There is a guy out of state that has a G43. I am curious what they are worth and how I can safely get it to my FFL. Meaning how I pay for the rifle and not get ripped off.
Are you on gunboards.com??? There is alot of knowledgeable members there that know about about G43's. Personally, I dont know much about them but i know they vary between $1,000 and $3,000 or so depending on condition and whether its numbers matching or not. I would pay with a USPS money order or two. Keep the receipts incase something goes awry.
P.S. The blue book is usually very wrong on surplus rifle values. I've heard it shows M38 swede mausers for $80 whereas a swiss 1896/11 is like $2,000. Well, M38 swede mausers actually go for four to five times that much and a decent swiss 1896/11 is $300 all day long.
Thank you. Though still isnt much help. All the exterior serial numbers match, seems to be in good shape without pitting and such. Supposedly was a vet bring back without import marks, has the dirty birds, one mag. The owner said he never fired it or taken it apart. So I dont know if internal parts are serialized, or if it is rusted or not.
There is an adjustable gas piston you can purchase from Apfeltor Waffenfabrik that will prevent the casual shooter from hammering the bolt to death, but that's about all you'd need if you plan on shooting it a lot. The Germans "over gassed" the G43 so that it would be more reliable in colder climes and the new gas piston fixes this.
The history of the G43 is quite amazing. It involves the Russian SVT-40 and an appetite on the part of the German Rifleman for a self-loading rifle, which they received too few, too late.