Nazi Flare Collection and MP44 Sturmgewehr

 

Boxes, Yes we do get Excited about Boxes!

Hey guys today I have another really exciting Walk-in Wednesday. You can see the array of things I have here, including an MP.44, so stay tuned because I'm going to do that after I talk about what's in these boxes. Now a couple of months ago we had a similar array. Here's a clip of similar boxes that we got in a couple of months ago. Take a look. 

High End Collector Sends Us Some Amazing Stuff

This stuff came in these boxes, which I recognized the box right away as an ammo case. The guy who sent it to me is a high-end collector. Every time I get a box from this guy I see his name on it and I get all excited because there are such cool things in it.

Two Boxes of Binoculars

So that same guy who sent us those two boxes and we know that he collected only the best. I mean that stuff was like a time capsule. Mostly binoculars and then there was also some daggers and metals and things, but mostly two boxes full of binoculars. Today we have original boxes again.

Boxes normally used as Kindle-wood Somehow Survive

I talked about how rare these were just because at the end of the war fuel was in very short supply and so these were often broken up and burned for cooking and for heat, any kind of energy. So for these to have come home is very very rare. My conjecture would be that they were used as shipping materials. Industrious GIs loaded them up with souvenirs and shipped them back home in these boxes.

Wife Used Historic Box as a Planter and We Cringed

Then when they got home, whoever got them never destroyed the box, they kept them as they are. I do know that one of the persons that bought a box, one of these wooden boxes, actually his wife used it as a planter out on their deck. A great idea especially since there's a metal lining inside so it keeps the wood good and fresh. But I don't recommend using them as a planter but that's what one of our collectors did. 

What’s inside the Box?

So let's start by opening this one. Come on in a little closer. We've already established the fact that my German is absolutely terrible but I can even look at this picture and the writing, also check out the writing on top. Not sure what it says but I'm pretty sure it's something about flare rounds, 500 flare rounds and that's what we're going to do when we open this box.

1939 Flare Pistol Box Examined

So this has a latch on it, pull it open. This one is not metal lined like the other ones that we saw. I'm sure some of our German viewers will give us some interpretation on this and I really appreciate it by the way when you write it in the comments and then everybody can share in it. And these are dated, I believe this would be 1939 but it's basically flare pistol rounds or flare pistols.

Holster in Mint Condition

So let's unpack this. Right off the top, we see immaculate condition, looks like brand new, this is the holster for the flare pistol in brand new condition from 1940. This could be in that 1940 video where we went back in time, one of our more popular ones. Check that out.

Flare Pistol with Dummy Round

I go back in time and go into the factory. And when we open it up this is the flare pistol. This one was issued to the army. The maker is a code E U H, you can Google that and find out who the maker was. This one is a fairly cheap one. You can see how crudely it's made. You can see a Waffen stamp right here, so it was approved for the military. Functioning, I like the functioning on this one even though this one looks a lot cheaper than some of the others. You just push the button, it pops open. That's a dummy round so don't get too excited. You can see that it's been shot and there's the writing and the maker on the round. 

Great Holiday Gift especially for the 4th of July

Now tomorrow is the Fourth of July. I'm not sure what day this will be posted, it'll probably be after the Fourth that you see this. But this is a great Fourth of July gift because you can pop one of these in here, shoot it up into the sky and celebrate our independence day here in the United States. You can see that it is serial numbered. I can pick up flare guns for $200 - $500 and then there are some really rare ones which we're going to take a look at that are a lot more money than that. 

Second Holster (Paper)
Here's the next one, very similar. Again pristine. Where does this guy get this stuff? This is pristine condition. I noticed that this is a paper holster, see this is made with layers of paper. They use that to save on leather. It has the maker, different maker and dated 1941.

1940 Pistol Waffen Proofed

I believe that other one was 1940. You see it's Waffen proofed and when I pull it out, this one is certainly, it's lightweight, it's aluminum and the maker ayf I know that's Erma. So this one was made by Erma, a little better quality than the last one. You can see the Waffen proofs, so we know it went to the military and the maker code once again - the maker code on the hammer and on the trigger. I don't like the functioning on this one as well, I'll show you, I think it's a little awkward.

