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Info on the Volkssturmgewehr 1-5?

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G.A.Pster

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I’ve read about the Volkssturmgewehr 1-5, and it interests me because it’s the only gas retarded blowback rifle that I know of.

I can’t really find any good information on it, and no pictures or diagrams of one disassembled, do any of you know somewhere on the web (or a book) that shows diagrams or photos of a disassembled Volkssturmgewehr 1-5?


I’m going to do further research on this, but I figured I’d ask since I made the topic:

What kind of pressure and recoil did the 7.92x33mm Kurz generate compared to say a 5.56 or 7.62x35

Thanks.
 
Small arms of the world by HB Smith (1948) has a photo of the left side of the weapon and allot of written detail. I have never seen pictures of dissasembly, so if you find some, please post them if possible.
 
I can get some detail photos, give me a few days.

Haven't shot it myself, but I'm told they are rather unpleasant to shoot. It was a developmental dead-end, where some of the other late-war experimental German guns had a lot going for them.

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I believe they were issued with one loaded magazine and will start falling apart after that first magazine full is expended.
No one recommends shooting them too much, there are too few around and the value is greater as a collectable.

here is a book out by Collector Grade Publications called Desperate Measures which covers all the last ditch and Home Guard weapons issued by Germany towards the end of World War Two.
The 1-5 is covered in depth.

If your German is rusty, Volkssturmgewehr translates to 'peoples storm rifle'.
 
That is likely the same number of rounds they expected the poorly trained Volksturm to get off before being killed or surrendering.

It worked well for the intended purpose. :evil:
 
Cruel math..

In analogy to the modern western world versus China, it´s interesting to see how the quality craftmanship of the German industry became a problem, when confronted with cheap mass produced low grade products in greater number...
 
What kind of pressure and recoil did the 7.92x33mm Kurz generate compared to say a 5.56 or 7.62x35
Click to expand...

In a StG-44, it's real mild -- feels lighter than 7.62x39, and a slower recoil impulse I guess (more of a push than a kick) though some of that is definitely the gun. Still more kick than a 5.56mm round, but it takes real work to get less.

No idea on what it would be like in something as last-ditchy as the Volks StG 1-5, though like various other posters I would not relish running rounds through one.
 
Thanks for the info on the CUP, sturmgewehr667, that’s pretty close to a 7.62 x 39.
………………….

Onmilo, I’ll have to look for that book, do you know if it also gives any info on the VolksPistole (I think I spelled it right).
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Nice photo Ian, I’m excited to see more, I’m thinking eventually once I know more about the VG 1-5 I’d like to make a small website about it, could I use your pictures (I’ll give you credit of course)?
……………………
 
Does anyone have a source for the supposed fragility of the VG1-5, or is it just a theory? Because I know for a fact that one I posted a photo of has had a lot more than one mag worth of ammo through it, and it hasn't broken in any way. Granted, it's a repro and not an original, but it is made to original spec.

It's not the time it was made that makes the kick unpleasant, but the operating mechanism. I have shot other similar vintage German designs (the StG45), and it's a wonderful gun to shoot.
 
G.A.Pster, the book has a whole chapter dedicated to the Volkspistolen and various last ditch issue handguns.

I have a copy in my library, well worth the money spent if this topic interests you.
 
Well, the rifle I was going to get photos of isn't readily available to me any more, so I wasn't able to get pictures. I'll still get some (I'm working on starting up a web site to publicize just that sort of thing), but it'll be a few weeks probably.
 
is this the gun?that some say kiel klashnacof based his ak off of. i no i didnt spell his name right. sorry
 
Definitely not it works on a completely different operating principle.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was probably influenced by the StG44, StG45, though I think I’ve heard him state somewhere that they didn’t influence his design.
 
For some reason it makes me think they took a look at the sten, and said "to british!" then ,made it better. :) either way i can't wait to see your site. I love looking at all the odd German weapons.
 
ccording to Smith & Smith's Small Arms of the World, Tenth edition (1973) Stackpole Books:

OAL 36 inches
Barrel Length 14.75 inches
Weight 10.16 pounds
MV 2163 FPS
Semi auto only

Text begins on page 421

photo on 422 of left side, magazine in place

photo on page 423 of feild striped rifle from right side

Ages ago one was on display at the Infantry Museum at Ft. Benning, Haven't been in decades though. Semm to recall one was in a US Navy museum in Norfork.

I have not handled one much less shot one so I can not address any issues other those what I have.

BTW the 10th ed SAOTW I just refferenced is the same one that sat on my "VOLAR" desk in 1974 in Neu Ulm FRG and was twice stolen and recovered. Once I simply asked around, confronted someone "with their own copy" showed them my return address stamp on certain numbered pages and had it sheepishly returned. The second time was as a result of the First Sargeant drilling out my door lock to move our crap while we were in the field (acting jacks gave up their NCO room when a real NCO came aboard) WHen I showed him that the key was infact hanging in his key control box in his office on the correct hook and announced I would make a claim of over $300 (remember a Spec-4 made less than $400 a month in those days) in books alone plus uniforms and equipment above that the missing stuff misteriously appeared shoved into a brand new
wall locker locked and with a message to see the 1st Shirt that was standing in a corner of the squad bay I was returned to when I returned from a four day comp time after making my needs known. ABout the opnly thing missing was a Gun Digest and oddly instead of one half empty bottle of Ron Rico there were two full ones. A couple of NCOs in another platoon grumbled when they saw me for months afterward. Oddly they were the guys that helped the new NCO move into my former room.

SO you see those old gun reference books can have a rich history of there own.

-kBob
 
That’s the reason I’m so interested in these, it’s a really simple to manufacture design (no pistons or locking lugs) that could work for everything from pistol calibers to full size rifle calibers.
 
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