Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and I am here today at the Rock Island Auction
Company taking a look at a G40k that they are going to be selling
in their upcoming April of 2020 Premier Auction.
Now the G40k is a rifle that never got past the experimental stage.
... The concept, the development was put in place in April of 1940 by German Ordnance.
What they wanted, as best we can tell, is a rifle for specialty troops,
something that would be a little shorter and a little handier.
This was never intended to replace the standard Kar98K for all the infantry,
it was just for specialty troops like the Gebirgsjäger, the mountain troops.
Now what's interesting is the development work on this happened at about exactly the same time
that Germany was procuring G33/40s from Brno in Czechoslovakia.
The 33/40 was a rifle of almost exactly the same configuration, so we'll touch on that in a few minutes.
But if we take a look at this, what we basically have is a Mauser that has ... a Mauser 98 style of action.
The barrel has been shortened to about 19.3 inches.
So definitely a carbine variation of what was a kind of a standard short rifle.
So let's take a closer look at a few of the other variations and changes that they made to this,
because almost all of the elements are a little bit different than on a standard rifle.
Fundamentally what we have here is a Mauser 98 pattern of action. So let's start with looking at the markings,
"byf" was the factory code for Mauser at the time.
And this rifle was manufactured in 1941 which we would expect, that fits the development timeline.
On the side rail here, where we would expect to see ... the rifle's model designation,
we have G40K, presumably Gewehr 40 Kurz, because it's a short rifle.
The marking here is a little bit different than the one other definitively known example, which is
number V81, V of course stands for Versuchs
(which I may or may not be pronouncing right), which is German for experimental.
This is the right serial number range, but you can see the markings on
number 81 which is in the Aberdeen Proving Grounds collection.
At any rate, we have our serial number here which is 84 and also duplicated on the barrel.
There is a RW proof mark and a firing proof.
On number 81 the bolt handle is also numbered, as is the cocking piece shroud. These are both unnumbered on this example.
One of the more substantial differences between the G40k and a standard Kar98K is the rear sight.
The leaf is shorter, and these are only graduated out to 1,200 metres.
In fact when the production first began these were only graduated out to 1,000 metres.
Partway through the development program that was expanded out to 1,200 as you see on this one.
We also have a substantially different stock design than on a Kar98K.
So there is no middle barrel band as you would expect on a standard pattern rifle.
And the nose cap is also different from a standard 98K. Now there's some variation in nose caps,
the other known example, number 81, actually has a hinge on the side of the nose cap,
akin to a Kar98AZ from World War One.
This one is solid, held in place by a cross screw which we can see right there.
They do of course have a bayonet lug on them.
The front sight is the same standard sort of style we would expect, a barleycorn front sight.
The front sight block is cut for a front sight hood, which this rifle still has.
The magazine assembly is actually the same as a standard Kar98K.
The trigger has (you can't really see it here),
but the trigger actually has a little bit of a shroud added to it to help prevent gunk from getting into the action.
That was another thing that was added partway through the development program.
And we have a bolt knob that's a little bit different than normal, so I'll just take this out to show you.
They went and drilled a hole clear through the centre of the bolt handle, so that reduces a little bit of weight.
You know small weight reductions like that do add up over time.
Never really found out if this one went anywhere, because these were developmental rifles only.
You can see a little gradual step in the barrel diameter there.
The first batch of these rifles were made with a little bit lighter barrel.
This second batch was made with slightly heavier barrels.
This is again part of the development process, experimenting with different designs to see what fits and what doesn't.
The buttstock is pretty much typical. We've got a sling slot through it there, we have a disassembly disk,
we have a cupped butt plate that is just slightly proud of the stock itself.
Cup's over the end of it to help protect it.
That was an improvement that was made across the line with Kar98Ks once the war got going.
So by July of 1942 only about 28 or two dozen of these rifles had actually been produced.
This was a very slow moving development project.
Kind of understandable, Mauser had a lot of other things going on at the time, obviously.
And at this same time, of course, 33/40s had been procured. And I suspect what happened by the middle of '42 was
Ordnance realised, "Look, this thing's not really going anywhere. All the parts are kind of unique,
it's gonna be kind of expensive, we're not making any progress on it.
And by the way, we've already gotten enough of these Czech rifles to fulfill the needs that we had for specialty troops.
So let's just abandon this project, ... cut our losses and drop it." Which is what happened.
So in total there were only about two dozen of these ever made.
The only one other known example in the United States is number V81, and that is in the Aberdeen Proving Grounds collection.
It came back to the US after World War Two, and it is unquestionably authentic.
There are a few interesting differences between this rifle and that one,
which you've already seen in some of the photographs.
So some of those can be chalked up to differences in experimental rifles.
The change in the nose cap is something that as part of a developmental program like this,
you'd experiment with different features and different variations to see what worked best.
The differences in markings maybe are the same, but more likely this rifle underwent some restoration.
Perhaps involving the use of some parts that were still in the white
that had been left over at the Mauser factory that were found after the war.
At any rate, I spoke to some experts on German Mausers, because this isn't exactly my field of expertise,
and the conclusion was that this is, generally speaking, an authentic rifle,
but it has had some restoration work done on it. So if you are interested in it yourself, I would encourage you to
take a close look at it. To take a look at Rock Island's pictures.
If you are planning to shell out serious money, of course for anything like this it always behooves you
to actually show up, inspect the rifle in person and attend the auction live in person.
And of course if you think this is cool, but perhaps a bit out of your price range or focal area of collecting,
check out Rock Island's catalogue. They have a tremendous amount of other cool stuff in this upcoming auction.
Thanks for watching.
[ cc by sk cn2 ]