#Fg-42

Rhineland Arms had some very unique guns on display at their SHOT Show booth. They had two replicas of legendary designs (WA 2000 And FG-42) that are far more accessible than the originals.

Sport Systeme Dittrich (SSD) is a German company specialized in making reproductions of historical German firearms. Besides that, they also make modernized versions of the legendary WW2 German paratrooper rifle, the FG-42. The SSD’s modernized FG-42s feature a number of upgrades such as railed handguards, modern pistol grips, muzzle devices, new finish, etc. They currently have two models ( SG11 and SG12) chambered in .308 Win and a prototype model ( SG13) that will most definitely break the hearts of purists as it is not only an FG-42 that has been fitted with modern parts but also is chambered in  7.62x54mmR and is fed from SVD magazines.

In January, just before the 2017 SHOT Show, I got the opportunity to travel to Cody Wyoming to visit the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, to see some of their rare firearms and bring photos of them to our readers.

The German FG42 (Fallschirmjägergewehr 42) was a rifle designed as a multi-role combat small arm for airborne troops that was part rifle and part light machine gun. Only about 10,000 were made during WWII, but the design was very influential after the conflict ended (especially in the USA).
A company In Decatur Texas is now reproducing these guns in semi-auto only configuration, and in this video we put one to the test!

In 2013, SMG Guns announced their reproduction Type II Fallschirmjägergewehr FG-42 paratroop rifles. These recreated the late-model German FG-42s with some improvements in semi-auto form. Now, SMG Guns has released a promo video for their new Type I FG-42, reproducing the earlier, lighter, and frankly cooler-looking German paratroop rifle for the US civilian market. The video is embedded below:

This is the fourth part of a series of posts seeking to describe and analyze the 7.62mm Lightweight Rifle concept promoted by the Americans, and subsequently adopted by NATO in various forms. This series will cover development from before World War II to the present day, but will focus primarily on the period from 1944-1970, which constitutes the span of time from the Light Rifle’s conception until its end in the United States with the standardization of the M16. This article itself deals with the fully automatic variants of the M1 rifle developed before US focus shifted to the then-new, shorter .30 Light Rifle cartridge that led to the 7.62 NATO caliber. Therefore, all rifles covered in this article were chambered for the standard .30 M2 caliber, and the series of fully automatic M1 derivatives chambered for the .30 Light Rifle experimental round will be covered in a subsequent installment. In more than one way, this is the first “true” installment of the Light Rifle series, as the three preceding articles can be considered prologue material, though that does not reduce the importance of their subjects. My readers should also note that while I consulted a variety of sources to write this article, my narrative heavily relies upon Bruce Canfield’s magnum opus The M1 Garand Rifle , as well as R. Blake Stevens’ U.S. Rifle M14 from John Garand to the M21. Indeed, the title of this article is adapted from the third chapter of that latter book, as I could think of nothing superior.

TFB’s IWA coverage comes courtesy of Troubleshooter Berlin, who made it out to Nürnberg for the show. Many thanks to him for providing the pictures and information.

InRange has got something very interesting for their viewers this week: Two segments on the SMG Guns project to create a modernized FG-42. They also released a trailer on YouTube, embedded below:

One of the most interesting firearms to come out of World War II is the Fallschirmjaegergewehr 42 – the FG-42. There are so few of them still in existence that they often don’t get the attention they should, but that will all change now. SMG Guns of Decatur, Texas is building new semiauto-only replicas of the second model FG-42, and we got our hands on one to test out.

I can barely contain my excitement! A german firm called Tactics Group will be producing a “tacti-cool” version of the German WWII Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 (Paratrooper Rifle 42) aka. FG-42. It will feature all the accessories found on modern rifles.