Restoring a Walther G43-sort of

[highpower]

I posted up some pictures of a ac44 G43 that I picked up a few weeks ago that some Bubba had really screwed with. It was quite a shame too as it was a matching number gun with a fair amount of original finish and a perfect bore.



You can't see it from the picture, but the stock had been sanded within an inch of it's life, along with the obvious inletting where the rear sling mount was located.

I ordered a stock off of Ebay that looked like a decent replacement. In the listing pictures it was laminated like the originals and had a fake Walther waffenampt. It came in yesterday and to say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement.

What I got was a solid Beechwood stock (all G43/K43 stocks were laminated) the waffenampt was missing and overall it was just not what I thought I was going to receive. I decided to contact the seller and give him a chance to make it right and I must say that he came through with flying colors. We agreed for him to refund half the price and since I now had a better stock than what I had before, I went ahead and put it on today. I don't consider this to be finished as I am waiting for my cleaning rod to show up and I still need to find a laminated stock, but at least it doesn't look as retarded as it did.

If anyone out there hears of a decent laminated stock for one of these feel free to contact me and let me know. There is a company in England that shows a nice one on their web site, but so far they haven't gotten back to me.

So I guess you could call this a half-assed restoration.





While the scope mount and retaining bands are reproductions, the scope and lens covers are the real deal and it still has reasonably clear optics.

[pitfighter]

Certainly looks better, well done, they can certainly eat up cash.

I bought some stocks (MkI Bren) from "Form" in the UK, after the $45 bank transfer fee and shipping, it was smarter for me to import six sets and sell four, over here.

[Springfield45]

Looks good. Are you going to shoot it?

[highpower]

I haven’t made up my mind yet. Standard wisdom is that you need the shoters kit which regulates the gas better and reduces wear. Except for the stock having been gooned by a previous owner, it is an all matching rifle and I am hesitant to do anything that might break an irreplaceable part. Plus I’m not sure if I want to invest in the shooters kit just to shoot it a few times.

Decisions, decisions….

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

That's a tough decision. I picked up what looked like a nearly unfired example and wound up selling it as I knew I'd be shooting it if I kept it.

[Springfield45]

I have G43 that I did get the shooters kit for. If you want to shoot it at all I would highly suggest getting the shooters kit as these are way over gassed. It was easy to install and dose not permanently alter the rifle. You replace the piston with a new one that has Allen plugs that restrict the gas hole to a smaller diameter. I also shimmed the the main spring/ operation rod with a washer to take some of the play out of it. It is a lot of fun to shoot. I use the surplus Romanian ammo that used to be plentiful.

Another option would be to make some hand loads for it with just enough power to cycle the action.