FG 42
Encyclopedia
The FG 42 was a selective fire
battle rifle
produced in Nazi Germany
during World War II
. The weapon was developed specifically for the use with Fallschirmjäger airborne infantry
in 1942 and was used in very limited numbers until the end of the war.
It combined the characteristics and firepower of a light machine gun
in a lightweight form no larger than the standard-issue Kar 98k
bolt-action
rifle
. Considered one of the most advanced weapon designs of World War II
, the FG 42 influenced post-war small arms development and ultimately helped to shape the modern assault rifle
concept.
At the time of the Battle of Crete
(Operation Mercury), German Fallschirmjäger were equipped with the same assortment of small arms as the Heer, carrying only pistol
s and hand grenade
s on them during airborne jumps, with submachine gun
s, rifle
s and crew-served weapons stored separately in containers that were dropped from the wing of the exit craft. The German parachute
harness, with a single strap attached to the body making the paratrooper land on his hands and knees in a forward roll, did not allow for heavier equipment such as rifles and machine gun
s to be safely carried during jumps. At Crete, long-range rifle and machine gun fire from dug-in Commonwealth
defenders (largely New Zealand
ers from 5 Brigade's 22nd Battalion) inflicted heavy casualties upon the outgunned German paratroopers in the early stages of battle as they attempted to retrieve their support weapons from containers scattered all over the battlefield. These early combat experiences demonstrated that standard weapons were not ideal for airborne operations.
), requested a selective fire
hand-held weapon for the paratroopers; Senior Staff Air Secretary Ossenbach at the GL/C Erprobungsstelle-6 (GL/C E-6—the Luftwaffe Weapons Development Branch at Tarnewitz near Lübeck
) was approached informally to develop this special new weapon. The Reich Air Ministry
(Reichsluftfahrtministerium or RLM) sought to develop a universal shoulder-fired automatic rifle that could replace the bolt-action rifle, submachine gun, and light machine gun in the air assault role. The proposed weapon would also simplify logistics and provide greater firepower to the individual paratrooper.
The RLM attempted to initiate a formal weapons development program through the Heereswaffenamt
(the HWaA, or Army Ordnance Department)—responsible for German small arms development—but conflicting priorities and friction with the Army (the HWaA dismissed the undertaking as unrealistic and offered their G 41(W)
semi-automatic rifle
instead) led to an independent development by the Luftwaffe. Plans were laid out to form a central authority for the new program at the Luftwaffe testing station at Tarnewitz. The engineers on staff had acquired considerable expertise developing lightweight automatic weapons, having successfully converted the MG 15 aircraft machine gun to a ground configuration. However, due to the high casualties sustained by the paratroopers during Operation Mercury, Hitler
changed his mind about the tactical importance of airborne assaults and the plans were terminated. Nevertheless, Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring
privately ordered the continuation of the project.
The RLM went directly to German industry with its plans—the so-called LC-6 specification issued 14 December 1941 mentioned amongst others that the weapon should not exceed 1000 mm (39.4 in) in length, should not be significantly heavier than the Kar 98k rifle, should be able to fire single shots from a closed bolt
, provide fully automatic fire from an open bolt
, feed from detachable 10 or 20-round magazines
and be able to fire rifle grenade
s. Despite the introduction of the intermediate 7.9mm Kurz cartridge promoted by the Heer (developed for the promising MP 43 assault rifle), the Luftwaffe favored the long-range potential of the standard 8x57mm IS rifle round and this caliber was one of the main design prerequisites.
, Johannes Großfuß Metall- und Lackierwarenfabrik, C.G. Hänel, Rheinmetall-Borsig
and Heinrich Krieghoff Waffenfabrik. Several contracts were awarded but only a few prototypes are known to have been submitted. Mauser offered a version of the MG 81
(rejected due to excessive weight and its belt-fed operation) while Krieghoff presented a rising-block prototype, which too was quickly dropped. A design credited to Rheinmetall-Borsig's Louis Stange of Sömmerda
proved satisfactory and underwent military trials conducted by the GL/C E-6 test station at Tarnewitz in mid-1942. This early prototype, known under the factory designation Gerät 450 ("device 450") or Ausführung "A" ("type A"), was intended to be a pure sheet metal
design, using pressed steel in the construction of the receiver
, buttstock and corrugated handguard. The proposed system of operation was modeled on that used in the World War I
Lewis
light machine gun, with a gas-operated
turning bolt
action geared to a spiral (clock-type) recoil spring. The type "A" was never produced beyond model form, but the basic design layout was retained for further development.
