(gun cocking)
(gun firing)
(gun cocking)
- [Voiceover] The German Sturmgewehr.
Few rifles seem to attract as much attention as this one.
Either due to its retro-industrial appearance
or its association with Nazi Germany.
Where the forces of the Wehrmacht and the SS
used it to devastating effect.
It ushered in the era of the assault rifle,
and it inspired many post-war designs.
Originally designated as MPs or "machine pistols"
due to firing a shortened version
of eight millimeter mauser.
In 1944, a letter from the führer's office declared
that the name, Sturmgewehr, was more appropriate.
Thus you see these rifles stamped
MP43,
MP44,
and STG44.
This example is an early MP43 stamped gun, made by Haenel,
and is in decent, but not perfect condition.
After all these have been through a conflict.
And many have been seen across the world,
including modern day Syria.
As stated, this is an MP43 stamped gun, and in my experience
the earlier the production date,
the higher quality these guns will be.
They feature a dust cover much like
an M16/AR15 that you can close to protect
the insides from dust and debris.
The magazine releases a lot like that found on the MP40.
And some say that the AR15/M16
found inspiration from this as well.
To set the rifle, on fire, press this
lever down so that "F" is revealed.
However, to change the fire mode,
"E" represents einzelfeuer or single shot.
And "D" represents dauerfeuer or multi-shot.
It is unusual that the safety mechanism
and fire selector are two separate bits.
The charging handle is located on the
left side of the gun, like a G3 or MP5 rifle.
These sights are a lot like a mauser 98,
however they only adjust from 100 to 800 meters.
Interestingly the barrel is threaded
for the attachment of a device called a krummlauf.
Which was designed to shoot around corners.
But enough chat, (gun cocked) let's shoot this gun.
(gun firing in bursts)
(gun cocked)
(automatic gun fire)
(gun cocked)
(gun firing)
(gun cocked twice)
(gun cocked)
(gun fire)
Making off-hand shots with the sturmgewehr at 100 meters
is not too difficult as the trigger's quite good
and the sights are adequate.
On full auto it's quite pleasant to shoot as well
and the cyclic rate hovers around
450 to 480 rounds per minute,
which is a very comfortable rate of fire.
(gun fire)
(gun firing)
(gun cocked)
Taking the rifle back to 300 meters
is where things get a little interesting.
I found three major ammunition manufacturers for this gun.
That's going to be Hornady, PPU,
and F&M out of Portugal. (gun cocked)
And each one seems to produce
vastly different points of impact.
So it makes it a little difficult
and I actually had to mess with
the sight elevation ladder quite a lot.
(gun firing)
(gun click)
(gun firing)
Once I learned where to offset the sights
this actually got a little bit easier.
It was frustrating at first but
as soon as I realized that, I probably need
to swap the front sight out with
a different front sight post.
I kind of came to terms with it
and the rifle suddenly was hitting where I wanted it to,
but, we kind of all know why you guys came to see this video
and we're gonna give you guys hopefully what you want.
(gun firing)
(gun cocked)
Anyways, we hope you guys enjoyed that,
big thanks Ventura Munitions providing
the ammunition for this video.
Also if you like to see us take this gun apart,
we do have a field strip up, so feel free
to click the link in the end card or the description.
This is Alex with TFBTV, hope to see you next time.