Functioning a Little Off on this Pistol

So let me turn it this way. To open it up, instead of having a button here you push this handle down, it does pop right open but then it takes two hands to close it but you have to push this handle down again. So it's a little bit awkward. Again flare pistol, these are not rifled and therefore I believe they're legal to own in most of Europe but I'm not sure, I think those from England...I know that we have some collectors from England who collects these but I'm not sure how much they're restricted. But this has no rifling. We're going to show you one with rifling in a minute. And again it goes into this holster. 

Rare Bear Metal Flare Pistol 1940

Let's take a look at a really rare one. So this awkward-looking thing actually no finish, so it's bare metal. It's very very heavy. It looks like aluminum but it's not, it's very heavy. You can see ac which is the Walther code. Those of you who watch my videos know ac is Walther. And this was made in 1940. From this proof mark we can see it went to the Navy, that's actually a Navy proof mark. So it would make sense that this is Navy, it's a lot more elaborate.

Navy and Leftwaffe used Flares More than Any other Branch

So the Navy and the Luftwaffe were the biggest users of these flare pistols. They use more of them than anyone else and you can understand why. Downed pilots would use these flare spotting, spotting where somebody landed or coming down at night you might want to use a luminary flare. For the Navy, in particular, when they would resupply ships - resupply submarines, they'd meet out in the middle of the ocean somewhere, they could set off a flare pistol to show their location. You'll see this has the same design. Actually that one was a lot smoother, I like that a lot.

$2,000+ Flare Pistol

And this by the way, is a lot more expensive while the other ones are only a couple hundred dollars I believe this one's going to be a couple thousand dollars. It's rare, it's very heavy, the action is very smooth and I can also shut it without the third hand. So it pops open, pops shut and there's a cocking mechanism and then it'll fire. It does have safe, I don't want to point it at me, you have safe and fire. 
Aluminum Flare Pistol Investigated Luftwaffe
Let's move on. Here's another double-barrel and this one is aluminum. I can tell immediately it's very light, has the same action. When I open this up it doesn't pop open I have to twist it down. So it takes a bit of strength to get that to work. You see the Waffen stamp and right here that's a Luftwaffe Eagle, Luftwaffe stamp. The same stamp that we would see on the Kreighoff, this is a Luftwaffe stamp and so, therefore, we know this double-barrel flare pistol went to the Luftwaffe. Really lightweight compared to the last one. 
AYF Flare Pistol  
Now let's take a look at one that's very special. You see the AYF 41 and it's very similar to the one I already showed you, the AFY 42. However, the thing you see right away is the Z.

Special Flare Pistol

So the Z on this makes it very special because unlike all the other flares, the Z mark, well it stands for Zuga. Now that reminds me of when the Greeks get a drink, here let's try it out, Zuga zZuga enjoy. Happy Fourth of July. This is just water by the way, for those of you who are concerned it's water but I thought you'd like Zuga stands for grooved or rifled. Now let's see if we can get a shot on this one. I'm going to open it up, man that popped right open. Let's do that again that was kind of cool. So that has a strong spring in it, that pops right open, that's a dummy round. You can see the marking on it and if you look inside, you can see the Zuga.

Rifled Pistol for Distance and Accuracy

It is rifled for those Germans out there, if I'm slaughtering it just please correct me but I'm having a lot of fun that's all that matters. It's rifled. So why is it rifled? These were actually, well certainly for distance and accuracy and therefore these were used as grenade launchers for grenade pistols. So they would shoot an explosive round through this or it could be used as a flare. And again these are a little more expensive and these definitely, they require FFL or background checks. This is considered a firearm in the United States and I'm sure they're not legal in England and some of the other European countries. I'm struggling with that, there we go, got it. I can't talk and work at the same time. But let's keep going. 

