Finally, after three years of searching, I find a 20 round magazine for my MP-28/II submachine gun. These guns are incredibly rare in Canada which makes the magazines even harder to track down. I looked all over, including in the Balkans before finally finding one in a town 60km from me, go figure. The trade in a carpark felt remarkably like a drug deal, but there you go. This one is marked for the manufacturer, Haenel, no WaA’s so definitely prewar, likely pre-Nazi.
A few weeks back I hooked an MP28/II submachine pistol. Just after that I was lucky enough to find a magazine pouch produced for the same weapon. When I accumulate these things I do my best to get the appropriate pouches, sling, magazines and bayonets for them all. It’s part of the joy of having OCD. This pouch is marked Otto Sindel, Berlin, 1935.
A fairly common find, a 32 round stick magazine for the Sten machine pistol. I don’t collect British weapons however I bought the MP28/II below a little while back and the MP came without a magazine. The MP28 mags are hard to track down so in the meantime I will use this mag for display.
The Sten was designed to take a common magazine with the Lanchester SMG. And since the Lanchester was a direct copy of the MP28/II by default, these Sten mags will fit the MP28. Of course the MP28 ones were 20 round but I don’t want to go chopping this down until I give up on finding an original MP28 Mag.
This magazine is marked K.C. This represents the manufacturer, Kelvinator Canada. This makes sense since I found it in Canada.
This weapon is an MP28/II machine-pistol designed by Hugo Schmeisser, based heavily on the WW1 era MP18/I. The MP28 was provided with either a 20 round box magazine or (later) a 30 round magazine. This one I picked up didn’t have a magazine with it but luckily the magazine for the Sten or Lanchester MP’s were almost identical so I’ll put a Sten mag into it until I can find an original MP28 magazine.
The MP28 was used widely between the wars and by the Waffen-SS and Polizei during WW2.
This little item is terrifically tough to find. It’s the adapter for the MP-18/I designed to allow the 32 round drum magazine (snail drums) to fit. Not quite WW2 but since I have a trommel drum and I am looking for an MP-18, it’s a case of hook it when you see it. The MP18 was originally designed with a 20 round box magazine however the Army procurement organization insisted that the weapon be made compatible with the TM08 trommels which were common due to their issue for the LP08 pistol. This required this spacer adapter to be slid onto the snail drum to prevent it being pushed to far into the receiver of the MP18.
Here’s the latest acquisition, an MP41, manufactured by C.G.Haenel of Sühl. Haenel was a prominent small arms manufacturer. It was founded in 1840 and it’s demise dates to the end of WW2. In 1921 it hired a man, Hugo Schmeisser, who became their chief designer. There’s quite a story behind the design and manufacture of this particular MP but I won’t go into that here. This weapon was functional when I got it and unfortunately I was responsible for it’s demilling. Luckily it seems to have it’s original MP41 stamped magazine with it.
This is a cleaning and spares kit for the Steyr MP-34 machine pistol. It contains the usual suspects including the large return spring. You can see my example of the MP34ö here.
This weapon is the Steyr manufactured MP34. Labelled the MP34ö by the Germans to differentiate it from the Bergman MP34, the ö stood for Austrian (Österreichisch). This weapon was very well manufactured and this led to its downfall since it made it expensive to build when compared with competitors like the MP38/40 or later MP43/44. It’s service life was limited to use by police units and later the Waffen-ϟϟ. There were a number of these that were exported to Portugal, some of the later ones were chambered in 9mm Luger.
I believe this to be one of those wartime manufactures as it has WaA189 stamps on the frame and bolt indicating it was manufactured in the Steyr-Daimler plant in Warsaw, Poland. The stock has the Portuguese crown stamped into it as well as the number 1942, which I assume is the contract year.
And finally, a couple of photos of it with an M95 Steyr bayonet fitted. In German service this would be correct. In Portuguese service these were fitted with a purpose made Mp34 bayonet.
This unmarked magazine pouch was manufactured to hold three magazines for the Austrian Steyr MP-34. This machine pistol was taken into German service after the Anschluss as the MP-34ö to distinguish it from the Bergmann MP-34. I have an example of this submachine-gun here.
A fairly boring little piece of equipment, this is the speed loader for an MP-40 machine pistol magazine. This one is marked fxo41 and MP38u40.
These ammunition cartons contain original German issue 9×19 cartridges, as used in the P08 Luger, P38 Walther and MP-40. The ammunition was manufactured in 1938 and 1942 and 1944.
This was my first German firearm, a 1943 manufacture Erma MP40 Maschinenpistole. It is stamped AYF43 for Erma and the year it was made. It is all matching stamped 9067 and WaA stamped 280. This weapon was only issued to section leaders, tank crews and fallshirmjäger until near the end of the war. The MP-41 is a variant using a wooden stock that was made by Schmeisser until Erma closed him down for patent infringement.
Kiwi Medals 