GunLab's Work On Reproduction VG1-5 Rifles
One of the many projects GunLab has been hard at work completing is producing reproduction VG1-5 (more properly referred to as the Gustloff MP 507) carbines. These were last-ditch carbines, intended to be vastly cheaper to make than either the Kar98K or StG-44 carbines then in service. They were intended to operate via a closed bolt, gas-delayed blowback system; in practice, they were essentially straight blowback weapons, however.
A challenge GunLab has had to meet in producing these guns is redesigning the trigger group. The original Gustloff carbines had a riveted trigger group that cannot be taken apart, making copying it difficult. GunLab redesigned the trigger to both work safely and not change the lines of the original firearm; externally it would be just like an original VG1-5.
The VG1-5 is particularly interesting in that there’s really nothing else like it that also saw service. As a concept, it combines the crude-but-necessary construction of the Sten or PPS-43 with an intermediate caliber round and selfloading (not automatic) mechanism. This makes it a near-ideal weapon for the sort of war by economy that typified World War II. Post-war, the lessons learned from making weapons in large quantities were incorporated into post-war rifle design, from the M14 to the AK rifles, but no post-war weapon would quite reach the level of rude economy exemplified by the Gustloff carbine.
A collection of GunLab’s posts on the VG1-5 project can be found here.
Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.
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I'm so glad to see this covered! I remember reading the entry on this gun over and over again in Ian V Hogg's encyclopedia of firearms where it was called a volksgewehr (I gather that must have been a propaganda name). I was interested to read here that despite it's gas delayed blowback design it operated more as a straight blowback weapon. Gosh the action must be quite violent on these!? It'll be very interesting to see what insights will be possible about the effectiveness of this design once it is finished.
Question. Wont this have the same trouble of the originals? That being the coiled spring around the barrel, the rifles got very hot and ruined the spring.