My baby. Just REWAT'ed by Ohio Ordnance Works. They did a stellar job. Non matching with an MP44 buttstock, but I do have a correct buttstock (and indeed an entire MP43 parts kit) on hand. Now I just need to pick up some more ammo for it so I can take it to the range again.
A very nice weapon with great pictures. I hope you get to enjoy shooting her often. What condition is the bore? Did they reclaim the barrel or install a different one? Was the bolt welded also?
I wonder how many weapons are Rewatted every year?
In the photo where the gun is broken down on my workdesk, you'll see a spare barrel up towards the top. That is the formerly-DEWATed barrel that was on it when I got it. They sleeved the chamber and welded the sleeve in place. It is ready to install should I ever burn out the current barrel. The current barrel is an MG34 barrel cut down and contoured to match the MP43/1 barrel profile exactly. It is a brand new barrel with zero wear anywhere. The "original" barrel I have isn't original to the gun and I surmise that it was rebarreled sometime during the war.
The bolt was not welded. The chamber was filled with weld and had a pin (later found to be a broken drill bit) was put in place across the diameter of the chamber. OOW did an outstanding job repairing the drill hole to the bottom of the receiver forward of the mag well. You'd never notice to look at it. Additionally, a large hole was drilled in the top of the gas tube and I can only guess that was to further ensure that the rifle was deactivated.
It was registered as an unserviceable weapon on a Form 5 when it was a DEWAT. Ohio Ordnance - a class II manufacturer - completed a Form 2 registering the gun as a live machine gun. They then submitted the Form 4 to transfer it to me. Each leg of the paperwork journey took the now-standard 3-5 weeks for the ATF to do their thing. OOW took 5 months to do the physical reactivation due to their techs being swamped.
AIM surplus has the ammo as well, and for cheaper. Plus AIM is only a few hours away and shipping is *much* cheaper than it is from Coles. Though I do love Cole Distributing.
Nice! I have an MP43 that was rewatted sometime in the eighties or early nineties. I've owned it seven or eight years and had no problems at all. Now that there is a ready supply of ammo I hope to get in a little more range time than than in the past.
Thanks again for sharing.
I purchased a MP-40 back in the early 90s for $1495.00 and I had the opportunity to purchase a MP-44 for $3500.00 but I could only get the the money for the MP-40. Boy I wish I had sold one of the children or something. Now there is no way I could ever afford one unless I won the lotto.
Not having any kids is the only way I could afford this thing. That, and having spotless credit and a friendly loan officer at the credit union.
I'm getting 500 rounds of prvi partizan 8mm short today, so hopefully I'll be able to get the old girl out to play again within the next few weeks. Not that 500 rounds will last too long thru a full auto, but it's a start anyway.
Nice one chuckd. Could you let us in on how much you had to give for it? Just wondering what a rewatted MP43 is going for now days. I bought one about five years ago, Ray
If it's live, papered, and legally-registered, $15,000 minimum.
Thanks for the compliments, gentlemen. I'm very happy with the gun. The sturmgewehr family has always been my holy grail. I just happened to luck into the rarest variant of the closed-bolt family.
Beautiful restoration, thanks for sharing the story. Another scarce MG saved.
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