Tell me about the MP44

If you're thinking about the MP 43/Stg 44, then they are selective-fire and a Class III item. The MP 43 was renamed the "Sturmgewehr 44" after Hitler found that it had been put into production against his orders, but that the troops on the Eastern Front still couldn't get enough of them. These rifles have sort of a weird safety/selector system on them; the safety is a thumb-lever sort of like a modern H&K design, but the selector is a cross-bolt above the pistol-grip that's marked "E" ("ein", or "one") on one side, and "D" ("dauer", or "rapid") on the other.
 
These are historically very interesting guns, being the first assault rifles. But ammo is a real problem. The caliber is 7.92x33 Kurz, which is very, very hard to come by and correspondingly expensive. Figure about a buck a round. This is the reason the guns are as cheap as they are, relatively speaking. You might find a nice one for under $10,000.
 
Nobody loads 7.92mm Kurz commercially, so you won't find StG44 owners plinking a lot with their rifles. You can't reload the original German ammo either, because they're berdan-primed steel cases. Magazines for StG44's are also very expensive.

All in all, it's a cool rifle, though...it'd be worth to own one just for the historical value. The intermediate cartridge, select-fire rifle concept makes the StG44 is the grandfather of most modern military rifles. It is also the direct predecessor of the most successful battle rifle design of the 20th century...the AK-47. Also, it was the rifle that coined the term "assault rifle".
 
All the above, except didn't Hitler give the term "sturmgewehr" to the weapon after learning about it in a conference with his Eastern Front generals?

The Federov and Parachute Hunter rifle were select fire, but used big Russian and 8mm resp., instead of "intermediate" round.
 
KS, the Parachute rifle (Fg42) has got to be one of the coolest guns ever designed. If somebody would bring that back in the original 8mm I would be all over it! Think about it, it did everything that the M-14 did, only it was more controllable, over a decade earlier! :) Plus 8mm is dirt cheap right now. Or make a .308 version that took FAL mags and i would be in heaven.
 
Depends on how you define "big." It's a little heavy perhaps by modern standard but you need the weight for full-auto 8mm.

I haven't shot one. Allen Kane was gracious enough to let me handle one three years ago. I think there are only 3 or 4 in the book (NFA dealers help me on this one).

Just yet another reason to abolish the NFA. It's inane, immoral and unconstitution and, by the way, interferes with Corriea and me legally buying what we want.
 
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