Asking for a friend who just dropped some serious coin on this all numbers matching beauty.  He tried to open an account here but only has a gmail account.  Sucks.

We were both wondering if anyone could shed some light on the back story of this particular G43.  All he was told was that it was made in mid to late 1944.  He's wondering why the upper hand guard black?  Seems original, made from wood but painted black.  Is the stock look original?  Why is it in such good condition?  Who would it have been issued to?  Could this be an SS issued rifle?  Any in you could provide would be very helpful.


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There is no way to tell if it was an SS issue rifle...

The handguard is a Durofol handguard, a type of plastic, its legit, and somewhat scarcer than the wood handguards....

It was manufactured by BLM, Berlin-Lubecker Maschinenfabrik, in 1944...

If you want the best information on G43's, go here...

http://www.k98kforum.com/forumdisplay.php?4-WW2-G41-G-K43-Forum

The top collectors and minds on G43's are on this board....

My guess is the stock has been cleaned, possibly lightly sanded, which hurts the value a bit....but it is a beauty...

Thats about what an original unfinished stock looks like.....tell him not mess with it.

He took the hand guard off when I said it looked plastic and he swears it's wood.

not really it's "durofol" a type of phenolic resin-bonded compressed wood.

Basically wood chips in a resin compound.

Its not, its durofol. google search it...its a plastic resin mixed with wood fibers for strength...like I said, post it on the G43 forum...they can give you all the info you want....

"Durofol (and Resopal) are early resin based attempts of developing high strength material with thin wall thickness, unaffected by moisture with the added benefit of cheap and fast production. Both Durofol and Resopal require high temperatures and high pressure to shape and fuse together resin impregnated materials such as wood fibers, veneer, paper or fabric. They were also used to make food trays, utensils, weather resistant seat pans and backrest in public places and even body panels for cars such as the infamous East German Trabant (the commies used Duroplast, resin impregnated cotton shreds). With respect to rigidity vs. wall thickness, Durofol and Resopal beat solid and laminated wood hands down. "

From the G43 forum...

How does it compare to a VZ58 stock? They were also made of wood chips and resin.