With the basic characteristics of the LC-6 accepted, a series of modifications followed. The revised Ausführung "B" replaced the sheet metal handguard with a resin
-impregnated fiber type that provided protection against heat and a better grip when wet.
These tests exposed several shortcomings, addressed by Stange in April 1942 with the LC-6/II prototype. The prototype was then submitted to a series of endurance tests led by the HWA and further modified to increase functional reliability and durability, resulting in the final LC-6/III prototype variant that was ultimately accepted into production as the FG 42. Fifty rifles were fabricated by Rheinmetall-Borsig for evaluation purposes by the end of 1942.
A pre-series batch of 50 rifles was produced in early 1943 and 6 examples were sent to GL/C E-6 for additional testing. Almost identical to the LC-6/III, these guns differ from later models by using a smooth sheet metal
buttstock and an experimental muzzle brake
. The weapons experienced serious malfunctions: one rifle suffered a catastrophic failure after firing only 2,100 rounds, a soldier was injured when attempting to fire a rifle grenade and the pressed metal buttstock would deform after launching only several rifle grenades.
-nickel
steel
heavily in many essential components, a strategic alloy in short supply. When the Luftwaffe was finally given permission to produce 3,000 rifles for combat trials, the material specifications were changed to accommodate the use of manganese
steel as a substitute. The Heinrich Krieghoff company of Suhl
(authors of the previous unsuccessful LC-6 tender) was contracted to manufacture the FG 42 in limited quantity as Rheinmetall did not have the capacity to bring the FG 42 into serial production. The weapon was first used by commando
s during Operation Eiche in 1943—the bold rescue of Benito Mussolini
by Fallschirmjäger led by Otto Skorzeny
.
The weapon system underwent continuous development. Its expedited development, remedial changes to the original design and ever-changing Luftwaffe requirements resulted in myriad of variants. Post-war literature typically identifies three versions, however the Germans never recognized these as distinctive models; the "Model I", "Model II" and "Model III" were never officially referenced and period documents simply refer the weapon as the "FG 42", and the reference was always made to the latest production model.
, placed both the center of gravity
and the position of the shoulder stock nearly in line with the longitudinal axis of the bore, a feature increasing controllability during burst or automatic fire. The operating system was derived from that used in the successful Lewis
light machine gun with a gas piston-actuated
turning bolt
locking mechanism. This system used pressurized exhaust gases from the bore and channeled them through a port drilled in the barrel into a gas cylinder located under the barrel. The rapid build-up of propellant gases imparted rearward pressure on a long-stroke piston, driving it backwards, while an extension of the bolt carrier interacted with a helical
camming slot machined
into the bolt carrier, converting this linear movement into an angular velocity
and forcing the bolt into a rotary motion
, clearing the locking juts and unlocking it near the end of the bolt carrier's travel. The weapon was locked into battery by two lugs on the bolt head which recessed into appropriate cavities machined into the receiver walls.
forging
with the magazine housing placed on the left-hand side and the ejection port on the right. The seemingly awkward placement of the magazine housing (horizontally to the side rather than directly beneath the receiver) allowed the bolt mechanism to extend into the buttstock assembly, effectively reducing the overall length of the weapon as the magazine well did not interfere with the location of the pistol grip. The pistol grip was integrated into the trigger group assembly, a separate housing containing the trigger mechanism and fire control components, and was formed from pressed sheet metal during fabrication from two separate halves and then welded together.
The rifle fed from either a 10 or 20-round detachable box magazine.