Pouch 41 Waffen Stamp with Some Live Rounds

So I'm going to move a lot more quickly now just because this is less interesting but some really rare stuff. This is the pouch and the markings, again, there's the maker mark, 41, the Waffen stamp and you can see these flares. Some of these are live, they should not have been. So these are original flares, these are actually live. So Fourth of July we can take them outside and shoot them off. I see a maker mark and it's not been shot. I assume these are red flares, this is going to be really cool. Although I have no idea what these would cost but I do know a collector who collects flares and I'm sure he would tell me but it wouldn't surprise me if these weren't like $50 - $100 a piece. So there's a canvas bag.

Canvas Bag Flares

We also have these immaculate condition, you can see the marking. This is 1939 and I can see a Waffen proof there. Open it up, there's more, unfired, unbelievable. This would be so much fun. Some of you ought to check out our website because you might want some of these things. These will be going up on the website, very cool. And then one more. Oh look at that, that's the early imperial eagle in 1936. So they just didn't switch over to the new Nazi eagle because 1936 certainly was the Nazi era. But they used an imperial eagle for some reason, that's very unusual, very cool.

Common Canisters with Bakelite Material

And just a couple more things I want to show you. Extra strap and then these are the more common canisters that we see and I would assume this is probably the color. I have one more hold on. Here you go, here's three canisters and probably color. These are sealed but this seal is broken. Yeah, this seal is broken so let's open this up. I'm sure there are flares in it but what's interesting about this is these are Bakelite, excellent condition but Bakelite is the same thing they made the plastic grips for Walthers and Lugers, the black plastic Black Widow. This is a Bakelite material and unshot flares. Now, this green and blue maybe, I don't know but they look like colors in Bakelite cases and we have three Bakelite cases. Obviously these are the red ones.

Our MP44 Guy Gets Aggravated

So let's close this one down and let's move right along. I got to move more quickly because my MP44 guy is already saying stop wasting my time. I can hear him in my ear right now, stop wasting my time, get to the MP44. 

Pistol Rounds

Here's the next one I'll go a little more quickly. Again these are pistol rounds for a flare pistol. There's 1500 of them in here. This is metal lined, it's like an aluminum sheet metal, it cut me a little bit it's got sharp edges. So the only thing in here is more flare boxes. I do want to make a point about these flare boxes. These are a lot cheaper, they do have flares in them but notice the maker emblem. Isn't that ironic maybe some of you noticed when I've shown before, it struck me right away. That's the Star of David and when I looked it up it's the company logo. But how about that irony September of 1941 Star of David is their company logo. I do think that's quite ironic. So there's more of these but two things of note, one would be this is just a binocular case but this whole thing is made of Bakelite. We've seen these before but just in incredible condition.

Bakelite, Not the Strongest of Materials

Bakelite is pretty brittle, so to find these in this condition, this case, is just very very cool. And then another one that is black Bakelite, we've got some leather on the back, we've got some maker symbols and dated I think it's '41. And when you look inside we do have a pair of binoculars. These are fairly cheap, the last ones we had out of the box, we had some really expensive like $4,000 and $5,000 binoculars from U-boats. These were used for the military but they're fairly cheap. So most likely a junior officer, certainly nobody important carrying these binoculars around. 

Erma Factory Details
Okay let's close these boxes down and get them ready to be loaded up on our website. We'll get pictures out as quickly as we can and let's move on to what some of you have only been interested in and that is this Erma made, again those flare pistols were made by Erma. The Erma factory also made K98s, they made MP.40s and they did survive the war into the 50s and 60s they were actually making parts for M1 Carbines and they made a M1 carbine look-alike that was in .22 caliber, just a little sporting pistol. But this MP.44, others you'll see, actually I showed a video again about six months ago. Let's take a look at a review of the MP.44 or the StG44 Sturmgewehr.

Sturmgewehr Semi Automatic Review

So I actually had two of these come in this week. One of our local collectors brought these in. This one is semi-automatic, it was altered, I'm going to talk about that in a minute and this one it would be full automatic and was registered before 1986 which was the deadline to get these registered. They're now grandfathered in. If you find one up in an attic that has not been registered, they have to be destroyed. But let's talk about this one first. This one is in semi-automatic. I'm not sure when it was taken in but the receiver was cut and destroyed. They then re-manufactured a semi-automatic receiver.

