The poor man's K98k rifle grenade launcher

[Skippy]

I hope I'd look this good after spending 60 years in the Polish mud:



I bought this some time ago, but it just arrived this week via slow boat from Poland. It's a Gewehr Granat Gerät 42, and a much prettier one is shown in the German MKL. I picked it up as a placeholder for my collection, never figured I'd come accross an economically priced one, but I since have an am now waiting on it to be delivered

In the meantime I has my '44 Walther G43 on hand, so I threw it on and snapped a few glamour shots. It fits like a glove, which makes me wonder if they were ever used with these rifles? I'm not sure how well the G43's gas system would react though.







I also picked up a Gewehrsprenggranate (rifle grenade) to display with it, here is is ready to rock:



The years of corossion have unfortunatly erased the WaA's and model stamps, but remarkably the hinges and screw still work perfectly. I haven't tried getting the launching cup to unscrew yet, for fear of the threads crumbling when I remove it, but there is still fairly strong rifling in the tube, although I'd describe it's "bore" as...."slightly frosted"

[Badger]

Very nice Skippy...

Here's one for comparison in the Germany - Milsurp Knowledge Library, that never made it into the mud.

1942 K98k Rifle Grenade Launcher ... Gewehr Granat Gerät 42 (G Gr Ger K98k)

Regards,
Badger

[K31]

That sure is a nice G43!

[Skippy]

Thx for the compliment Badger,
I actually used your example in the MKL to figure out where the WaA's should be... unfortunatly they've long since rotted off.

K31, thats you as well for the compliment. The g43 is quite a sexy rifle in general. I was kicking myself ro a long time after selling my first one (had to pay tuition a coupel of years ago) and was giddy as a schoolgirl to find another (and better) one this year

Now if I could only grow the balls to shoot it

[K31]

Yes, I've worn out my knee kicking myself for not buying a G43 when I had the chance.

[Steve1973]

Ain't no way that one is a repro!! Nice find....

[Skippy]

I recently spoke again with the fellow in Poland who I bought it from. Who informed be that it was dug from the region of Pomerania. Most likley dropped or abandoned durign fighting between German and the "liberating" Russian forces in '45.

[Badger]

It's great to have any kind of history and provencance associated with what we collect....

Regards,
Badger

[Adolf Galland]

Very nice,How do you launch them.

[Skippy]

Very nice,How do you launch them.

"...Constructed from a tubular steel body containing an explosive filler of Penthrite wax, a detonator, a direct action nose fuse, a delay friction igniter, and a base assembly containing a self-destroying system. A diaphragm near the bottom of the grenade is threaded centrally to receive the friction igniter. If the nose fuse does not function properly, the grenade becomes self-destructive On firing, the flash from the propelling cartridge enters a hole in the base closing plug and ignites a 6.5sec delay pellet contained in a brass holder. This fires the friction igniter which gives an additional delay of 4.5secs before setting of the detonator. A second model rifle grenade was also manufactured which could be used as a hand grenade simply by removing the base assembly and pulling a cord attached to the friction igniter...."