Product Details
** LOCH & HARTENBURGER, GERMANY
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE 30-ROUND MAGAZINE FOR A GERMAN WORLD WAR TWO StG45 (M) ASSAULT-RIFLE,
manufactured around April-May 1945 and of curved shape and similar form to an MP44 magazine(qv), blued ribbed steel construction with detachable floorplate and sprung follower, the right hand side with manufacturer code 'gqm' together with the relevant waffenampt mark, the left hand side stamped 'MP45'
Other Notes: The origin of the StG45 (M) can be traced back to the final years of World War II when Mauser engineers at the Light Weapon Development Group (Abteilung 37) at Oberndorf am Neckar designed the MKb Gerät 06 prototype assault rifle chambered for the intermediate 7.92×33mm Kurz cartridge. The Gerät 06 model used a roller-locked short recoil mechanism originally adapted from the MG 42 machine gun, but with a fixed barrel and conventional gas-actuated piston rod. It became apparent, that with careful attention to the mechanical ratios, the gas system could be omitted. The resultant weapon, the Gerät 06H (the 'H' suffix is an abbreviation for halbverriegelt or 'half-locked') was assigned the designation StG 45(M) (Sturmgewehr or 'Assault Rifle' 45(M)). However, the design required that the bolt started to move while the bullet was still in the barrel and whilst the spent case was still fully pressurised. Traditional chambers resulted in burst or separated case heads during testing. The solution was to 'flute' the chamber. Longitudinal grooves were cut into the chamber to allow combustion gasses to float the neck and front of the case and assist in extraction. During the process, the case would be scorched in a manner which is characteristic for later Heckler & Koch blowback-operated weapons, which use the same principle. The StG 45(M) was intended to replace the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle (StG44), because the latter was rather expensive and time-consuming to produce. Compared to the StG44's cost of 70 Reichsmarks, the StG45(M)'s calculated cost was 45 Reichsmarks. Parts for only 30 complete rifles were produced before the war ended.
While the StG45(M) was intended to use the same 30-round magazine as its predecessor, the rifle is commonly pictured with the 10-round magazine designed for the Volkssturmgewehr. The shorter magazine was used by Mauser engineers during testing, as its lower profile was easier to use when test-firing at the Mauser facility range.
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Estimate £500-700