Properties of the Sturmgewehr

You can see the properties of the Sturmgewehr. This one is marked StG44. You can see the quality of the wood, this one was probably never even used. You see some parts are in the white and some are blued. The blued parts on this gun are just phenomenal. Another feature is it had a threaded barrel which could be...the videos that I watched and by the way, there's a lot of videos on this gun, I'm not going to take it all apart. If you want to know more about the Sturmgewehr it's very popular because it was a precursor to the assault rifle. Sturmgewehr means assault rifle, loosely translated. What makes this an assault rifle? There's a couple of features. First of all, it's kind of a hybrid between the submachine gun. In the German army, it was the MP.38 and the MP.40.

Machine Pistols

You can see pictures of those machine guns. Those are considered machine pistols because it shot a Luger round. So it's a pistol round and by the way, our Thompson submachine gun would be comparable. It shot a 45 round. So it's like a pistol but it's a machine pistol and the penetration is as the same as a pistol. So it doesn't shoot as far, certainly not as accurate when shooting from a distance and it doesn't have the penetration power. On the other hand, on a rifle, the rifle caliber would have been 8mm in the German army and 30.06 in the American army with the Garand. You can see the three bullets. Between the pistol and the rifle round comes the Sturmgewehr round which is actually an 8mm short. So it's in 8mm, chambered like a rifle but a little bit shorter, makes it lighter easier to carry around and you can get more rounds.

Ian from Forgotten Weapons (We love this guy)

We're going to show you a clip of one being shot from our good friend Ian McCollum from Forgotten Weapons, gave us permission to show that clip. 

The Father of All Assault Rifles (show some respect for this gun)

So it shoots 30 rounds, it has a hybrid bullet, 8mm short. Also what is unique about this and again, this is the father of all assault rifles. This was the first one to be put into production and of course, leave it to the Germans to come up with these ideas, but it has a button for semi-automatic, so you can shoot one at a time. You pop the button, this one actually since it's in semi-automatic, the button is disabled. I'll show you on the other one. This one is not as pretty, it's sat in an attic for many years. The color is brown which I think is just patinated, it's heavy heavily patinated, it could be cleaned up a bit but I left it alone. On this one you see the safety, push it down to fire and the button, that's a single shot. Push it the other way and its full-auto. So it shoots in single shot and full-auto. Takedown on these there's just one little pin that you take out. I'm not going to take them apart. Again, there are lots of videos on Sturmgewehrs, take that pin off, the buttstock comes out with the big long spring and then this left this action will fold down and you can take it completely apart very easily.

Classic German Rifle

Classic German rifle, you see it has the same adjustable sight that actually, you first see it in the Broomhandles, this adjustable sight also on K98s. It has a distinct pin right here which when you see one right away, I noticed it from that and you think well what's the purpose of this. Again going to Forgotten Weapons, Ian McCollum. This is actually a plug for the piston, for the gas chamber, it provides a plug but watch this. It's to make them stackable, try it on the first try, put it together. Obviously you need three to make it a little more sturdy but it keeps you from having to lay them on the ground, rush in front a lot of mud, a lot of snow. These are late war production so mostly 1944 and 1945. 

Sturmgewehrs Expensive but Worth a Consideration for Your Collection

So between those two that we filmed previously and this one, this is three MP.44s Sturmgewehrs that we've had just in the past several months. The other two are gone, this one is still on the website. For those of you who are interested how much does one of these cost? They can be anywhere from $30,000 - $40,000 depending on condition. This one is in fantastic condition but in fairness, if we get a little bit close up on this, I believe this was re-shellacked or re-lacquered, it's just a little too shiny. Not a big deal but it's worth mentioning. This is the original metal, some of this may have been touched up a little bit but overall excellent condition. One of the improvements that they made after the war, H&K picked up the design, actually a lot of different machine gun and assault rifle makers picked up on this design, was the length of the magazine. What they did is they tried to level this out a little bit because when you're prone on the ground trying to shoot something this is really off balance. But when they level this off, make the magazine a little shorter and this a little bit longer, it makes for a very stable platform for shooting.

