I'm delighted to finally join the club, and I owe the community members here some photos. This is my 1945 Walther K43 that was reworked by the East German Volkspolizei and issued to their Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften. From Wikipedia, "The Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften (VPB, German for "People's Police Alert Units") were paramilitary police units of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1955 to 1990. The VPB were barracked units of the Volkspolizei for riot control and counterinsurgency with regiment status, under control of the Ministry of the Interior and considered part of the armed forces, but were never part of the National People's Army or the Ministry of National Defence." These rifles were only issued from 1945 until about 1953, when they were then pulled from service and replaced by Soviet-supplied weapons such as PPSH-41's and Mosin Nagant M44 carbines, as well as SKS's and AK-47's. Here is a photo of the VoPo-B with their G43's/K43's:
I have spent the past decade focusing my collection on pre-70 intermediary to full-power semi-auto military surplus rifles, in addition to the standards mainstays of any WWI and WWII collection. As we all know, G43's/K43's have exploded in price over the past 5 years, and I was afraid I would be priced out for good. However, this one came along and I knew I had to have it, as I love pieces with some extra flavor or character from being 'well-traveled'.
This is a nice example of an AC 45 K43 originally issued to the Nazi military in 1945. There is a "Russian Capture X" on the receiver and what looks like an East German "Sunburst" marking on the receiver as well. I assume this was captured by the Russians and ended up at an East German police arsenal. The gun is all matching, but many of the parts have been re-numbered and/or electro-pencil numbered. Even the magazine has electro-pencil numbering to match the gun. The entire gun has an arsenal refinish. There is very little wear, just some tiny handling marks here and there. The wood stock is nice, but there is a series of tiny dings on the left side of the butt stock. The phenolic resin handguard was painted to look like wood. It came with one magazine and a nice leather sling. The bore has great rifling. Please see photos below:
I have spent the past decade focusing my collection on pre-70 intermediary to full-power semi-auto military surplus rifles, in addition to the standards mainstays of any WWI and WWII collection. As we all know, G43's/K43's have exploded in price over the past 5 years, and I was afraid I would be priced out for good. However, this one came along and I knew I had to have it, as I love pieces with some extra flavor or character from being 'well-traveled'.
This is a nice example of an AC 45 K43 originally issued to the Nazi military in 1945. There is a "Russian Capture X" on the receiver and what looks like an East German "Sunburst" marking on the receiver as well. I assume this was captured by the Russians and ended up at an East German police arsenal. The gun is all matching, but many of the parts have been re-numbered and/or electro-pencil numbered. Even the magazine has electro-pencil numbering to match the gun. The entire gun has an arsenal refinish. There is very little wear, just some tiny handling marks here and there. The wood stock is nice, but there is a series of tiny dings on the left side of the butt stock. The phenolic resin handguard was painted to look like wood. It came with one magazine and a nice leather sling. The bore has great rifling. Please see photos below:
