Picked up a G43 finally. It is a DUV44. Receiver and stock matches, bolt/carrier does not.

I paid $1400 and it was missing the magazine and dust cover when I got it. I picked up an original magazine and a reproduction dust cover for it though.

The pictures were blurry in the auction, but decided to go for it at the price, bidding started at $900, and I won the auction. Seller described it as good condition with a very good bore.

After I picked it up, the bore was dirty and a bit rough, but the rifling was sharp. Definitely not a very good bore, but I would rate it as good, but frosted. No cracks in the bolt housing as well. It has a stock repair above the rear sling hole on the top.



Though I ran into a bit of frustration when I tried doing the muzzle wear test with a bullet. It completely swallowed the bullet with some wiggle room. Thought it was just muzzle erosion from the cleaning rod, but the rifling is there, though pitted

It turned out to have a ringed barrel, right on the very end of the muzzle in front of the front sight.   I confirmed by pulling the bullet and dropping it in. As soon as it touched the area at the front sight, it stopped.

You wouldn't notice it looking through the bore, but there is a slight bulge on the outside. It is sort of like a perfectly round counterbore, and it's only about half an inch.

Not really happy at that, but it is more of a collector gun anyways, and at the price I got it at, I'm not really complaining. I might get a shooter kit for it, just to see how it groups, but that will be in the future.

Sweet!  

The stock appears to be in exceptionally good shape!  

If you plan to fire it, could you please post a range report here?

I would love to hear your impression of how it shoots - especially if you could compare it to its main direct competitors from the time:  the Garand and the Russian SVT-40.

Nice rifle love those G43's

Won't be for awhile to shoot the G43, but I'll post when I do.


Having shot both the Garand and SVT-40, I would go with the Garand out of all three.

1.) Garand

Pro- Simple, and very easy to use. Accurate sights and pretty easy to field strip.

Con- Internal magazine that requires the enbloc to fire more than one round. Front sight is wedged to the barrel, and slop will throw off accuracy.


2.) SVT-40

Pro- VERY simple and not many parts to field strip or lose. Adjustable gas setting for different ammo/battlefield conditions.

Con- A bit difficult to disassemble the gas system. Similar to the Garand, the front sight is separate from the barrel, but as a pro is secured much better.



3.) G43 / K43

Pro- Simple gas system, works in all battlefield conditions. Plus it looks cool with most of the forging not machined except for critical fit parts.

Con- Over-gassed that leads to destruction of parts, plus LOTS of easy to lose parts (Firing pin, firing pin extension, locking flaps, extractor/extractor spring and screw)

$1400 for a G43, even it the barrel's worn out? Yeah, I'm going to need to see your bandit mask.

Deal of the Day!

Damn, he even puts me to shame.

Congratulations nice pickup! My favorite collectible Rifle. That one has a very nice stock, shame about the bore.

HDH.

Yeah, couldn't believe I won it for that price either since two other people were bidding against me. The seller was nice to talk to and even paid for shipping since it was in the same state.

The bore is actually pretty good and tight besides the frosting, except for the ringed muzzle. Like I said, it is like a counterbore. Hard to tell if it happened during wartime or just very old, but its definitely been that way for awhile.

I don't blame the seller for not noticing. I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't try a muzzle test with a bullet.

does the stock have a coat of varnish or wax applied ?  seems WAY too shiny.

I bought an Apfeltor shooters kit for my G43, easy to install, $260 for a whole kit delivered.

I have a feeling your muzzle will be a big issue if you ever expect accuracy. If you just want it as a collector and not a shooter, just try to over look it. If you ever want it to be a shooter, maybe consider getting the muzzle professionally counter bored, since... well, it couldnt be any worse than it being bulged.

I have 2 Garands, a G43, a refurbed SVT40, and I receive a Finn Captured SVT40 this week.

out of the three if rate the Garand as the most solid, bad ass and accurate, the G43 has some serious cool factor and detachable mag helps, same with the SVT40 which attracts a ton of attention at the range. If in battle Id have a hard time deciding between the Garand and the G43.

Stock has some BLO applied to it and likely wax. It is definitely not varnish.

I don't plan to shoot it much, if at all. I bought it because it was a great price, so it is solely for the collectability status.

I won't know if the bulge will affect the accuracy until I decide to put a few rounds through it. But even if the accuracy is poor with the bulge, I wouldn't want to add a counterbore as I would never be happy with it. I can live with the muzzle bulge.

I picked one up at an estate auction 4 years ago for $925.  Perfect bore.  I was a Russian capture with electro pencil marks on the parts.

Missing the magazine and safety lever.   I read the receivers were cast not forged.  I wanted to shoot it but was afraid something might break.  

Regret getting rid of it, although it did bring quite a lot more than what I paid for it.

The guy who had it had a huge collection of parts.  The original scopes and mounts for the G43 brought more than the gun itself.

All receivers were forged, never cast. Including the receiver internals. They just didn't smooth the cosmetic appearance. People over here started that rumor because of the appearance (A rumor which a lot of people will not let die).

They are actually very strong receivers, just the gas system is over-gassed.

Makes sense, WW2 Germany didn't take short cuts when it came to things that killed.

The guy I bought my 98k from bought one off of some hood dude for $250, or so he says Claimed the guy came to his gun-show table with the magazine asking what round it took, and when he brought the rifle in later, he really had no idea what he had. It was rusted as shit, and when I saw it, the receiver had some decent pitting, but he got it cleaned up nice, and apparently it shoots well.

I was in love with G43s until that point, but it seemed like such a cheaply made rifle, at least his example did. The recoil spring seemed really weak, and the carrier would bounce a bit off of the front of the receiver, no idea if that's normal. I think his is a late-war manufacture, so it would definitely seem par for the course if it fell under the same manufacturing standards as the Kriegsmodell. They're still really cool, and I'd love to shoot one, but I don't think I'd ever purchase one if I was in the position to, unless I could buy for a screaming price.