With the rumored forthcoming importation of semiauto StG-44 clones by PTR, well-to-do video game fans of the eeeevil-est looking longarm of WWII are going to get a chance to find out just what an awkward, clumsy, heavy pig it is.
On the upside, its ergonomics are better than the G-3, but that's damning by faint praise...
At least these commercial guns will have better build quality than actual late-war German specimens, whose fit and finish made the angry monkeys at Century look like James Purdey and Sons.
Tam, what's "Call of Duty"?
ReplyDeleteShootin' Buddy
Call Of Duty is a battle simulation program that we Elites use to train to become Tactical. And stuff. All from the comfort of Mom's basement.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.callofduty.com/
Does the video game burn your hand like this thing will when you burn through 3 or 4 mags real fast?
ReplyDeleteAll The Best,
Frank W. James
Some days I am just happy to get the jokes. Makes me feel tactical.
ReplyDeleteImplication that the Call of Duty kiddies are clueless: check
PTR importing StG44 clone: check
G3 ergonomics mockery: check
Angry monkeys and Century build quality burn: check
Did I miss any?
Meh, if I had my pickings of WWII weapons, with the caveat that it would be semi-auto, even if the original wasn't... I'd take an M1 Garand or if limited to german weaponry, a G43.
ReplyDeleteIf it could keep it's fire mode status... I'd go PPsh-41 or heck, why not a Ma Deuce? If again limited to german... MG42.
"...On the upside, its ergonomics are better than the G-3, but that's damning by faint praise..."
ReplyDeleteOuch, that hurt.
You are, however, completely correct.
{Walks away, swearing under his breath}
Hey! I get my WWII German army information from Medal of Honor: Airborne, thankyouverymuch.
ReplyDeleteWell, that and books. I'll agree with Mikael that a G43 would be pretty sweet.
What if you get your WWII info from Day of Defeat, not Call of Duty? Then the StG-44 is super innacurate as well!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I'm also a computer geek... and a gun nut. And my dream guns include, but are not limited to:
ReplyDeleteGunmaker Industries Model 1
Cheytac M200
H&K 21E
Beretta AL391-Xtrema2
Tavor 21
Magpul PDR
That should do it, most categories included, even the geek-mandatory still-in-development weapon. :p
They are also importing semi-auto FG-42's. Want...
ReplyDeleteI play the game, and I don't like that particular rifle, I'm much more an M1 man myself, with a little 1911 backup action.
ReplyDeleteThey can keep their re-pro, its cool but I like my money in the bank account where it is! Until I find that good deal on a second stainless 1911 compact for carry!
What? No Krummlauf Vorsatz J??? Sellouts!!!!! Booo!!!
ReplyDeleteMeh. If THIS doesn't blow your "WANT" needle right off the gauge, there's something all kinds of wrong with you.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Semi_Automatic_Goryunov_76254R_Rifle.html
Fail.
ReplyDeleteThe full proper term for Century gunsmiths is "angry crack-addled monkeys".
I could get into an FG-42 clone for that price, though ...
ReplyDeleteIf you are oing to be stuck with a semi-auto, make it a large round.
For me, the eeeevilest-looking German firearm of WWII is MP40
ReplyDeleteForget that, when will they make a faithful chauchat reproduction? Ammo would be even more expensive, ergonomics would be even worse (who doesn't want a cheekful of bolt?) And it would appeal to an even smaller demographic. At least you could convert it into a still to get some booze out of it.
ReplyDelete"Forget that, when will they make a faithful chauchat reproduction? "
ReplyDeleteBest yet, if it never worked right it would simply be called an authentic reproduction.
"Does the video game burn your hand like this thing will when you burn through 3 or 4 mags real fast?"
ReplyDeleteFrank, on the Russian front, that was called a "feature".
I've always found the ergonomics on my CETME perfectly acceptable, myself.
ReplyDeleteI want a Belgian Rattlesnake, or a Suomi.
ReplyDeleteGuys, one of the thrills of my (not so) young life was playing with Mack Qwinn's FG-42 when we were up at his hacienda in Maine for a business weekend on MGI's switch barrel AR upper.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I stole the bipod idea shamelessly for my forthcoming .50BMG semi-auto. Note: I'm back at Continental Machine and Tool/Stag Arms full time now. edward@continentalmachinetool.com.
