Kiwi Medals

This fairly humble set of bits and pieces are the components that would make up the spare parts and maintenance package placed in the butt cavity of the Walther K43 Main Battle Rifle. You can see below the manual, oiler bottle, firing pin, firing pin extension, extractor, extractor retaining pin and extractor spring. Do not ask me how an infantryman, under fire and in the middle of a -20 snow storm could be expected to make use of these parts. The frequent failure of the K43 under use must have made the users of it loathe the Walther company.

This butt plate is designed to fit a German K43 semi-automatic main battle rifle. I got it from a bloke down in the States because I am restoring a K43 from a shooter to as close to original as I can get. The butt plate is the earlier ribbed type which is a little early for my rifle but it will do nicely. It’s clearly original but is missing the small dent on the hinge plate where the Landser would press a bullet into to assist with opening the door.

This is the small oil bottle and firing pin/firing pin extender usually found in the butt pocket of a K43 semi-automatic rifle. The K43 was notorious for being over-pressured and snapping the firing pin under heavy use. It was an indication that the design was not quite ready for primetime. That would have been worked out over time, something the Germans just didn’t have to spare. This oiler is the bakelite late-war type.