Gewehr 43

Specifications

Type: Battle Rifle

Caliber: 7.92x57mm Mauser

Capacity: 10 round box magazine

Fire Modes: Semiautomatic

Info

One of three semi-automatic rifles issued by Germany (the others being the FG 42 and the Gewehr 41) during WWII. This weapon itself was an evolution of the Gewehr 41 (made by Mauser and Walther). The Gewehr 43 was made exclusively by Walther and addressed many of the problems the 41 encountered during the invasion of the Soviet Union (in particular the gas system and use of stripper clips instead of a removable box magazine).

The Gewehr 43 was never mass produced, and although a better rifle than the G41, it was still known for its mechanical malfunctions, mainly due to cheap parts and exposed extracting spring, causing jams if not cleaned constantly. When parts wore out or broke it was difficult to get replacements in the field and many German soldiers simply got rid of it when this happened. It was also a complicated design, and required some practice to know how it all worked. When put up against the U.S. M1 Garand, it was apparent that the G43 was outclassed by the M1's superior machined parts, extremely reliable design, better gas system, better sights, faster and more reliable en-bloc clip system, simplicity and ease of maintenance, as well as it being general issue to all infantry; whereas for every 50 Mauser rifles produced by Germany during the war, they only produced 1 G43 rifle. The German High Command saw this, and decided to issue the G43 3 rifles for every platoon, 2 of which were to be used as sniper rifles away from frontline action, fitted with a Zeiss ZF 4 scope.

According to accounts and testimony from German veterans of WWII, many German soldiers disliked the G43, and preferred the tried and true Mauser 98k, or, if they were lucky enough, scavenged American M1 rifles and Carbines whenever possible, despite this being officially against regulations. However, as a sniping platform many German snipers liked the Gewehr 43's semi-automatic abilities, good range, good ammo capacity and accuracy, however extreme long range sniping was best left to the more accurate bolt action Mauser rifles.

The Gewehr 43 rifle has appeared in the following films and video games used by the following actors: