G33/40 Reproduction
I made our unit's G33/40s based on the Turkish 1938/46 Short Rifle that NAVY ARMS sold back in 1999 for $34.95! But unfortunately I don't see them advertised anymore.
The parts to make up our G33/40s came from: SPRINGFIELD SPORTERS, they had stocks with all the metal, forearms and barrels with front and rear sights. Unfortunately after about 30 years in business, Springfield Sporters of Penn Runn, PA, closed in October 2002, and their inventory has reportedly been sold to other large dealers, apparently SARCO and Gun Parts Corp. were both mentioned.
EVEN BEFORE SPRINGFIELD CLOSED THEY NO LONGER HAD THE BARREL WITH THE FRONT AND REAR SIGHTS. The front sight could be machined but the rear sight is complex and I don't know of anything that is even close in size that could be used in it's stead. UNLESS YOU CAN FIND A ORIGINAL REAR SITE MAKING A REPRODUCTION IS NOW JUST ABOUT IMPOSSIBLE. Take heart though, a lot of G33/40s were cannibalized for their small ring receiver to make light-weight sporting guns so all the excess parts should be out there if you know what to look for.
If you can't find Turkish 1938/46 Short Rifle the Turkish 1903/38 Rifle will work, but if you can get the Short Rifle (which were usually made from the 1903/38) you will be a step ahead as it has the correct turned down bolt with flat bolt ball, and all you will have to do is hollow out the ball. Be warned if you order from NAVY ARMS you must specify SMALL RING receiver as of the four I made, the first came as a LARGE RING and had to be ground down to small ring size. The receiver will not take a real G33/40 barrel as the threads are different. The trigger plate has the correct screw spacing but you may have to inlet the stock a bit to get it to fit.
I took the real G33/40 barrel and sweated off the front and rear sights with a torch. They both have a little alignment pin in them but I just used a brass punch and hammer tapped them off while the solder was still liquid, breaking the pins. I then had my gunsmith turn the Turkish barrel to the same shape, without even taking it off the reciever so no headspacing was required. As the Turkish barrel is of smaller diameter near the receiver a shim sleeve had to be made from the original barrel so the rear sight would fit. On some receivers a handguard lip had to be machined off. My gunsmith did all this for $60.00 each but he is a nice guy!
The original front sight is on a sleeve, it was silver soldered and pinned to the original barrel but can easily be removed and the Turkish barrel step turned on the lathe to fit it.
I made front bands from CZ ones by drilling the band spring hole on the other side and then welding up and grinding smooth the original hole. The band spring is the 3 5/8" Mauser one from NUMRICH GUN PARTS (they are on our VENDORS PAGE). The rear band I made from sheet metal, it has a bottom tightening screw and I spot welded a sling slot on it. The stock and handguard may take some final fitting around the rear sight and barrel bands using a dremel tool with a small sanding drum but they should be very close.
I altered regular K98 SIGHT HOODS to fit the G33/40 front sight but none of them lasted through a battle as they would catch on trees or windowsills and go flying, I think this probably happened on the originals too! The CLEANING RODS came from SARCO (also on our VENDORS PAGE), they were about $15.00 each. Total cost for making each gun was less than $200!
Good luck if your are trying to make one of these, I did all this from pictures so it would really help you to get a good look at a real G33/40 to compare yours to. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Marc McDaniel
Owner, Special Weapons & Effects
Fallschrimjaeger Regiment of Washington
