A little Dutch shopping.

[pitfighter]

I picked these up in Holland.
Same place I found the FG42 parts -

The grips in white tissue paper are MP40 pistol grips - for my over used one.

I am not sure about the authenticity, please share opinions.



1. I am most interested in knowing what people think of the "elbow" AA rear sight, it will be going on my '42 regardless, and I have the spider front portion already.
It is unmarked, but shows signs of age and a little metal degradation -
It is blued, and then has been painted in the past, it has been on a MG and shows a LOT of wear.
There may be tiny waffen marls under the paint (it is thick) -
*I am aware it could be a 70's fake on a dummy gun in someones collection, and look old and used, without actually being an authentic example - but curious to hear what thoughts are anyway.









2. The "standard" rear sight is waffen marked eagle over C10 in several places.
*It is in such nice shape I presumed this was for an M53, until I found the waffenmarks with a magnifying glass, they are tiny!

3. The trigger is unmarked except for KAEF on spring return -

4. The feed tray is marked WAa497 serial 4398 f -



5. Not sure what the toggle shaped item is, but it's waffen marked Waa11 - and deep blued.

[bmg17a1]

The part you note as a"toggle" is the 42 sear. AA sight is original. Making a comparable repro is not a worthwhile task for the effort or the money. Maybe in a few years. The AA sights are stamped with a very small waffen on the top rear and early ones were serialised to the gun.
No Mg42 parts were repro'd in the seventies as there was a large supply of excellent to new parts available in various parts of the world on a limited basis, but as the years went by large quantities of parts were imported into the US. Many 42 owners upgraded their guns with new parts to improve appearance. There were no Yugo 53 parts available in the US until many years later.
Hope this helps.

Bob Naess

[pitfighter]

Yes - helpful, thank you, very much.

Cannot see the waffen - it could be beneath this paint - like some kind of heat resistant oven black, lol.

I couldn't find any reference to the KAEF marking on the trigger in my books -

[pitfighter]

(Site won't let me edit or add to my last post?)
Decided to seat the sight:
It took a little fitting - the hole was too tight for the plunger - patient hand-fitting took care of that.
The German sights feel delicate compared to the Yugo - there are some minor differences in production and design.
The AA site doesn't quite fit into it's "down" position setting - but it's held in place by spring pressure, upon depression of the plugger it moves to the upright, where it does lock in place.



I'll photograph it more when the spider-web front sight arrives - (GunBB- on gun boards, not sure if he is here, he is a few other places.)

[anjongni]

New AA sight kits are available from AAS in France. They are perfect copies. Yours looks battle-weary...like a real one.
Congrats, nice haul!...Phil

[pitfighter]

Thanks Phil,


Yes - I saw those and Marstar in Canada has repro's too.
Several companies here (USA) had them on their websites, but were listed as sold out.
IMA-USA, SARCO, NUMRICH, etc.,

I don't think mine is a fake - but, as I couldn't see a good image of a repro, and had no satisfying image of an original I threw it to the scholars here.

I am now ready for an airborne invasion of my street -

*That rear sight closes hard doesn't it? - when I was exchanging the sights I tried to hand-turn the side pin to match the flat edge to the top of the sight base, that Yugo one closed on my thumb blacking the nail .

[anjongni]

doigt-de-vises-aa-mg42.jpg (12.59 KiB) Viewed 3876 times

http://aassniper98.com/fr/mg-42/4357-do ... -mg42.html
The copy MG42 AA sight kit from AASSniper98. Just got an item from them last week, great service....Phil

[pitfighter]

Thankfully, it appears I have an original - so I am happy.

[spareparts]

From France, who'd have thought?

[pitfighter]

The one I posted in the original post is determined to be from Germany circa WW2 -

Mine came from a recently found small stash of MG42 parts in Holland last month -

I posted here to discuss original "elbow" AA sites - I spent six months looking at all the fakes available, and am really am interested in info. on the original item.
Determining factors on telling the fake from the better reproductions - of which there are a few.
Like the spiderweb front sight - at least three types of fake -

Whether it was IMA-USA, AAS or ATF who had a run of these done in India (or wherever), I do not know, but, it's a minefield for a novice collector, so trying to pool info. from the experienced collectors - I buy every book I can find on the subject of German pre 1945 MG's and the info on the AA sights is still quite minimal.

PS - I cannot use the German MG42 feed tray - or MG42 sear in my guns - so they are available - but I am pleased with the sight.

[pitfighter]

HA - the reason I cannot use the Mg42 feed tray - is that it's an MG34 feed-tray - I have an MG34 so it's going into the inventory. My eyes - brain and functions need testing once in a while.