, accomplished by delaying the release of the firing pin (mounted on the bolt carrier and released by the front sear
notch) until after the trigger had been pressed; the short lock time, and little movement in the action during firing translated into greater single-shot accuracy. When operating in the automatic mode, the sear mechanism was designed to fire from an open bolt
by simultaneously releasing both the bolt and bolt carrier. This had the advantage of preventing a phenomenon known as "cook off
" where the heat of repeated rounds being fired caused a chambered round to overheat and prematurely ignite the powder or primer. With automatic fire selected, the bolt would remain open between bursts to provide maximum cooling. The rotating fire selector switch was situated in the trigger group, above the pistol grip
on the right side. The change lever also served as the safety
, disabling the sear mechanism when engaged.
had similar problems and attempts were made to upgrade that rifle the same way with an in-line stock and muzzle device.
Some features, such as the details of the gas-operated bolt selection process, were studied by US Army
engineers after the war. These, along with some aspects of the MG42
, are commonly reported to have been incorporated in the similarly troubled M60
.
The American M41 Johnson LMG has many parallels with the contemporary FG42. Both had in-line stocks, fed from the left side, and both fired from the open bolt in automatic mode and closed bolt in semi-automatic mode. Despite these similarities, there is no evidence that either weapon had any effect on the design of the other. As they were both seeking to solve similar problems, it is reasonable to expect that each weapon's respective engineers approached these problems similarly but independently, unaware of the developments of their counterparts.
Last known derivatives of the FG42 were the Sturmgewehr 52
and M60 machine gun
.
After approximately 2,000 FG42s had been produced by Krieghoff, supplies of the manganese
steel from which the receivers were forged were diverted to other needs; this meant a redesign was required to use stamped sheet metal in its place. Field reports were also requesting minor improvements, such as: relocating the bipod from the front of the handguard to the muzzle to reduce shot dispersion; changing the pistol grip angle to near vertical; enlarging the handguard and changing the stock from stamped steel to wood to minimize overheating. These changes, particularly the pistol grip change and the bipod relocation, are clearly visible on late-model FG42s. Both models also had a simple flip-out spike bayonet under the barrel hidden by the bipod. In the later version the bayonet was shortened from around 10 inches (254 mm) to around 6 inches (152.4 mm).
Selective fire
A selective fire firearm has at least one semi–automatic and one automatic mode, which is activated by means of a selector which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective fire weapons utilize burst fire mechanisms to limit the maximum or total number of shots fired automatically in...
battle rifle
Battle rifle
A battle rifle is a military service rifle that fires a full power rifle cartridge, such as 7.62x51mm NATO. While the designation of battle rifle is usually given to post-World War II select fire infantry rifles such as the H&K G3, the FN FAL or the M14, this term can also apply to older military...
produced in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The weapon was developed specifically for the use with Fallschirmjäger airborne infantry
Airborne forces
Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and 'dropped' into battle. Thus they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have an ability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning...
in 1942 and was used in very limited numbers until the end of the war.
It combined the characteristics and firepower of a light machine gun
Light machine gun
A light machine gun is a machine gun designed to be employed by an individual soldier, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. Light machine guns are often used as squad automatic weapons.-Characteristics:...
in a lightweight form no larger than the standard-issue Kar 98k
Karabiner 98k
The Karabiner 98 Kurz was a bolt action rifle chambered for the 8x57mm IS/7.92×57mm IS cartridge that was adopted as the standard service rifle in 1935 by the German Wehrmacht. It was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles...
bolt-action
Bolt-action
Bolt action is a type of firearm action in which the weapon's bolt is operated manually by the opening and closing of the breech with a small handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon...
rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
. Considered one of the most advanced weapon designs of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the FG 42 influenced post-war small arms development and ultimately helped to shape the modern assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
concept.
History
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...
(Operation Mercury), German Fallschirmjäger were equipped with the same assortment of small arms as the Heer, carrying only pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
s and hand grenade
Hand grenade
A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...
s on them during airborne jumps, with submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
s, rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s and crew-served weapons stored separately in containers that were dropped from the wing of the exit craft. The German parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
harness, with a single strap attached to the body making the paratrooper land on his hands and knees in a forward roll, did not allow for heavier equipment such as rifles and machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s to be safely carried during jumps. At Crete, long-range rifle and machine gun fire from dug-in Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
defenders (largely New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
ers from 5 Brigade's 22nd Battalion) inflicted heavy casualties upon the outgunned German paratroopers in the early stages of battle as they attempted to retrieve their support weapons from containers scattered all over the battlefield. These early combat experiences demonstrated that standard weapons were not ideal for airborne operations.
