Mauser Gerat 06/Stg.45 assault rifle

Mauser Gerät 06, an early roller-locked, gas-operated prototype dated to cicra 1943
Mauser Gerät 06, an early roller-locked, gas-operated prototype dated to cicra 1943

Mauser StG.45(M), one of the veryfew pre-production rifles
Mauser StG.45(M), one of the veryfew pre-production rifles

 

 

Specification Value
Full text name Mauser Gerat 06/Stg.45 assault rifle
Caliber cartridge 7.92x33mm Kurz (7.9 PP Kurz, 8mm PP Kurz)
Action type select-fire
Trigger type sa
Overall length, mm 893
Barrel length, mm 400
Weight empty, kg 3,7
Magazine capacity, rounds 30
Cyclic rate of fire, rounds/min 400

German development of assault rifles did not stop with the adoption of the Haenel / Schmeisser “SturmgewehrStg.44 rifle. The Stg.44 was far too heavy and,while being made mostly of stampings, still required plenty of raw materials. So, several German companies continued to produce 7.92 mm Kurz rifles of various designs. Most interesting among these was the Mauser design, usually credited to Wilhelm Stähle and Ludwig Vorgrimler. By 1943 Mauser Werke had developed a gas-operated weapon, which featured rigid roller locking broadly derived from MG42 machine gun. This experimental weapon had a factory designation of “Gerät 06” (Device 06). This system (copied several times during the post-war period with equally unspectacular results) proved itself too complicated, but then the head of the analytical department at Mauser devised a version of theretarded (sometimes also called delayed) blowback system. In this system, there was no gas system and piston, and no rigid locking. Instead, rollers were used to retard theopening of the breech until the chamber pressure dropped down to safe levels. This system was factory designated as “Gerät 06H”, and by early 1945 was officially type-classified as Stg.45. It is believed that, no more than 30 specimens of these new weapons were made before Alliedforces captured the Mauser Werke in Oberndorf, so it made no impact on the war. But, instead, it made significant impact on the post-wardevelopments, since one of its designers, Ludwig Vorgrimler, went to France, where he continued to develop this design for several years. During the early 1950s he moved to Spain, where he participated in development of the CETME assault rifles, which led directly tothe famous Heckler & Koch family of small arms, including the G3 and other assault rifles, submachine and machine guns, all featuring the sameroller-delayed blowback system.

The famous MauserWerke began to develop its own assault rifle by the 1943. It wasdecided to produce the cheapest possible deign, with as much stampingand welding used as possible. The original design, called “Gerät 06”, had a short-stroke gas piston and a locking system with two rollers, located in the bolt, which was forced out to the barrel extension to lock the bolt. When the gun was fired, the gas piston forced the boltcarrier back, and this withdrew the rollers from the cuts in the barrel extension, unlocking the bolt, and then pulling it back to eject the spent case and load a fresh round on its way back. This system was later found too complicated, and experiments proved that the locking system could be done away with since the rollers by themselves were able to retard the initial bolt movement, until the pressure in the chamber dropped down to a safe level. This improved system greatlysimplified the design. This version was designated “Gerät 06H”. Becausethere was no primary extraction, a fluted chamber was devised to avoidsticking cases and subsequent torn rims and resulting jams. The receiver, as well as the round hand guards, was made from two stampedparts, left and right, connected by simple welding. The gun was built with a straight-line layout to reduce muzzle climb during automaticfire, so the sights were placed well above the barrel. This alsoresulted in the development of a shorter magazine with capacity of only10 rounds, requested by the troops. The retarded-blowback Stg.45(M)were easily distinguishable from the original gas-operated “Gerät 06” rifles by the ribbed handguards of circular cross-section on theformer, as opposed to the slab-sided handguards on the latter gun.
TheStg.45(M) was a good deal lighter than the Stg.44, and required about 50% less raw materials to make.