Third Party Press

"Screwed up" dot 1944 rifles

Bob in OHIO

Senior Member
Interesting to compare among these four: Top to Bottom

  • SN 60xxx
  • SN 64xxx
  • SN 6xxx-a
  • SN 34xxx-a
 

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thanks.. b-i-o does great comparison shots. Its neat to see the variations all lined up.
Great reference..
 
Another variation. Doesn't appear to be a post war replacement IMO. 85K serial range, January 1945 production.
 

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Yet they were all serviceable. The only thing that has always puzzled me is why the Germans did not institute such cost and time saving production methods sooner. Did they put German craftsmanship and tradition ahead of winning the war?

Jim
 
That was a small part of it, the German guilds and craftsmen have always had a lot of influence, though under the nazis such things were never a real issue, they broke the unions and any industrialists with any real backbone early on and no group was tolerated to hinder the larger goals of the regime.

Perhaps a bigger problem was the way nazis looked at capitalism and industrialists... in reality nazis are little different than communist, perhaps in some ways less hostile (they didn't kill them or outright steal their property usually- sometimes they did if you resisted the plans they had for your business- if they towed the line and did exactly what was expected of them they could even prosper to a limited extent..) but they trusted industrialists no more than they trusted a vicious dog without a leash. nazism, even more than communism, is above all service to the state, it is really a worship of the state, total subservience to the government (nazi government), capitalism and individualism is the total opposite of such a philosophy. Under the nazi regime, profits were strictly controlled and taxed (to encourage re-investment & modernization), even had they not been there was little incentive to earn money as strict currency controls were in place very early in the nazi regime and no wealth could be exported from the country (all hard currency was used by the regime and imports and exports were tightly controlled). Further the military (especially Army) had far too much influence in production issues, far more than in other advanced industrial countries (UK & US), it wasn't until quite late that Todt & Speer were given enough control to limit the Army's influence in production matters, and it wasn't all that long before Milch and Speer were totally undermined by the SS who essentially took over the decision making late in the war.

While there are many reasons for Germany's haphazard efforts at mass production on the scale needed to fight a modern war, many books have been written about the topic, the real problem is always the same thing. Efficiency decreases the more government is involved, it is a universal law and it doesn't matter if the government is as brutal as the nazis or communists, or stickie gooey "nanny-state" big spenders that America has had to suffer under the last 80 plus years (while obamaism is more arrogant, more self-righteous, more intrusive than prior governments, none in the last 90 plus years have even tried to curb the development of the nanny state, even Reagan was a big government spender and intruded in business - individualism - far more than is proper under our form of government- a President of the 1890's or 1920's would be appalled by such aggression in government...)
 
Great grouping bob and great untouched rifles! I like doing these comparisons in a range like this as it shows small variations and larger consistencies. This nicely shows the transition form the spanner type screws. My only comment would be of course that these are too many too close together for any one collection and should be sold to a more needy late war collector ;) jp
 
Frankly I've always just assumed that Brunn had lower standards, period. I've got a t-block DOT 43 with a big 'ol chunk taken out of the front of the receiver. Under the finish, pretty obviously a screw up in some milling operation. I wouldn't have blinked too hard if it was a really late war rifle when they were shipping previously rejected parts, but this is a solidly mid-war gun.
 
The Brünn I factory was on par with Mauser for quality in my book, and even surpassed them at times. Attached is a first shot report for May of 1944, showing the percentage of rifles that passed first shot for accuracy test in May. Nice rifle Bob, I can see why you like it!

attachment.php

Frankly I've always just assumed that Brunn had lower standards, period. I've got a t-block DOT 43 with a big 'ol chunk taken out of the front of the receiver. Under the finish, pretty obviously a screw up in some milling operation. I wouldn't have blinked too hard if it was a really late war rifle when they were shipping previously rejected parts, but this is a solidly mid-war gun.
Brunn I made very good stuff…
 

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