Development
In 1941, the German Air Force (LuftwaffeLuftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
), requested a selective fire
Selective fire
A selective fire firearm has at least one semi–automatic and one automatic mode, which is activated by means of a selector which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective fire weapons utilize burst fire mechanisms to limit the maximum or total number of shots fired automatically in...
hand-held weapon for the paratroopers; Senior Staff Air Secretary Ossenbach at the GL/C Erprobungsstelle-6 (GL/C E-6—the Luftwaffe Weapons Development Branch at Tarnewitz near Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
) was approached informally to develop this special new weapon. The Reich Air Ministry
Reich Air Ministry
thumb|300px|The Ministry of Aviation, December 1938The Ministry of Aviation was a government department during the period of Nazi Germany...
(Reichsluftfahrtministerium or RLM) sought to develop a universal shoulder-fired automatic rifle that could replace the bolt-action rifle, submachine gun, and light machine gun in the air assault role. The proposed weapon would also simplify logistics and provide greater firepower to the individual paratrooper.
The RLM attempted to initiate a formal weapons development program through the Heereswaffenamt
Waffenamt
Waffenamt was the German Army Weapons Agency. It was the centre for research and development of Germany and also during the Third Reich for weapons, ammunition and army equipment to the German Reichswehr and later Wehrmacht...
(the HWaA, or Army Ordnance Department)—responsible for German small arms development—but conflicting priorities and friction with the Army (the HWaA dismissed the undertaking as unrealistic and offered their G 41(W)
Gewehr 41
The Gewehr 41 rifles, commonly known as the G41 or G41, were semi-automatic rifles used by Nazi Germany during World War II-Background:...
semi-automatic rifle
Semi-automatic rifle
A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled, automatically ejects the spent cartridge, chambers a fresh cartridge from its magazine, and is immediately ready to fire another shot...
instead) led to an independent development by the Luftwaffe. Plans were laid out to form a central authority for the new program at the Luftwaffe testing station at Tarnewitz. The engineers on staff had acquired considerable expertise developing lightweight automatic weapons, having successfully converted the MG 15 aircraft machine gun to a ground configuration. However, due to the high casualties sustained by the paratroopers during Operation Mercury, Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
changed his mind about the tactical importance of airborne assaults and the plans were terminated. Nevertheless, Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
privately ordered the continuation of the project.
The RLM went directly to German industry with its plans—the so-called LC-6 specification issued 14 December 1941 mentioned amongst others that the weapon should not exceed 1000 mm (39.4 in) in length, should not be significantly heavier than the Kar 98k rifle, should be able to fire single shots from a closed bolt
Closed bolt
A semi or full-automatic firearm which is said to fire from a closed bolt is one where, when ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the bolt and working parts are forward...
, provide fully automatic fire from an open bolt
Open bolt
A semi or full automatic firearm is said to fire from an open bolt if, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear. When the trigger is pulled the bolt goes forward, feeding a round from the magazine into the chamber and firing it...
, feed from detachable 10 or 20-round magazines
Magazine (firearm)
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating firearm. Magazines may be integral to the firearm or removable . The magazine functions by moving the cartridges stored in the magazine into a position where they may be loaded into the chamber by the action...
and be able to fire rifle grenade
Rifle grenade
A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade was thrown by hand...
s. Despite the introduction of the intermediate 7.9mm Kurz cartridge promoted by the Heer (developed for the promising MP 43 assault rifle), the Luftwaffe favored the long-range potential of the standard 8x57mm IS rifle round and this caliber was one of the main design prerequisites.
Prototypes
Six manufacturers were solicited for prototype designs: Gustloff-Werke, MauserMauser
Mauser was a German arms manufacturer of a line of bolt-action rifles and pistols from the 1870s to 1995. Mauser designs were built for the German armed forces...
, Johannes Großfuß Metall- und Lackierwarenfabrik, C.G. Hänel, Rheinmetall-Borsig
Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defence company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß. The company has a long tradition of making guns and artillery pieces...
and Heinrich Krieghoff Waffenfabrik. Several contracts were awarded but only a few prototypes are known to have been submitted. Mauser offered a version of the MG 81
MG 81 machine gun
The MG 81 was a German belt fed 7.9 mm machine gun, used in flexible installations in World War II Luftwaffe aircraft, replacing the older drum magazine-fed MG 15....
