Matching DUV D Block Bolt Assembly with Milled Bolt Housing & Narrow Dust Cover

[DUV44]

Greetings all,

I recently picked up this unusual G-43 bolt assembly and I thought you guys would like to see it. It's an all matching bolt from a D block rifle and has the added bonus of having a milled housing and original narrow dust cover! Does anyone know why Berlin Lubecker started using milled bolt housings in the C and D blocks? I had been looking for a milled bolt housing to use on my all matching DUV 44 for a long time, and I'm definitely happy to have come across such a nice example!

 

[Brian Kowalski]

Nice find.
Rumor is they had qc issues with the stamped ones cracking at the time, so supplemented them with machined ones that did not have issues. No way to verify though.

 

[Tiger 2 Tank]

They used them here and there throughout production. Not limited to just a couple of letter blocks.

 

[DUV44]

Nice find.
Rumor is they had qc issues with the stamped ones cracking at the time, so supplemented them with machined ones that did not have issues. No way to verify though.

Thanks, QC issues makes sense.

They used them here and there throughout production. Not limited to just a couple of letter blocks.

Yes, they do pop up periodically. Looking at the data though, you can see that they were producing more rifles WITH milled bolt housings than without in the C and D blocks. Then it seems like production returned to normal with stamped housings.

 

[Brian Kowalski]

There is so much unknown information out there, and so little "documented evidence" on the G/K43 series of rifles. Much of the data we know today is from collector experience....which is basically educated guessing.

 

[Joseph Burke]

To chime in, I think availability logically played the major role, especially near war's end. Since BLM had the ability to make milled bolt housings in-house we can only assume that's exactly what they did when they had problems either getting the stamped ones from Merz Werke or had quality issues with Merz Werke's production. Both my no-letter block QVE45 as well as my F block QVE45, both fully matching, have the milled bolt housing. They are definitely G43 specific milled bolt housings since they differ from G41 milled housings. Still, as noted above, little is documented fact but merely assumptions based on collector samples.