. Can you please post some pictures of yours?

[amafrank]

You really need to post some pictures as the barrels were made for a few different weapons experimentally and the variations of those intended for the MP43 series were quite large. They made the barrel assemblies for the MP43 in at least 3 different "standard" versions 15 degree, 30 degree and 45 degree with some 90 degree barrels done as well though much less common. All the barrels I've come across or seen referenced had a clamp assembly used to install them so removeing the muzzle nut on the MP wasn't necessary. I've fired a few of these and the 15 and 30 degree barrels actually proved to be fairly accurate, did not break up the bullets and the 30 degree unit I fired had quite a few rounds through it with no visible wear. They were good quality steel. The 45 degree unit we fired did create more shrapnel than single bullets. The vents were usually covered with a rotating sleeve so that you could choose to reduce the pressure or not. Most of the barrels had a prism assembly mounted so that the sights could be used. The barrel had a front and rear sight with the rear sight usually part of the prism assembly.

There were barrels of this type made for the MP40 though as far as I know they were experimental only and not issue. I believe the museum in Dresden had one on display. It also used a clamp to install. I've heard of barrels made for testing on the K98k but never seen any. As the others noted I think the full power 8mm round was too much for the concept.

Frank

[cobra]

We found out that the BBl does not have any twist for the first three inches ,it then continues on out to the tip. The BBL will not fit over the BBL nut however, it does fit a MP-44 without the nut and threads. We have taken a couple of pictures and have tried to send them but, they keep coming back to our email. We have had this trouble before so, when we have time we will solve the problem. COBRA 3