(rejected due to excessive weight and its belt-fed operation) while Krieghoff presented a rising-block prototype, which too was quickly dropped. A design credited to Rheinmetall-Borsig's Louis Stange of Sömmerda
Sömmerda
Sömmerda is a town near Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany, on the Unstrut river. It is the capital of the district of Sömmerda.-History:Archeological digs in the area that is now Sömmerda, formerly Leubingen, have uncovered prominently buried human remains dating to around 2000 BCE...
proved satisfactory and underwent military trials conducted by the GL/C E-6 test station at Tarnewitz in mid-1942. This early prototype, known under the factory designation Gerät 450 ("device 450") or Ausführung "A" ("type A"), was intended to be a pure sheet metal
Sheet metal
Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes. Countless everyday objects are constructed of the material...
design, using pressed steel in the construction of the receiver
Receiver (firearms)
In firearms terminology, the receiver is the part of a firearm that houses the operating parts. The receiver usually contains the bolt carrier group, trigger group, and magazine port. In most handguns, the receiver, or frame, holds the magazine well or rotary magazine as well as the trigger mechanism...
, buttstock and corrugated handguard. The proposed system of operation was modeled on that used in the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Lewis
Lewis Gun
The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War...
light machine gun, with a gas-operated
Gas-operated reloading
Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to extract the spent case and chamber a new cartridge. Energy from the gas is harnessed...
turning bolt
Rotating bolt
Rotating bolt is a method of locking originally developed by Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher and found in his Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 straight-pull bolt-action rifle designed for and issued to the Austro-Hungarian Army...
action geared to a spiral (clock-type) recoil spring. The type "A" was never produced beyond model form, but the basic design layout was retained for further development.
With the basic characteristics of the LC-6 accepted, a series of modifications followed. The revised Ausführung "B" replaced the sheet metal handguard with a resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
-impregnated fiber type that provided protection against heat and a better grip when wet.
These tests exposed several shortcomings, addressed by Stange in April 1942 with the LC-6/II prototype. The prototype was then submitted to a series of endurance tests led by the HWA and further modified to increase functional reliability and durability, resulting in the final LC-6/III prototype variant that was ultimately accepted into production as the FG 42. Fifty rifles were fabricated by Rheinmetall-Borsig for evaluation purposes by the end of 1942.
A pre-series batch of 50 rifles was produced in early 1943 and 6 examples were sent to GL/C E-6 for additional testing. Almost identical to the LC-6/III, these guns differ from later models by using a smooth sheet metal
Sheet metal
Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes. Countless everyday objects are constructed of the material...
buttstock and an experimental muzzle brake
Muzzle brake
Muzzle brakes and recoil compensators are devices that are fitted to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon to redirect propellant gases with the effect of countering both recoil of the gun and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire...
. The weapons experienced serious malfunctions: one rifle suffered a catastrophic failure after firing only 2,100 rounds, a soldier was injured when attempting to fire a rifle grenade and the pressed metal buttstock would deform after launching only several rifle grenades.
Production
Several other improvements were made before being authorized for large-scale production. The original Rheinmetall design used chromeChromium
Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...
-nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
heavily in many essential components, a strategic alloy in short supply. When the Luftwaffe was finally given permission to produce 3,000 rifles for combat trials, the material specifications were changed to accommodate the use of manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
steel as a substitute. The Heinrich Krieghoff company of Suhl
Suhl
- Geography :Suhl sits on the south edge of the Suhler Scholle, an upthrust granite complex that is streaked by numerous dikes. This is part of the Ruhla-Schleusingen Horst that defines the southwest side of the Thuringian Forest...
(authors of the previous unsuccessful LC-6 tender) was contracted to manufacture the FG 42 in limited quantity as Rheinmetall did not have the capacity to bring the FG 42 into serial production. The weapon was first used by commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
s during Operation Eiche in 1943—the bold rescue of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
by Fallschirmjäger led by Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity...
.
