Original Item: Only One available! This is an excellent original early WWII issue German MG34 display machine gun, dated 1940 and bearing lots of early war style markings. Comprised of nearly entirely original WWII parts, this display gun was reconstructed using a BATF approved receiver with 30% totally replaced with solid steel bar stock, making this an inert non-firing display gun. We have also included a belt drum repainted with our replica panzergrau spray paint to complete the look, and it is even filled with a 50 round belt full of inert ammo! We have not had these available for years!

The display gun is coded along with multiple German wartime markings and has multiple Waffenamt markings. The barrel jacket markings were partly removed for remarking, but at the top it is still marked with the maker code ar, a wartime letter code listing. This indicates manufacture by the legendary Mauser-Werke AG in Berlin-Borsigwalde. Below this is remarked serial number 2844, and there are also two Eagle / 26 Waffenamt Proofs, the correct inspector number for Mauser.

The top cover is marked with number code 963, for manufacture by Johannes Grossfuss of Döbeln/Sachsen prior to 1940. This maker later used three letter code "bpr", and made numerous small arms components during the war. The top cover is Waffenamt marked with inspector code WaA497, based in Döbeln/Sachsen, and 26, both correct for Johannes Grossfuss. The top cover originally bore serial number 1076 / d, but this has been struck through, and it was remarked 7891.

Additionally, the upper feed tray is Waffenamt 26 marked, and the lower feed tray is marked with arz for subcontractor Deutsche Kühl- und Kraftmaschinen GmbH, a metal stamping business that also supplied receivers for the MG42 to many of the makers. There are some great markings on this very fine example of the most prolific German issued Light Machine gun of WWII.

The bipod included is of the late war design, without a central height adjustment knob, and is in excellent condition. It is maker marked dfb 1943 on the central hub, next to an Eagle / 4 inspection stamp. This indicates 1943 manufacture by Gustloff-Werke, Waffenfabrik, in Suhl, Germany. This company made many components for the MG 34 and MG 42, including entire guns. The front and rear sight still flip up and function correctly, and the bipod folds away and locks in correctly. The rear wooden butt stock is in very good shape, though there is a small crack on the top near the fitting. The serial number on the side has been overstamped, and cannot be read.

A great example of a wartime issue German MG34 Display gun, made by a legendary maker! Ready to add to your collection and display!

Please note that there may be various post-war markings on this display gun, in addition to the German WW2 markings. Many of these were acquired out of Israel, so many parts may have markings in Hebrew and "Star of David" proofs.

The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG 34, is a German recoil-operated air-cooled machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It accepts the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge, and is generally considered the world's first general-purpose machine gun.

The versatile MG 34 was arguably the most advanced machine gun in the world at the time of its deployment. Its combination of exceptional mobility - being light enough to be carried by one man - and high rate of fire (of up to 900 rounds per minute) was unmatched. It entered service in great numbers following AH's repudiation of the Versailles Treaty in 1936, and was first combat tested by German troops aiding Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Nonetheless, the design proved too complex for mass production, and was supplemented by the cheaper and simpler MG 42, though both remained in service and production until the end of the war.

History

The MG 34 was based on a 1930 Rheinmetall design, the MG 30. The Swiss and Austrian militaries had both licensed and produced the MG 30 from Rheinmetall shortly after patent. The MG 30 design was adapted and modified by Heinrich Vollmer of Mauser Industries. Vollmer modified the feed mechanism to accept either drum magazines or belt ammunition. He also increased the rate of fire. The MG 34's double crescent trigger dictated either semiautomatic or fully automatic firing modes.

In the field, the weapon could operate in offensive or defensive applications. The offensive model, with a mobile soldier, used a drum magazine that could hold either 50 or 75 rounds of ammunition. In a stationary defensive role, the gun was mounted on a bipod or tripod and fed by an ammunition belt. Belts were carried in boxes of five. Each belt contained 50 rounds. Belt lengths could be linked for sustained fire. During sustained fire, barrels would have to be changed at intervals due to the heat generated by the rapid rate of fire. If the barrels were not changed properly, the weapon would misfire. Changing barrels was a rapid process for the trained operator and involved disengaging a latch and swinging the receiver to the right for the insertion of a new barrel. Accordingly, stationary defensive positions required more than one operator.

The MG 34 was the mainstay of German Army support weapons from the time of its first issue in 1935 until 1942, when it was supplanted by the next generation Maschinengewehr 42 or MG 42. Although the 34 was very reliable and dominant on the battlefield, its dissemination throughout the German forces was hampered due to its precision engineering, which resulted in high production costs and a relatively slower rate of production. For its successor, the MG 42, the Germans instead used mass production techniques similar to those that created the MP 40 submachine gun. However, the Germans nevertheless continued widespread production of MG 34s until the end of the war.

The MG 34 was used as the primary infantry machine gun during the 1930s, and remained as the primary armored vehicle defensive weapon. It was to be replaced in infantry service by the related MG 42, but there were never enough quantities of the new design to go around, and MG 34s soldiered on in all roles until the end of World War II. The MG 34 was intended to replace the MG 13 and other older machine guns, but these were still being used in World War II as demand was never met.

It was designed primarily by Heinrich Vollmer from the Mauser Werke, based on the recently introduced Rheinmetall-designed Solothurn 1930 (MG 30) that was starting to enter service in Switzerland. Changes to the operating mechanism improved the rate of fire to between 800 and 900 rpm.

The new gun was accepted for service almost immediately and was generally liked by the troops, and it was used to great effect by German soldiers assisting Nationalist Spain in the Spanish Civil War. At the time it was introduced, it had a number of advanced features and the general-purpose machine gun concept that it aspired to was an influential one. However, the MG 34 was also expensive, both in terms of construction and the raw materials needed (49 kg (108.0 lb) of steel),[citation needed] and its manufacture was too time-consuming to be built in the numbers required for the ever-expanding German armed forces. It was the standard machine gun of the Kriegsmarine (German navy).