G/K43 Real, partial fake, complete fake

[ChauffeurJoe]

I have a hankerin' for a G/K43. I studied Hitler's Garands. I look at G/Ks offered by auction houses and gunbroker. Almost all of them have SOMETHING that jumps out as "that ain't right."
As a car guy, I know you can take the vehicle ID plate from a 1960 Ford F-100 that was a Coca-Cola truck, bolt the plate to another '60 F-100 (that has the same engine, tranny and wheelbase), paint it like a Coke truck and only the most sophisticated collector would know. (This was before VIN plates so it might not even be illegal.) Move the frame from the rotting Coke truck to the new truck and NO ONE would know.
I do not want to spend $3K (or $1.5K) for a G/K43 like that. No, I'm not saying the Nazis had Coca-Cola. Or did they?
Can anyone offer some tips? (Maybe, if I can't afford to blow $3K, don't buy a G/K43?)
P.S. Someone stole the vehicle ID plate from the Edsel sitting next to our rotting '60 Coke truck. That's when I grabbed the plate from the Ford. Sonsaguns stole all the brightwork from both vehicles!

[RCS]

There is guy in Poland that makes some really nice laminated G/K43 stocks, German proof stamps have been around for sometime now too. The guy in Poland also makes G41 stocks were are about impossible to find. The German WW2 stocks should have some patina color unless sanded and refinished which did happen to some stocks. Check some of the websites concerning G/K43 rifles

[Maple_Leaf_Eh]

If you have the book, then you will have read how each maker had a distinctive history. Within each run, there was a sequence of variations. Even so, the experts keep finding new things.

Earlier this week I sold a WaA359 ac45 rifle. It was a double lug Walther, with the sight ears ground off and a number of other hunting rifle-like modifications. I showed the buyer the few differences I knew. There was no takedown latch on the bolt carrier, and the recoil lug slot was smaller. He found another one on the bolt carrier; there was a little hole that aligned with the firing pin extension takedown pin (the exact name escapes me?).

All I can say is to make connections in the German WWII reenacting community. They seem to buy and sell G43s all the time. They know who has what, and who is selling. Watching the gun auctions is probably the worst way to find a gun you can like.