Gewehr 43

[gmarr]

My friend has a Gewher 43 in 8mm caliber. Awesome rifle. I took it out to the range and it is truly impressive. I took it apart and cleaned it and it's in very good condition. So I wondering how much is this rifle worth? It's missing the front sight hood and the sling is worn (original).

Any help will be appreciated.

[MC 1911]

They are nice rifles! That said,parts are very hard to come by if something breaks. I haven't seen one for sale for under 2k. One just sold on a local auction for 4k+.

Condition is important to price & it is a fairly rare rifle.

[44 AMP]

The G43 was the most successful semi auto 8mm Mauser Germany built during the war and I believe made in the most numbers but they were not made in tremendously large numbers.

For a couple decades after the war they were not widely sought after other than by military collectors and not worth a lot, Today they are, mostly because they are not very common.

Assume all military surplus 8mm Mauser ammo is corrosive primed. IF you shoot that kind of ammo, clean the gun in the right way to deal with corrosive ammo. Clean ALL parts of the gun the powder gas touches. Not just the barrel and action but the gas system as well. If not done right, the gun WILL rust.

and that, would be a shame...

[highpower3006]

G43's are quite desirable and expensive nowadays and I would expect an original condition, matching number G43 with the original sling to fetch at least $4K and maybe a bit more. A missing sight hood is a minor thing and since they aren't numbered, any original G43 sight hood will work.

I have a AC44 G43 that is all matching except for the repop stock. I does have an original Z4 scope and a reproduction scope mount and I wouldn't sell it for any less than four grand. It might not be worth that to others, but it's worth it to me and that is all that matters.

[hoopharted]

g43 rifles are value , even mis matched examples bring upwards to 3k even though most collectors will scoff at the notion unless its their rifle thats selling , as such value is directly tied to all factors such as

condition , has the lumber been sanded , are the proofs visible , if so how crisp , any cracks ,has it been altered ,does it have a laminated handguard or is it bakelite , is its configuration consistant with its date/model/and manufacturer is it complete , bore condition , functional

then the big one is it matching , which leads to a debate that if not what % of it is for instance , if all the metal is matching , and it sits in a nice not serial matched stock it will fetch a decent amount where as if the stock doesnt s/n match and only some of the metal s/n match you are getting kicked in the berries on value and you are at the bottom basement value , not to say the right buyer wont pay 3k for a good shooter

i sold a dual lug K43 just the barreled receiver for $1200 about 10 years ago , kept telling the guy i wanted to hold on and he kept throwing ridiculous numbers ,so value is what any individual is willing to pay , so if its a early example that will also factor in, as late war

the thing about the german stuff there are so many factors in play , s/n ranges ,fonts, types of parts , materials , and then you have the scum bag element that scrub serials and re s/n them to appear to be matching examples , thats where fonts and , prefixes and general knowledge can save you money by identifying a fake

lastly if you are getting into the german stuff go into it knowing its a rough crowd to like , its a secret handshake community , they are a bunch of self anointed gurus that place their whole self worth on their post count , and their favorite hobby isnt collecting german arms its eviscerating new collectors who stumble into their forums , their whole thing is "my rifle is perfect so yours is trash" , they do not even take the time to read the post because they are in such a rush to be the first to pick apart someones rifle , it was sad to witness it evolve into that , it was nce a great genre , ihave had nothing to do with them for 15-20 years , did not wannt to be attatched to them

[44 AMP]

they are a bunch of self anointed gurus that place their whole self worth on their post count ,

There are people like that everywhere on every subject. Snob mentality, or worse. Fortunately, while we do get a few, those types generally don't last long on TFL.

"scrubbed" and remarked guns have happened, I don't think its common these days, (though Lugers were always a prime target) takes a LOT of work to produce a good forgery and these days people contemplating spending large amount of money tend to inspect things closely. OF course, there is a sucker born every minute, still today, so, some folks still try to scam us.

What is often found is "forced match" guns. Usual German practice was to mark the serial number or PART of the serial number on several of the parts. Most of those parts only have the last two digits of the serial number marked on them.

Also Lugers and some others used repeating serial number blocks using a prefix or suffix (usually a letter) to indicate the block's place in the overall sequence.

SO, its not uncommon to find a gun with "matching" numbers, but where one, or more of the matching parts has a slightly different "look" to it.

This is the result of someone (like an importer) who has enough guns/parts that they can force match some of them.

When its done for profit, when done with the claim of "all matching" meant to be taken as "all original" it is fraud.

Say gun #40948 has a missing numbered part, and someone takes that part from gun #69748 and uses it to complete #40948, making it a "matching number" gun. That is a "forced match. It is "all matching" (Last 2 digits all match) but it is NOT "all original, and if sold as such, its criminal.

[hoopharted]

exactly , thats where knowledge of fonts and characteristics by year can save you

never heard of importers doing this , majority of non import marked rifles were either vet BB's or were imported after ww2 and before 1968 when import marks were required due to the GCA , prior you could walk into Sunny's Surplus and there would be racks , and they were also sold in magazine adverts , they were then bubba's up for deer rifles

so back then no one cared if the weapon had matching S/n'sor not , after when import marks were required they had their hands full branding them , not much time to cull the herd

[44 AMP]

never heard of importers doing this ...

Forced matching?? Lots of stories little actual proof, but Mitchell's Mausers had a lot of people wondering how they always seemed to have matching number guns....as did some others....

they were then bubba's up for deer rifles..

Bubba did his share, but lots of them were IMPROVED by being sporterized, some very fine rifles were made out of milsurp trash....

so back then no one cared if the weapon had matching S/n'sor not ..

Actual collectors have always cared, this has always been reflected in the prices they pay.

The big difference today is that what was once nearly as common and nearly as cheap as dirt no longer is, and more people consider themselves "collectors" and a number of those folks think every single example is something valuable and collectable, and that isn't always the case.

[Jim Watson]

Say gun #40948 has a missing numbered part, and someone takes that part from gun #69748 and uses it to complete #40948, making it a "matching number" gun.

Luger side plates were a problem, easily removed and swapped around, maybe discarded to deny an American a working souvenir. There was a regular ad in the old tabloid Shotgun News for a side plate exchange. Get your matching side plate right here folks.