VG1-5.

This is coolbert:

From that previous blog entry:

"Barnitzke (designer at Gustloff, responsible for the VG1-5)"

That German assault rifle form the era of the Second World War [WW2], the StG-44 not an unqualified success.

ONLY produced in numbers as not to make a significant difference.

German design and machining TOO GOOD. German standards of excellence not allowing for mass production of the StG-44 on the gigantic scale as needed.

An expedient assault rifle seen as desirable, those weapons to be issued en masse to those elements of the German "People's Militia" [Volkssturm].

"At the end of 1944 the war was going against Germany. They had lost entire armies to the advancing Russians and Western Allies. As a countermeasure the Volkssturm was mobilized – a German national militia. These needed to be armed but there were not enough rifles to go around. For this reason the Primitiv-Waffen-Programm ('primitive weapons program') was initiated. It called for weapons that were very easy to produce. Several companies came up with designs, all very basic in design and crude in finish."

And entire series of such weaponry devised, to include the VG1-5.

More correctly designated as the Gustloff Volkssurmgewehr. The VG1-5.

A weapon that could be made quickly, cheaply, and issued to the troops in profusion.

Crude but effective as is the adage!

"The Volkssturmgewehr 1-5 ('People's Assault Rifle') is a set of 5 rifle designs developed by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. They were very simple designs, derived from the Mauser 98k, but with poor quality parts and a rough finish."

Referred to as a "carbine". Uses that same magazine as the StG-44 and fires the same round, but much more crudely made. And inaccurate at range but nothing more intended than that. Volume of fire more important than accuracy.

The Volkssturmgewehr having many attributes of the modern assault rifle. Included in the design:

* Semi-auto fire.

* High capacity magazine.

* Firing an "intermediate" round.

That Volkssturmgewehr also lacking:

* A pistol grip stock.

* And that selective fire option. [semi-automatic or full auto mode]

"The Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr was designed by Karl Barnitzke of the Gustloff-Werke for the Primitiv-Waffen-Programm ('primitive weapons program') in 1944 and was intended to be used by the Volkssturm. Production of the Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr occurred from January 1945 till the end of the war; roughly 10,000 were made."

One version of the Volkssturmgewehr evidently possessing a pistol grip. German designation MP 507 no pistol grip, the MP 508 having the pistol grip.

"This gun was initially called MP 507. The MP 508 was fairly similar except it had a pistol grip."

The Soviet designers such as Kalashnikov obviously realizing the need for an effective assault rifle that could be manufactured cheaply, quickly, and in great numbers. That experience of Barnitzke in this regard most essential.

coolbert.