The weapon system underwent continuous development. Its expedited development, remedial changes to the original design and ever-changing Luftwaffe requirements resulted in myriad of variants. Post-war literature typically identifies three versions, however the Germans never recognized these as distinctive models; the "Model I", "Model II" and "Model III" were never officially referenced and period documents simply refer the weapon as the "FG 42", and the reference was always made to the latest production model.
BD 42
The BD 42/I is a semi-automatic copy of the early model FG 42 rifle and the BD 42/II is a semi-automatic copy of the late model both manufactured by HZA Kulmbach GmbH.Design details
General configuration/layout
The FG 42 was a select-fire air-cooled weapon and one of the first to incorporate the "straight-line" recoil configuration. This layout, combined with the side magazineMagazine (firearm)
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating firearm. Magazines may be integral to the firearm or removable . The magazine functions by moving the cartridges stored in the magazine into a position where they may be loaded into the chamber by the action...
, placed both the center of gravity
Center of gravity
In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...
and the position of the shoulder stock nearly in line with the longitudinal axis of the bore, a feature increasing controllability during burst or automatic fire. The operating system was derived from that used in the successful Lewis
Lewis Gun
The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War...
light machine gun with a gas piston-actuated
Gas-operated reloading
Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to extract the spent case and chamber a new cartridge. Energy from the gas is harnessed...
turning bolt
Rotating bolt
Rotating bolt is a method of locking originally developed by Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher and found in his Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 straight-pull bolt-action rifle designed for and issued to the Austro-Hungarian Army...
locking mechanism. This system used pressurized exhaust gases from the bore and channeled them through a port drilled in the barrel into a gas cylinder located under the barrel. The rapid build-up of propellant gases imparted rearward pressure on a long-stroke piston, driving it backwards, while an extension of the bolt carrier interacted with a helical
Helix
A helix is a type of smooth space curve, i.e. a curve in three-dimensional space. It has the property that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Examples of helixes are coil springs and the handrails of spiral staircases. A "filled-in" helix – for...
camming slot machined
Machining
Conventional machining is a form of subtractive manufacturing, in which a collection of material-working processes utilizing power-driven machine tools, such as saws, lathes, milling machines, and drill presses, are used with a sharp cutting tool to physical remove material to achieve a desired...
into the bolt carrier, converting this linear movement into an angular velocity
Angular velocity
In physics, the angular velocity is a vector quantity which specifies the angular speed of an object and the axis about which the object is rotating. The SI unit of angular velocity is radians per second, although it may be measured in other units such as degrees per second, revolutions per...
and forcing the bolt into a rotary motion
Rotation
A rotation is a circular movement of an object around a center of rotation. A three-dimensional object rotates always around an imaginary line called a rotation axis. If the axis is within the body, and passes through its center of mass the body is said to rotate upon itself, or spin. A rotation...
, clearing the locking juts and unlocking it near the end of the bolt carrier's travel. The weapon was locked into battery by two lugs on the bolt head which recessed into appropriate cavities machined into the receiver walls.
Receiver specifics and magazine feeding
The receiver was a sophisticated, machined alloyAlloy
An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
forging
Forging
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it is performed: '"cold," "warm," or "hot" forging. Forged parts can range in weight from less than a kilogram to 580 metric tons...
with the magazine housing placed on the left-hand side and the ejection port on the right. The seemingly awkward placement of the magazine housing (horizontally to the side rather than directly beneath the receiver) allowed the bolt mechanism to extend into the buttstock assembly, effectively reducing the overall length of the weapon as the magazine well did not interfere with the location of the pistol grip. The pistol grip was integrated into the trigger group assembly, a separate housing containing the trigger mechanism and fire control components, and was formed from pressed sheet metal during fabrication from two separate halves and then welded together.
The rifle fed from either a 10 or 20-round detachable box magazine.
Firing
The FG 42 fired in semi-automatic mode from a closed boltClosed bolt
A semi or full-automatic firearm which is said to fire from a closed bolt is one where, when ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the bolt and working parts are forward...
