Very Rare Volkssturmgewehr VG 1-5 Rifle

Description

5/7/25 - This is a nice example of a very rare late WWII Nazi VG1.5 or Volkssturmgewehr or "Peoples Assault Rifle" that was manufactured by Gustloff-Werke in Suhl. It has the original, late-war phosphate finish which shows some general patina throughout. These rifles were a late war development and designed along the same lines as the MP43 and MP44 series of rifles, which were intended to be an even cheaper and simpler method of producing a semi-automatic rifle for the last ditch efforts in defending the Third Reich. They were made up primarily with all stamped sheet metal parts and components that were welded or pinned together to prevent disassembly, all which minimized the use of depleted German manufacturing resources. The only real machined parts on the entire rifle were the barrel, bolt head and various springs. These rifles were never officially sanctioned or adopted by the German Army and consequently will not have any acceptance proofs or markings. In fact they were kept in secret from Hitler who despised their crude and unrefined manufactured appearance. These rifles function on a direct blow back operated basis, where the entire outside of the barrel jacket/receiver recoils. The barrel has a fluted chamber to aid in extraction and it fires the short 7.92 mm Kurz cartridge, which is the same as the MP44. This particular example also has an interesting pistol grip, one that we have only seen similar on a prototype example. It is made from the same/similar sheet metal as the rest of the gun, and fitted with WW2-era 1911A1 grips. The rifle is complete with one 30 round MP44 magazine that is marked "MP44" on the lower left side. NOTE: This gun is missing it's firing pin. It can be difficult to locate or manufacture another, but is priced into this listing.