Good enough for the Wehrmacht, good enough for us.....

[TOrrock]

The 3rd and final Vicker's AK Class for the year is over.

One of the many highlights was the opportunity to get up close and personal with an early war MP-43, which is Larry's personal rifle.

Enjoy......... :D

Click on the image to watch the video...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/Tim_Orrock/Vickers%20AK%20Class/Class3/Video/th_MOV00105.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v613/Tim_Orrock/Vickers%20AK%20Class/Class3/Video/?action=view&current=MOV00105.flv)



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[TOrrock]

Jaeger....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/Tim_Orrock/Vickers%20AK%20Class/Class3/Sturmgewehr/Resized%20Pics/DSC00106.jpg

The El-Tee...

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HolyRoller...

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[TOrrock]

Slinger646 getting some....

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m0ondoggy taking a bite....

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[TOrrock]

Bulldog1967....

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barbarucus.....

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And a very hot, tired, and happy Templar....... ::D:

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[Kisara]

What, no VCAS? :D

Looks like a lot of fun and good training. How was the weight and balance of it compared to a wooden stock AK?

[BushmasterFanBoy]

That alone would make the class worth it, and then you get all the other useful stuff as a free bonus!:D

[rob_s]

*Edited by Templar*

[Jay Cunningham]

Templar,

Any issues with any ofthe rifles? Any 106 issues? How did the Vickers gloves work for you?

[HolyRoller]

Great photography, Templar! I forgot to snag the "WOLVERIIIIIINES!" photo-op but you made up for it with action shots.

My impressions of the Sturmgewehr, plus what I remember Larry telling us:

As far as I can remember, unless there was one on display in a museum, this is the first time I've ever seen a Sturmgewehr. I thought this one was stamped MP44 but I stand corrected that it's an MP43. Larry says there are only minor differences between the versions. He is not sure how his example came to be "liberated" but his best guess was that it changed hands at the Battle of the Bulge. The StG is far from perfect but Larry says that if he were in WW2, that's the one rifle he would try to get hold of.

He field-stripped it for us, and good/bad news was that the bolt carrier and bolt just fall out--easy for the shop, not so good in the field--I could just see myself absentmindedly dumping StG innards in the dirt if I'd been issued one. The firing pin is not retained and will in turn fall out of the bolt.

Once field-stripped, others have noted that you can see a lot of different rifles in the StG. Some specific ones that were pointed out to us: AR/M16/M4 ejection port dust cover, SKS operating system more or less, Mauser rear sight, HK op handle on the left and traveling above the barrel, early HK handguard (actually hand cooker! more in a minute), and others. You could say the tube-in-the-buttstock recoil spring is also ARish, but the French MAS-38 did it that way before the war. Since the StG's spring tube is bored directly into the wooden buttstock, you'd better keep this rifle dry, because Larry says it's possible for a very humid environment to swell the stock and stop your rifle cold. One feature that did not catch on was the separate safety and selector, but maybe some other aspects of the fire control group found their way into later weapons.

With the rifle back together, we each drew 10 rounds of 7.92x33mm Privi Partizan FMJ, except "Lt. Dan" who won the first competition on TD1, so he got 20. The East Germans gave out StGs as military assistance during the Cold War, and somebody made plenty of ammo in the 60s and 70s, and you can still find both in parts of the world. Nonetheless, we made sure to police up all the StG brass because factory rounds are at least a dollar each and Larry will inevitably begin reloading! PP brass is just beautiful, bright and light-colored, and after awhile you can learn to easily pick it out from a scattering of AK brass.

On the line, Larry first demonstrated live-fire. A few shots semiauto, then short bursts with the selector on the right. He was easily able to keep shots on target. In case you don't know Larry, he delicately suggests in his classes that you please try and hit the target, when possible, okay? hee hee. The cyclic rate seemed about 500.

Lt. Dan went first, and after four shots of semi, Larry said, "okay, enough semiauto!" He too could keep it under control full-auto. We all lined up and jammed one of the two or three mags as our turn drew near.

When it got around to me, I remembered that it's a straight-insert mag, not cam-in like the AKs we'd been shooting. One of the real weak points of the StG is that you can noticeably wiggle the mag after it's seated--bad juju for autoloaders, so keep your hand off the mag when firing. Another human engineering faux pas is the metal handguard, which gets too hot to handle after just a few shots. Somebody at the class said "ve vill melt your hand to ze gun und make you shoot better!" Even with gloves, you have to find a sweet spot on the mag well housing where you touch neither the handguard nor the mag. The sling, like on most infantry weapons of its day, is an administrative carry strap and not an aid to good shooting, so let it hang.

Mounting the StG was a real "hey, feels GREAT" experience, because the stock tang gives a great cheek weld and lines your eye up just right with the sights. What a world of difference from an underfolder AK! The safety seems too low for those used to ARs but I could get used to it. First a couple semiauto shots. Again, you could feel the difference. Larry briefed us that the StG's controllability had a lot to do with the long, soft bolt stroke with plenty of overtravel. If you're used to AKs and ARs, you can tell right away this is a more easygoing operating system where you can almost feel the whole cycle under your cheek.

Now, push in the selector and try some full auto. The cyclic rate is low enough that you can easily limit yourself to two-shot bursts. I did one, and then let go three or four. I'm not at all full-auto proficient (first and only live fire was many years ago with two mags through a public range Uzi) and despite the StG's good nature, it will climb, I could already see the last round was too far up the berm for comfort. One or two rounds more, and it was time to clear the StG and hand it back to Larry for the next guy.

Good thing there are photos or nobody would believe me. It was quite a rush to shoot a weapon that exists only in legend for most of us, and Larry says, getting to shoot the Sturmgewehr is what the AK class is all about anyway! Well, for me, not really--the AK operating instruction was priceless, and in a serious situation, I would have to take the AK because it has fewer potentially fatal flaws. But yeah, as Larry also says, "the cool factor is off the scale!"

Thanks a million for the smiles all around!

[John_Wayne777]

Ah, how fondly I remember my trigger time behind this wonderful weapon in the inaugural AK class....

I'm not an expert on FA fire, but I've had the opportunity to fire several FA weapons and the STMG is the most controllable FA rifle I have ever fired. I fired one long continuous burst (six or seven rounds) and with an aggressive stance had absolutely no problem keeping the sights on the target. It was almost as easy to control as the MP5, in my humble opinion.

I managed to put most of my shots (semi and full auto) in the X...which makes me a VERY happy man.

It's an awesome weapon, and Larry's quite the nice guy for letting us get some trigger time with it. :D