C and R Eligible, What does that Mean?

One of the advantages of this particular MP.44 is the fact that is C&R eligible. So C&R in the United States is a classification by the federal authorities Curio and Relics. If a gun is a Curio or Relic then you can get a collector's license and actually accumulate quite a collection just using your C&R and you don't have to go through the regular background checks. This is C&R eligible. Yes, you do have to go through a background check but I could mail it right to you if you have a C&R after we do an extensive background check. Now in the past, these have taken about six months. After going through COVID and a lot of shutdowns I'm told that it can be six months to a year to get the approval but you actually do fingerprinting, all the background checks and FBI involvement, sometimes a personal interview but basically they want to know why do you need to own this. And the answer is for all legal purposes. So as long as you're using this legally, enjoyment in your backyard where you have space and your neighbors are not complaining, these are eligible to be owned by a C&R holder here in the United States. I think Europe, some of the European countries were a little bit less strict but now I think they've tightened up on ownership on these and it's understandable. There's really no reason for somebody to own one of these other than enjoyment. It's not a hunting rifle, it's not a toy but if you're a responsible citizen and you enjoy it, which I do, these are legal to be owned here in the United States. Not sure how much longer, so get them while they're hot, as they would say. This is, in particular, is one of my favorite guns to shoot.

Send Helpful Suggestions

So let me just close by saying I am by no means an expert and some of you are going to be tempted to write to me and correct me and that's fine. I'm really torn between I can only talk about the things that I'm expert on and that would be a very short list, which is why I often talk about World War II Lugers and World War II Walthers. But whenever I get outside of that area I am no expert. So I get criticized because I probably left something out or I said something that was inaccurate but on the other hand, I just love bringing you this stuff so you can look at it and if you have something to add by all means comment. I respond to almost every comment, can't keep up with all of them but I try to respond to all of your comments and as long as they're respectful we love it. 

Flare Gun Enjoyment 1941 to 1942

Okay time out guys we totally finished this video and we're not planning to do this but I thought what the heck it's Fourth of July weekend, let's shoot off one of these flares. So we have this Erma flare pistol, beautiful condition from 1942. But more importantly, check this out. I've got the two flare canisters this is Bakelite canister. I assume this is going to be red and this is going to be green. These are 100 bucks a piece per shell, so I think we'll probably just shoot off one. Honestly, if it goes well I'll do a second one but I'm a little bit worried about the police coming. So maybe we just do one. I'm assuming this is a red canister. These are dated September of 1941 and so who knows if they work. But what the heck, this is like a reality TV show. We're just going to try it out, okay guys. Come with me. So I already know to cock it you pull the trigger guard down, it pops right open. We're going to take the flare, it looks like it was never fired, I'm going to pop it in here, I'm going to close it down. Then I'm going to cock it and fire it. Now that's a nature preserve behind us, we're on a deck overlooking a nature preserve.

So come on over let's see what happens. Like I said if it goes well I'll do a second one but if it's a little scary or starts a fire, we need to stop. Come on. Okay be quiet. I'm going to cock it, aim it high and fire. And nothing happened. So obviously it dented the primer but didn't set it off, so I imagine it was probably moisture over the years. Totally defective, I want my money back. Look at that, 1941 but then it has 1945. So I have no idea but let's try another one, what the heck. So we're going to try again but don't tell anybody. Cock it, here we go. Oh jeez. Okay, we're going to try again. We're done. Okay, I got to be honest because reality TV sometimes things go wrong. Remember Geraldo Rivera's safe episode? didn't go the way he thought. Check it out, they were all duds, every single one of them. So at some point they got wet. Glad I found out now because otherwise, I would have sold them to somebody for 100 bucks a piece. Turns out they're all duds. 

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