www.MG42.us

Hey Guys!
I have been MIA from here for a while, hunting for MP44's and G43's for the past year. It payed off. About 2 weeks ago at the bi-annual Empire State Arms Show in Rochester, NY, I finally got a G43. I was returning, Saturday morning, from Niagara Falls where my friends and I had celebrated a friends birthday Friday night at the Fallsview Casino and few bars. I got a call from my brother Paul, who was already at the show for over 2 hours, and the conversation went something like this: "Mike! They have a G43 here for $975!" "Paul, are you sure its not $9,750?" "No, and its in great condition." "Tell the guy you are going to buy it. I'll be right there." Knowing that the market value of G43's is at about $1500, I had told myself long ago that if I ever saw a G43 under $1300, I would pick it up without even blinking. And thats what happened. When I got to the table, I took a look at the gun, asked the guy if the price was truly $975 and if anything was wrong with the gun, then I handed over a huge wad of bills.

Well, here is the gun! I am the fourth owner of it, before me was the grandson of the previous owner, an American soldier, who took it off of a dead kraut. All matching numbers, I checked and everything matches! Good clean bore and wood. Came with an AYE marked mag.

Only defects are the duffle-bag cut into the forward part of the stock, the sling cut-out in the butt-stock has been filled with epoxy, and the metal buttplate replaced with a rubber pad. No sling, sight hood, or cleaning rod.

Only problems shooting the gun, is that the trigger does not reset after I pull it. I am not sure if a spring or pin is missing to reset the trigger, I haven't had time to check. Please PM me or respond here if you know how to fix this.

I am very happy. This gun completes my collection of WW2 generic German firearms (i.e. nothing unique like g41's or Mp43/I with krummerlauf and vampir attachments Aside from pistols (I can't get a permit for 2 more years) or the FG42 and MG34, I've got the k98, g43, mp44, mp40, and MG42.

Ok, so here are the pic's of the gun.

WOW!! Congrats on an AWESOME find!!!!!! Great looking G43 ya got there and it shouldn't take much to get it completely restored to German standard issue.. G'luck!!

Great find, but best of luck finding a replacement stock to restore the butt and sling slot, because those are getting hard to find and expensive! The buttplate with the correct, vertically opening door is REALLY rare to find on it's own now. The price you paid is fair for a G-43 in this condition, but it's now a parts search to fix it up right. Over time, you will be successful, however, and this rifle will be a cornerstone in your collection.

Nice find for the $$. It's worth fixing. I had the same problem with one of my K43s. It ended up being the stamped sheetmetal bolt housing that was worn. Apparently it was worn enough to allow the bolt to ride high during recoil and would not push the hammer down far enough to allow the disconnector to grab it.
So what I had was a rifle that would fire and eject the case, then the bolt would feed in a new round but the hammer would not be recocked. Does this describe what yours is doing?

Yours may or may not be a bolt housing. It could be the cam on the bottom of the bolt is worn or you may get lucky and find that adjusting that small screw on the sear fixes it. You can see the screw with the bolt assembly removed.

I bought a G43 in similar condition with the rear cut and replaced with a rubber buttpad, I removed the buttpad, added a spliced section the thickness and contour of a cupped Mauser buttplate, and that was a huge improvement with the Cupped Mauser buttplate. I bet with some work the buttplate sling area could be cleaned up and made right. I bought a repro sighthood from Claus Espeholt (google him) awhile back for mine... Chris...

here is his parts for sale list http://claus.espeholt.dk/wts.html

Here's a before and after picture of my G43, 1st one is with the Rubber removed, 2nd is with a standard 98k Buttplate over a splice, the splice is just a spacer that fits the interior contour of the 98 buttplate. You can always shave a little off the sides of the buttplate and bend it in with a vise etc to fit the contour better. Chris....

Beware 2nd photo is large as I couldn't find a smaller photo in my files....