MG42 Bolts, in ww2 any come matched?

[Patsy57]

So I have come across two matched ww2 mg42 bolts, serial done with electro pencil I believe. My question is has anyone ever seen a matched ww2 bolt? Serials electro penciled in?

[rgus48]

The ones I have seen were numbered that way. I don't think I have ever seen one with stamped serial numbers.

[Patsy57]

The ones I have seen were numbered that way. I don't think I have ever seen one with stamped serial numbers.

Yes electric pencil is the numbering but have you seen them matched?

[rgus48]

I have seen MG34 with matching bolts in electropencil. I have seen MG42 bolts with a serial number electropenceled, it stands to reason that they also came from the factory matching.

[schmisser]

I agree with the electro-penciled bolt, however my rear sight is factory numbered to my mg-42's serial number and I
have the matching serial numbered barrel.

[amafrank]

I have seen some very early guns with some numbered matching parts but none with electropencil markings are factory done to the best of my knowledge. A lot of wartime and postwar guns were reworked after the war. Looking at a number of Yugoslav M53's and part sets it is evident that they did a lot of remarking and matching of parts. Many had electropencil markings added to keep working parts together. All parts are not interchangeable even though they may fit. Function of the parts is more than just fitting into the gun and moving where they need to go. Headspace and other important functions can be checked with gauges etc and at that point the part is marked with the number of the gun its been fitted to. This makes it possible for a large number of soldiers to all clean their weapons without worrying about mixing parts that can cause malfunctions.


The early gun parts I've seen numbered were rollmarked or etched just like the rest of the german parts and I've not seen many of them.

Frank