, accomplished by delaying the release of the firing pin (mounted on the bolt carrier and released by the front sear
Sear (firearm)
In a firearm, the sear is the part of the trigger mechanism which holds the hammer or striker back until the correct amount of pressure has been applied to the trigger; at which point the hammer or striker is released to discharge the weapon...
notch) until after the trigger had been pressed; the short lock time, and little movement in the action during firing translated into greater single-shot accuracy. When operating in the automatic mode, the sear mechanism was designed to fire from an open bolt
Open bolt
A semi or full automatic firearm is said to fire from an open bolt if, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear. When the trigger is pulled the bolt goes forward, feeding a round from the magazine into the chamber and firing it...
by simultaneously releasing both the bolt and bolt carrier. This had the advantage of preventing a phenomenon known as "cook off
Cooking off
Cooking off refers to ammunition exploding prematurely due to heat in the surrounding environment. It can also refer to a technique used when throwing grenades to achieve a controlled, predictable explosion....
" where the heat of repeated rounds being fired caused a chambered round to overheat and prematurely ignite the powder or primer. With automatic fire selected, the bolt would remain open between bursts to provide maximum cooling. The rotating fire selector switch was situated in the trigger group, above the pistol grip
Pistol grip
On a firearm or other tool, the pistol grip is that portion of the mechanism that is held by the hand and orients the hand in a forward, vertical orientation, similar to the position one would take with a conventional pistol such as the M1911....
on the right side. The change lever also served as the safety
Safety (firearms)
In firearms, a safety or safety catch is a mechanism used to help prevent the accidental discharge of a firearm, helping to ensure safer handling....
, disabling the sear mechanism when engaged.
Testing
The FG42 was intended to fill a key niche in Nazi Germany's arsenal but was produced only in small numbers. It was somewhat well-received by paratroopers when tested, but it did have its drawbacks. The FG42 had a 20, or sometimes 10, round magazine that was mounted on the left side of the rifle. Though a side-mounted magazine was common in submachine guns, the larger magazine with heavier ammunition of a full-powered rifle tended to unbalance the weapon. In addition, muzzle rise with automatic fire was substantial and controllable bursts were difficult. This made full-automatic fire only marginally useful. The FG42 used a fairly sophisticated muzzle device that did help with recoil and muzzle flash, but made blast and noise much greater than on other similar weapons. The US M14 rifleM14 rifle
The M14 rifle, formally the United States Rifle, 7.62 mm, M14, is an American selective fire automatic rifle firing 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition. It was the standard issue U.S. rifle from 1959 to 1970. The M14 was used for U.S...
had similar problems and attempts were made to upgrade that rifle the same way with an in-line stock and muzzle device.
Influences/derivatives
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
engineers after the war. These, along with some aspects of the MG42
MG42
The MG 42 is a 7.9mm universal machine gun that was developed in Nazi Germany and entered service with the Wehrmacht in 1942...
, are commonly reported to have been incorporated in the similarly troubled M60
M60 machine gun
The M60 is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links...
.
The American M41 Johnson LMG has many parallels with the contemporary FG42. Both had in-line stocks, fed from the left side, and both fired from the open bolt in automatic mode and closed bolt in semi-automatic mode. Despite these similarities, there is no evidence that either weapon had any effect on the design of the other. As they were both seeking to solve similar problems, it is reasonable to expect that each weapon's respective engineers approached these problems similarly but independently, unaware of the developments of their counterparts.
Last known derivatives of the FG42 were the Sturmgewehr 52
Sturmgewehr 52
The Sturmgewehr 52 was a battle rifle manufactured by the government-owned W+F Bern of Switzerland. It was chambered in the 7.5mm Kurzpatrone cartridge and later the 7.5mm Swiss Service round as the Sturmgewehr 54, which was fed from the right hand side...
and M60 machine gun
M60 machine gun
The M60 is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links...
.
Deployment
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
steel from which the receivers were forged were diverted to other needs; this meant a redesign was required to use stamped sheet metal in its place. Field reports were also requesting minor improvements, such as: relocating the bipod from the front of the handguard to the muzzle to reduce shot dispersion; changing the pistol grip angle to near vertical; enlarging the handguard and changing the stock from stamped steel to wood to minimize overheating. These changes, particularly the pistol grip change and the bipod relocation, are clearly visible on late-model FG42s. Both models also had a simple flip-out spike bayonet under the barrel hidden by the bipod. In the later version the bayonet was shortened from around 10 inches (254 mm) to around 6 inches (152.4 mm).
