German Military Rifles - Gewehr 43

Gewehr 43

In 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa. Just prior to the opening of hostilities the Red Army had started re-arming its infantry, replacing its older bolt-action rifles with the new semi-automatic Tokarev SVT38s and SVT40s. This proved to be somewhat of a shock to the Germans, who ramped up their semi-automatic rifle development efforts significantly.

The Tokarev used a simple gas-operated mechanism, which was soon emulated by Walther thus producing the Gewehr 43 (or G43) from the handicapped G41. The simpler mechanism of the G43 made it lighter, easier to mass produce, and far more reliable. The addition of a 10-round detachable box magazine also solved the slow reloading problem. The Gewehr 43 was put into production in October 1943, and followed in 1944 by the Karabiner 43 (K43), which was identical to the G43 in every way save for the letter stamped on the side. The G/K43 was issued in limited numbers in 1944 and 1945 to units of the Wehrmacht.

Total production by the end of the war was 402,713 of both models, including at least 53,435 sniper rifles: the K43 was the preferred sniper weapon, fitted with the Zielfernrohr 43 (ZF 4) scope with 4x magnification. The weapon was originally designed for use with the Schiessbecher device for firing rifle grenades (standard on the Kar 98k as well) and the Schalldämpfer suppressor, however these accessories were deemed unsuccessful in tests and were dropped even before the rifle made it to serial production. The rifle was also not equipped to use a bayonet. The Gewehr 43 stayed in service with the Czechoslovak army for several years after the war.