Nowadays, if we only need to mention the semi-automatic rifle of World War II, many people will definitely think of the M1 Garand rifle and the Soviet SVT40 rifle. As for Germany, which developed many new weapons during World War II, it seems that the Walter 43 (G43) semi-automatic rifle they developed at the same time was much lower-key.
M1 Garland
German army was defeated by SVT40, Mauser 98K was unable to do what he wanted.
After the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, the German army was "invincible" at the beginning of the war. The Soviet ground forces did not have much decent resistance. But with the subsequent rapid reorganization of the Soviet army, the Soviet army began to stabilize the battle on all fronts. At this time, the German infantry only noticed a problem: At that time, the Soviet army had been equipped with a semi-automatic rifle called SVT40, which could easily suppress the firepower of the manual 98K rifle in their hands.
SVT semi-automatic rifle
This German manual-filled Mauser 98K rifle has high accuracy and good quality, but its rate of fire is very slow. It takes one shot to fire. The rate of fire on the battlefield is not SVT40 semi-automatic rifle. Opponent. The German army's other heavily equipped individual weapon: the MP40 submachine gun, although the rate of fire is good enough, but the range is insufficient, and it cannot effectively fight back against the SVT40.
and SVT40 is actually the result of the research and development of the Soviet army through the experience and lessons encountered during the Soviet-Finnish war. Its predecessor was the SVT38 semi-automatic rifle, which was finalized in 1938, and it was officially mass-produced to equip the Soviet army in October 1939. By April 1940, the Soviet army had begun to equip the improved SVT40 semi-automatic rifle.
German World War II rifle
Before the STG44 assault rifle came out, the semi-automatic rifle during World War II can be said to be an epoch-making weapon, because most countries were still using single-shot manual rifles at that time, only the US and Soviet troops were the first to be equipped with new semi-automatic rifles. rifle. In contrast, these semi-automatic rifles will undoubtedly increase the intensity of individual firepower geometrically.
is too "to die." The G41 semi-automatic rifle hurriedly entered the battle against the challenge of the Soviet SVT40 semi-automatic rifle. The proud Germans were naturally unwilling to lag behind, so the German army also planned to equip a semi-automatic rifle like the SVT40. This research and development project followed start to implement. In fact, the Germans are no strangers to the research and development of automatic weapons. As early as the early 20th century, they were already trying to study automatic reloading rifles, but there is a deadly reason.
German semi-automatic rifle
Everyone knows that Germans are very rigorous, and sometimes they are so rigorous that they even make outsiders feel very dull, that is, admit death! Although this kind of dullness may be a good phenomenon in industry, it is sometimes not a good thing in the innovative design of semi-automatic rifles. At least at that time, the Germans were a bit crooked on the road of semi-automatic rifle research and development because of some admitting death.
And the deadlock of this research and development of the automatic reloading rifle is: must not open air holes in the barrel! The reason is that doing so will affect the accuracy of the rifle. However, the free gun machine cannot withstand the large chamber pressure of rifle bullets, so it can only be used with pistols or submachine guns. If the air-guided principle is used, then holes must be made in the barrel, but this is a matter of the Germans. Is determined not to do it!
G41 semi-automatic rifle
So the semi-automatic and fully automatic rifle development has encountered an infinite loop for a long time, and the Germans can't get out for a long time. Finally, they used a compromise method to open this deadlock. They used the muzzle gas collection principle to push the piston, so it evolved into the early G41 semi-automatic rifle, but the rifle using this gas collection principle was not good. Ending: For example, the early version of M1 Garand and General Liu's rifle.
At that time, in order to compete for the production rights of new standard weapons, the two major German ordnance companies Walter and Mauser simultaneously launched their own G41 semi-automatic rifles. In the end, the Walter version of the G41 was slightly more successful, and Mauser’s products lost in the competition, and then the German army took these gas-collecting barrel semi-automatic rifles and ran to the east line. The improved G43 of
G41, although excellent, is not enough. However, the performance of G41 on the Eastern Front can be described as "bad". Its muzzle gas hood is very easy to get dirty., Not only is it easy to gather unburned gunpowder particles, but the dust outside is also easy to cause blockage, and the air-guided SVT38/40 semi-automatic held by the Soviets still made the Germans a bit confused. Z3z G41 Walter version of the G41 semi-automatic produced a total of more than 5000 before and after, but the German army on the Eastern Front later refused to accept this new weapon. In addition to its poor performance, the other is because of its loading method, which is still like a 98K bolt-action rifle. That way, the bullets filled the magazine from the top of the gun, and the Germans preferred the Soviet SVT40 to fill the bullets from the bottom. The feedback from the front line of was torrential. In desperation, Walter could only take the SVT40 seized from the eastern front and began the road of semi-automatic improvement for the G41. In the middle of 1943, Walter finally reintroduced the K43 rifle with ten-round lower magazine. The main improvement was to change the muzzle gas collection type to a short piston gas type. G43 semi-automatic rifle In 1944, the General Administration of the German Army officially named the K43: G43 semi-automatic rifle, which is also the hard-won official standard number. Since then, G43 rifles have been mass-produced and distributed to troops. Although the appearance of G43 and G41 is very different, in fact, apart from the different air guiding methods, the other key components are not very different, and even the bolts can be used in common use. In addition, the production process of G43 has also been simplified. So on the Soviet-German battlefield in early 1944, the frontline Soviet army suddenly encountered a strange thing: the opposite German rifle fire density suddenly increased, but after intelligence analysis, the German army did not increase its strength. It turned out that all of this was in the hands of the Germans G43 is fucking! The German army used the G43 with the MG42 machine gun to form a firepower net that posed a serious threat to the Soviet army. However, the G43 semi-automatic rifle still has a limited number of equipment on the front line. After the gun began to be equipped with German troops, it was only equipped in batches to some German troops on the eastern front. Generally, it was only distributed to experienced non-commissioned officers, and most Soldiers are still using old K-98 rifles. Although many German infantry squads can be divided into two or three G43 semi-automatic rifles in the later period, it is still out of reach to have one manpower. Throughout World War II, according to statistics, a total of 349,278 ordinary G43 and 53,433 G43 rifles with scopes were equipped to serve in the German army. Some people say that G43 sucks! The result of crude production is that the performance of the G43 rifle is actually very superior. To be honest, the Garland M1 semi-automatic rifle, which is definitely not inferior to the US military, is the same as the SVT40 semi-automatic rifle of the Soviet army. Even in the cold environment of the eastern battlefield, it still does not affect Normal use. After the Soviet army seized the gun in the latter part of World War II, the Soviets also tested and compared their SVT40 semi-automatic rifle with the G43, and believed that their SVT40 was indeed inferior to the German G43 in terms of performance. is a classic G43 and why do some people say that G43 sucks? Because at the end of the war, due to the lack of resources, time constraints, and lack of technology in Germany, the production process of the G43 became more and more rudimentary. The expensive wooden butt was replaced by very thin wood, and the bottom of the butt was replaced by a cup-type stamping component. The front guard hoop was changed from cutting parts to spot welding, and the bottom of the magazine and the bow guard were also changed to steel stamping parts. These almost insulting modifications have drastically reduced the quality and performance of the G43 rifle, which is why some people say that the G43 is very good, while others say that it is bad! "Historical Miscellaneous Talking Station" picture source network, invaded and deleted!
