These rifles, along with their G41(M) counterparts, suffered from gas system fouling problems. The Walther design was more successful because the designers had simply neglected the last two restrictions listed above. Most metal parts on this rifle were machined steel, and some rifles, especially later examples utilized the Bakelite type plastic handguards. The Walther design, the G41(W), is in outward appearance not unlike the Gewehr 43. Only 6,673 were produced before production was halted, and of these, 1,673 were returned as unusable. This in turn made reloading relatively slow. Both also included inbuilt 10-round magazines that were loaded using two of the stripper clips from the Karabiner 98k, utilizing the same German-standard 7.92x57mm Mauser rounds. This is as opposed to the more common type of gas-actuated system, in which gases are tapped off from the barrel, and push back on a piston to open the breach to the rear. In this system, gases from the bullet were trapped near the muzzle in a ring-shaped cone, which in turn pulled on a long piston rod that opened the breech and re-loaded the gun. * and in case the auto-loading mechanism failed, a bolt action was to be included.īoth models therefore used a mechanism known as the "Bang" system (after its Danish designer Soren H. * the rifles were not to have any moving parts on the surface * no holes for tapping gas for the loading mechanism were to be bored into the barrel However, some restrictions were placed upon the design: The Wehrmacht issued a specification to various manufacturers, and both Mauser and Walther submitted prototypes that were very similar. In 1999 the civilian manufacture of hunting, defense, and sporting rifles had been split off from Rheinmetall.īy 1940, it became apparent that some form of a semi-automatic rifle, with a higher rate of fire than existing bolt-action rifle models, was necessary to improve the infantry's combat efficiency. In 1994 it became a subsidiary of Rheinmetall, who manufactured autocannons, such as the Mauser BK-27 and munitions under the name until 2004 when it merged into another unit. Mauser continued to make hunting and sporting rifles. Heckler & Koch has since taken over the role of Germany's main small-arms manufacturer. Edmund Heckler, Theodor Koch and Alex Seidel, former Mauser engineers, saved what they could and used it to start Heckler & Koch. For a period of years after WWII, Mauser Werke manufactured precision measurement instruments and tools, such as micrometers. All records in the factory were destroyed on orders of the local French Army commander.
With the fall of Germany at the end of the war, Oberndorf came under French control, and the entire factory was dismantled by the occupying forces. Walther's version did not do much better, but was later improved with the addition of a simpler gas-Operated system. Two designs were submitted, and the Mauser version, the G 41(M) failed miserably in testing and was cancelled after a short production run. The requirements specified that the design should not drill holes into the barrel, thereby requiring mechanisms that proved unreliable. In 1940 Mauser was invited to take place in a competition to re-equip the German army with a semi-automatic rifle, the Gewehr 41.
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