I concede that the recoil was quite noticeable even to an old M-14 Marine, but with short enough bursts, neat. Uber neat.
Now if only they could keep an extractor in the things. Typical crappy German metallurgy. Wonderful ergonomics, rotten metallurgy. But like my old XKE, when it ran good it was the absolute nads.
Frank James, the hot hands aren't found only on Kraut guns. I was up at S & W for a few months, as a trouble shooter. Best revolvers in the world, seriously cool semiauto pistols, but they are yet to produce a functional longarm.
The problem I found was that one who shall not be named didn't have a clue about anything concerning rifles except the calling of all too numerous meetings and construction of top heavy management chains staffed by ignorant syncophants.
Anyway, I walked in on my first day and found an entire week's worth of M & P 15 production on the rack, and each of the rifles had failed function test. 100% crapout rate.
The cause was pretty obvious. When you fired the rifle, the gas blowing down through the handguard was massive. However, in good Soviet fashion, nobody could say that was the problem, because She Who Could Not Be Blamed had opened up the tolerance on the I.D. of the gas block.
From .750, plus .0005, minus nothing, to .750 to .7525. Why? To reduce assembly time. And material was changed from stainless steel to aluminum. End result? Gas etching of the overtightened aluminum blocks, and not enough gas to cycle the weapon.
She went on vacation the following week, and I ordered a bunch of properly dimensioned stainless steel gas blocks from Mike Sadlak (Sadlak Industries, super high quality stuff, tell him Ed Foster says hi).
After also changing out half the bolt assemblies (she'd bought rejects from someone who should have had more class) and getting the staff trained in on how to fit up disconnectors, we got the entire lot of rifles working fine.
Oh, we also had to reject half of the Mossberg Military barrels. Nice bores, but Paco and Maria down in Guadalajara mangled 50% of the chambers.
In an auto or semi-auto weapon, you need a chamber finish no worse than 12 or 14 micro. 6 is better, but teens work. Many of the Mexican chambers were 40 or worse. Going behind her back put me on the S--t List, and the rest of my stay was downhill from there.
You don't need Nazis in charge to produce paralysis and shabby work, you just need clueless autocrats bright enough to realise their own technical incompetence.
Come to think of it, could that be a metaphor for the Obama administration?
Lewis is fourth on the list of reproductions in this category. The top five are Mauser Selbstlader, Colt Potato Digger, Bang, Mondragon, and the winner-
ReplyDeleteBenet Mercier Machine Rifle.
Ed wins the thread. Thanks for passing on the insight.
ReplyDeletewv = "foops;" I kid you not.
If someone gets to doing a good batch of German WW2 repros, I'll take an 88, thanks. The crows are pretty big around here.
ReplyDeleteJim
@reflectoscope
ReplyDeleteYou'll shoot your eye out, kid.
Personally, I'm waiting eagerly for the repro Volkssturmgewehr 1-5.
ReplyDeleteTalk about egonomics and functionality...
Well, you can TALK about them...
MeatAxe - You'll understand I wasn't being serious. Good grief.
ReplyDeleteJim
Jim
ReplyDeleteI must apologize. I thought you would see that I was joking as well.
The line "you'll shoot your eye out, kid" is from a popular TV show where the hero is asking for a Red Ryder BB gun for Xmas.
So I figured it was funny by itself, but also cause of the vast disparity between a BB gun and an 88mm AA platform.
No offense intended.
Best,
MeatAxe
Hmmm... Crow hunting with an 88mm. I like that man, he thinks big.
ReplyDeleteBut I think I'd go with a good ol' American 90mm instead. Better fuses, you don't have to unwind it every three turns when the slip rings limit out, and a much faster traverse.
Some of those crows are quick, and if you shoots where they is, you hits where they was.
If you're going with the big bores, and want to be period-correct, how about 155mm artillery airbursts with VT fuses?
ReplyDeleteThank-you Ed Foster.
ReplyDeleteMeatAxe - I apologize for being short-tempered, and for missing the joke.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I've found that demonstrating to the crows that I can make a deliberate near-miss with my slingshot is enough to convince them to sit and squawk somewhere else.
Regards,
Jim