WTK factory stock assembly procedure.

[Tiger 2 Tank]

I don’t know if I missed this or what in my Darrin Weaver books or my K.98k Karem/Steves books.

But, when stocks were built, right after they were shaped and cut, when was the hardware assembled in or on them? Trying to figure out how all that came together.

I have a later K.43 ac45 NLS that I think has a little earlier Walther made stock on it as it’s got all the earlier hardware (blued recoil lug, blued stock band retainer, ribbed butt stock door). It’s a Walther accepted stock as the e/359 is stamped on the stock’s keel, and it’s the more rounder wood “north” of the magazine. I’ve noted that earlier stocks ”wood mill mark lines” are either absent or barely visible and they seem to have a slightly smoother sheen to them as apposed to a little later, more rougher stocks. No, this one hasn’t been sanded as all the stamps are nice and crisp. This one has one final proof side e/359. I’ve been comparing this ac45 NLS to my ac44 d block and there’s a lot of similarities. In “Hitler’s Garands”, page 166, Mr. Weaver writes that during the “no letter block” time frame, stocks were getting in short supply and they began using some hardwood stocks too. So, I wonder if this stock is maybe an earlier reject, or what? It’s interesting and just a small detail I noticed when I began looking at the two rifles together.

 

[jmanngun]

I don’t know if I missed this or what in my Darrin Weaver books or my K.98k Karem/Steves books.

But, when stocks were built, right after they were shaped and cut, when was the hardware assembled in or on them? Trying to figure out how all that came together.

I have a later K.43 ac45 NLS that I think has a little earlier Walther made stock on it as it’s got all the earlier hardware (blued recoil lug, blued stock band retainer, ribbed butt stock door). It’s a Walther accepted stock as the e/359 is stamped on the stock’s keel, and it’s the more rounder wood “north” of the magazine. I’ve noted that earlier stocks ”wood mill mark lines” are either absent or barely visible and they seem to have a slightly smoother sheen to them as apposed to a little later, more rougher stocks. No, this one hasn’t been sanded as all the stamps are nice and crisp. This one has one final proof side e/359. I’ve been comparing this ac45 NLS to my ac44 d block and there’s a lot of similarities. In “Hitler’s Garands”, page 166, Mr. Weaver writes that during the “no letter block” time frame, stocks were getting in short supply and they began using some hardwood stocks too. So, I wonder if this stock is maybe an earlier reject, or what? It’s interesting and just a small detail I noticed when I began looking at the two rifles together.

Interesting line of thought for sure, could you post some pics of the stocks in question? Following this thread...

 

[Tiger 2 Tank]

I wish I could but the time I have is limited right now (holidays). And, not sure I can get set up and photos for what I’m referring to. I can show it in hand, but don’t know if photos will do the trick. If I can get some extra time I’ll see what I can do with the camera. The lighting will be the hard part I think and I’ll need a good mostly cloudy day to do this.

Right now, the only “evidence” I have that my ac45 NLS rifle has maybe an earlier made stock is:

Mostly lacking wood mill lines.
Early blued stock hardware installed, and an earlier ribbed butt stock door.
Stock made by Walther and not the e/WaAC10 firm (which doesn’t mean a whole lot at all but just a small piece of this little puzzle).

Who knows, I may just be over thinking this.

 

[Brian Kowalski]

No, you are not over thinking this. I have always wondered this myself, it is fairly common to see. Another good discussion.

I would have to assume, I know, when you a$$-u-me, and at that time they were trying to transition over to the forward recoil lug/dual lug upgrades. So, they had to start the transition, and, at the same time put as many rifles out as possible. One would have to imagine, they had previously "rejected" rear recoil lugs receivers still around and being pushed back into production, hence a need for "earlier" style stocks to fit them. During this stage of production, we seem to see a little of everything Walther produced. One would think that eventually we would see only dual lug forward recoil rifles coming out the door. Just a thought and my opinion.

 

[Tiger 2 Tank]

I wish Walther would have made it easy. P.38’s have a * (asterisk) on their rejected/then fixed parts. All three factories did that. Would have been cool to see something like that stamped on the stock if that’s what they did.

