Original Item. Only One Available. This is an extremely scarce WWII manufactured repair kit for an MG42. When a MG42 receiver was damaged, or thought to be out of spec, these tools were used to find the problem, align and straighten out the receiver. This was a very important tool kit for German armories. There is a label taped to the top with some important information.

This set has been repainted, but there are WWII German markings visible under the paint. This leads us to believe this was a WWII set reworked postwar. The set weighs roughly 70 pounds. The tubular shaped shaft on each side of the kit has guides that lock into the MG42 receiver’s rails, and once attached will turn easily on ball bearings. The telescoping tool on the right extends to the top of the MG Receiver. It measures each part of the receiver to find the problem area. The two steel mandrills in the center attach to both ends of the receiver to straighten things out.

The crate measures 13¼ x 7¾ x 21½”.

The German WWII markings under the paint are actually very clear from a certain angle and read:

VERS NR. 5180-12 -144-C474
WERKZEUGSATZ WAFFENWARTUNG
UND INSANDSETZUNG
MG-Gehaeuse Ergaenzuna A Erh.-Stufe 2bls4
30kg

This translates to:

VERSION NO. 5180-12-144-C474
WEAPON MAINTENANCE TOOL SET
AND INSTALLATION
MG housing Ergaenzuna A upgrade level 2bls4
30kg

The rework markings are stenciled clearly on both sides and read:

4933-12-144-0474
PRUEFAUSST. MG.
1 SE
B-1- 7/92-45875
BRUTTO 30 KG
BIN B

There is a maker’s tag on the actual kit as shown reading

(RAPP HORSE LOGO)
Th. Rapp KG
7612 Haslach i.K.
Tel. 8011 FS 0752322
Made in Germany

The repair kit is in good shape overall with some nicks and scuffs in the exterior paint. The kit retains all of its parts from what we can tell but this is the first example we have ever offered, so it comes as is. This is a fantastically rare piece of WWII German repair equipment that would pair very well with an MG42. Comes ready for further research and display!

The MG 42 (shortened from German: Maschinengewehr 42, or "machine gun 42") is a 7.92×57mm Mauser general purpose machine gun designed in NSDAP Germany and used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. It was intended to replace the earlier MG 34, which was more expensive and took much longer to produce, but in the event, both weapons were produced until the end of the war.

The MG 42 has a proven record of reliability, durability, simplicity, and ease of operation, but is most notable for its ability to produce a high volume of suppressive fire. The MG 42 had one of the highest average cyclic rates of any single-barreled man-portable machine gun: between 1,200 and 1,500 rpm, resulting in a distinctive muzzle report. The only Allied automatic ordnance of any type with a similar calibre that was designed to exceed this rate of fire was the Soviet Union's .30-calibre ShKAS machine gun for aircraft armament, due to its "squirrel-cage" layout, ten-round "pre-feed" mechanism giving it a firing rate of 1,800 rounds per minute.

One of the weapon's most notable features was in its exceptionally high rate of fire of about 1,200 rounds per minute, twice the rate of the Vickers and Browning machine guns, which fired at a rate of about 600 rounds per minute. So effective was the weapon in laying suppressive fire that the United States Army created training films to aid its soldiers in dealing with the psychological trauma of facing the weapon in battle. The MG 42 fired at such a high rate the human ear could not easily discern the sound of individual shots being fired, instead hearing a sound described as like "ripping cloth" or a buzzsaw, giving rise to the nickname "AH's buzzsaw" (and the German soldiers' AHsäge ("AH's saw" or "bonesaw").

The gun was sometimes called "Spandau" by British troops, as was the MG 34, a traditional generic term for all German machine guns, left over from the famous Allied nickname for the MG 08 Maxim-derivative used by German forces during WWI, which was derived from its manufacturer's plates noting the city where some were produced.

The MG 42's high rate of fire resulted from analysis concluding that since a soldier typically only has a short period of time to shoot at an enemy soldier, and muzzle rise quickly throws off initial aim, it was imperative to fire the highest number of bullets possible in the shortest time to increase the likelihood of a hit before the recoil overcame the inertia of the gun and pushed the aiming point upwards. The disadvantage was that the weapon consumed exorbitant amounts of ammunition and quickly overheated its barrel, making sustained fire problematic. Thus, while individual bursts left the weapon as highly concentrated fire at 1,200 rounds per minute, the Handbook of the German Army (1940) forbade the firing of more than 250 rounds in a single burst and indicated a sustained rate of no more than 300-350 rounds per minute to minimize barrel wear and overheating, although the excellent quick-change barrel design helped a great deal. Burst limits are typical on non-water-cooled automatic weapons, and slower-firing Allied guns such as the M1919 also had limits; they fired at a slower rate, but lacked a quick-change barrel, and so the operator had to limit his fire to a few hundred rounds per minute to allow the barrel to cool between bursts. Due to the slower firing rate, this led to a longer period of time spent shooting, but a roughly equivalent total number of rounds fired. Operationally, the MG 42's main drawback was that it could consume ammunition at such a high rate that it was very difficult to keep firing during offensive actions, because ammunition had to be carried forward on a continuous basis. This was also a problem at the end of the war with inexperienced German troops. Good fire discipline was necessary, and the level of training that the German infantry was receiving at that time was poor.

The method of barrel change made the MG 42 unsuitable for secondary or co-axial armament on World War II era German tanks with the exception of the Jagdpanzer IV. Early versions of the Jagdpanzer IV carried two standard (no modification made) MG 42s on both sides of the gun mantlet/glacis, firing through a ball slot which was protected by an armored cover (with the MG 42 retracted) when not in use. Later version Jagdpanzer IVs carried only one MG 42 on the left side.