Spreewerke VG-2
Germany
•
13m
Five different companies in Germany produced designs for the last-ditch Volkssturm bolt action rifles, and they were designated VG-1 through VG-5. The VG-2 was developed by the Spreewerke company, and differed from the others in its use of a sheet metal stamped receiver (and consequently a pretty distinctive look).
In total, somewhere between 16 and 18 thousand VG-2s were manufactured, although they remain very scarce in western collections (most likely because most of them were lost or captured in areas overrun by the Red Army rather than the US or British forces). They retained a basic Mauser mechanism, and used spare Luftwaffe aircraft MG barrels. Unlike some of the Volkssturm arms, the VG-2 appears to have been pretty much unchanged throughout its production run.
Up Next in Germany
-
H&K G3: The Very First Import (3/62)
We have all seen plenty of sporter CETME rifles and civilian HK-91s, but when the G3 was new to the Germany military, there was already an interest in bringing semiauto versions into the US. The Golden State Arms Corporation was the first to do so, with three batches of imports in 1962 (just 3 ye...
-
The Jager Pistol and its Complex Reas...
The German military used a lot of different small-caliber pistols during World War One, and the Jager is one of the most interesting of them. Its unique design was the result of needing to build pistols for the war effort on machines and tooling that were not suited for pistol production. The an...
-
Imperial Gewehr 71
The Gewehr 1871 was the first rifle adopted by the newly-formed German state after its unification at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. It replaced the decades-old Dreyse needle rifles, and fired an 11x60mm black powder cartridge. It was the first significant rifle designed by the Mauser brothe...