Right now, this is the best photo wise I can show. I found a neat discussion on the rifle in a 2013 thread. These photos are from a previous owner and forum member Gunrunner; so I will just give the link instead of posting all the photos:

Minty K43 ac45 No Letter Block w/ Capture Papers

Last week went to see this collector I met who has been slowing selling his collection, he had a G43 ac44 in the m block that I asked about in an earlier post, when I went back to look at it again he had it on hold for someone else but he brought out a K43 that he had not told me about before...

www.k98kforum.com

Notice the stock’s sling cut out area and jacked up area at the scope rail. So, to re-cap, the stock’s “sheen” is much like my early d block rifle. But, my d block rifle’s stock is a little better built cosmetically. The photos don’t really capture what I’m talking about, and right now I can’t put them side by side to show for photos. The wood mill lines are very minute (small) and not like the slanted, more pronounced wood mill lines in later stocks. This, combined with the blued hardware installed makes me think the stock was from an earlier Walther made batch that was rejected, then put into service later in this ac45. Very well could be wrong, but just something I noticed and wondered about.

Side note:
Yep, it has a rare rqs blued mag, kit in the butt stock and capture paper (dated April 28,1945). Walther was captured April 4, 1945. Rifle is full of thick dried grease too.

 

[RyanE]

These are probably just left overs, but another possiblity to consider is that some spare parts evacuated from the depots in the East were thrown into production. We know some parts from HZa Posen went to Mauser in late 1944, so its not hard to image Walther also receiving parts from Posen or elsewhere.

 

[Tiger 2 Tank]

Did not think of that angle. Sounds possible.

 

[Brian Kowalski]

Certainly is possible.

Just not sure if they established any type of firm depot support for the g43 system at that stage of the war.
Although, I suspect they may have had plenty of issues with them. Probably more cannibalizing going on than anything else possibly?

 

[Joseph Burke]

I don’t know if I missed this or what in my Darrin Weaver books or my K.98k Karem/Steves books.

But, when stocks were built, right after they were shaped and cut, when was the hardware assembled in or on them? Trying to figure out how all that came together.

I have a later K.43 ac45 NLS that I think has a little earlier Walther made stock on it as it’s got all the earlier hardware (blued recoil lug, blued stock band retainer, ribbed butt stock door). It’s a Walther accepted stock as the e/359 is stamped on the stock’s keel, and it’s the more rounder wood “north” of the magazine. I’ve noted that earlier stocks ”wood mill mark lines” are either absent or barely visible and they seem to have a slightly smoother sheen to them as apposed to a little later, more rougher stocks. No, this one hasn’t been sanded as all the stamps are nice and crisp. This one has one final proof side e/359. I’ve been comparing this ac45 NLS to my ac44 d block and there’s a lot of similarities. In “Hitler’s Garands”, page 166, Mr. Weaver writes that during the “no letter block” time frame, stocks were getting in short supply and they began using some hardwood stocks too. So, I wonder if this stock is maybe an earlier reject, or what? It’s interesting and just a small detail I noticed when I began looking at the two rifles together.

You're not wrong. I have a couple ac45 no letter examples, each having a cosmetic Type 1 receiver, and one has the much earlier style contoured/round bottom stock, but in white glue. That white glue to most people might even appear as a reproduction stock, but it isn't. That stock, thankfully un-sanded, correctly lacks a serial and has all three Walther acceptance stamps. It is assumed an earlier stock but unusual too in that it also came to me with a Durafol hand guard, which is definitely far outside the norm for Walther. Still, considering the odd but correctly marked stock I don't dare replace the Durafol. The odd white glue stock might actually explain the use of a Durafol hand guard, though some say Durafol was exclusive to BLM. I'm not convinced either way so I just leave it as is. The other ac45 no letter, again a cosmetic Type 1 receiver, has an early C10 marked trigger guard, but that rifle is missing its original stock and it's been placed in a non-matching serialized Walther stock by yours truly. I actually have a couple very late Walthers that have the C10 marked trigger guards, which simply hints even more that Walther was using up earlier pieces/parts as needed.

 

[Stephan98k]

There were many problems during this time period, most notably the lack of workers and raw materials.

They used a lot of rejected parts in production, but also unused inventory. In the case of this G43, I'm guessing a rejected stock.

- Also think about the MP43, in April 1944 the designation was changed to MP44 and in the spring of 1945 some receiver with MP43 marking could be found in production again.
- They used again the old Low Turret mounts for K98k assembly in December 1944 etc.

The main reason for these events during this period is an order from Adolf Hitler.