Combloc
Stop Negassing me!!!!!
This past Friday, I picked up two magazines at the MAX show. One is East German production and the other was made by Haenel during the war. What I paid for the pair made me sick to my stomach but I didn't have a need for them back when they were 50 bucks a pop.....oh well. Anywho, once I got them home and compared them to the SSD magazines, it quickly became obvious that the SSD ones are pretty much a lost cause. When it comes to magazines feeding properly, it's all about geometry and SSD clearly got all the angles wrong when they made mine. Up to this point, almost everything I read pointed to the dimples on the sideplates being stamped in the wrong place. That is true but that is only the tip of the iceberg; we'll do some comparisons in a minute. First, I want to talk about how well the ones I just bought work/do not work.
The Eastie produced magazine clicked right in, the dimples were in the right place and there was no front to rear rock in the magazine well. As stated earlier, the MP44 was/is known to be magazine sensitive and front to rear rock is usually the kiss of death in the reliability department. So, I was hopeful about the DDR magazine.
The Haenel magazine clicked right in and the dimples were in the right place BUT there was significant rock.....not good. Then I remembered a conversation I had had with the MP44 Wizard. He told me that he had a number of WWII magazines that rocked in his original rifles and caused feeding problems. His fix was to layer tape on the front of the magazine until it fit properly in the magazine well with no rock. If it worked for him, I might as well give it a try. I found that ten strips of cellophane tape layered on the front of the magazine made it lock up tight. Interesting.
On Saturday, I headed out to the range with 80 rounds and the new magazines. Two sets of 20 in the DDR produced only one jam and it was a stovepipe on ejection which is not a fault of the magazine. Next up was the Haenel with tape. The first set of twenty worked perfectly. On the second set, I removed the tape. The first round charged fine and ejected fine but round two jammed on feeding leaving it nicely bent so that the bolt would not close. The exact same result occurred two more times. At that point, I removed the magazine and put the tape back on. After that, the rest of the magazine went off without a hitch. 80 (77 when you figure in the three destroyed rounds) rounds does not reliability make but the initial results are promising. Alright, let's look at some pictures and I'll show you why I think the SSD magazines that came with my rifle are pretty much scrap.
First though, let's look at some markings. SSD production has no manufacturing mark but is marked "MP44":
DDR production is marked "1001" one side and "MP44" on the other. 1001 is a common mark seen on various Eastie produced firearm bits including Lugers, PP's, P38's and K98K's. It's probably on other stuff that I haven't seen too. Some say 1001 is a manufacturing code associated with the old Walther plant renamed the Ernst Thälmann Werk under GDR occupation. Others say no. I don't know exactly which plant it represents but I do know that it means it was made by the East Germans. That's good enough for me. Enough talk. Pictures please:
Haenel:
A little better picture showing the E/37 waffenamt a bit clearer:
Notice in the pictures above that the "MP44" stamp is distinctly different on all three.
Some pictures showing the dimples in relation to the bottom of the magazine well when locked in place.
SSD:
Note how low they are. The side to side play is negligible. That never seems to be an issue no matter who made them but the front to rear movement is SLOPPY. Both magazines look and fit identical. I have not tried the tape trick yet to get rid of the movement (I will though) but, as will be explained later, I still don't think they would work correctly.
East German:
Minimal clearance between dimples and bottom of magazine well. Minimal movement, no slop.
Haenel:
Looks just like the DDR magazine but just as sloppy as the SSD magazines. Again, ten strips of cellophane tape on the front of the magazine eliminates all slop.
While I personally believe that the vast majority of the PRT44 was made using original dies and molds, I think the magazine side plates were 100% reverse engineered and possible the body too. If the body was made using original dies, it was done poorly. As evidence for my side plate theory look at the following picture:
From left to right we have Eastie, SSD and Haenel. Notice the little reinforcement hump above where the magazine catch engages. On the DDR and Haenel, that bump is rectangular and identical. But on the SSD it is square. Interesting.
The dimples are different too. Here is the Haenel:
Notice that the top of the dimple is sharp and flat. In fact, the stamping pricess has pierced the side plate. The DDR is identical.
Now take a look at the SSD:
It looks completely different. From the size to the shape to the fact that the stamping does not pierce the steel, it's just different.
I keep talking about putting tape on the Haenel magazine to get rid of the rock. Here is what that looks like:
The DDR is on top for comparison. It isn't pretty but if you are careful with how long you make the strips, they can't be seen when the magazine is seated. The tape just acts as a shim. It's kind of a rig job I guess but it works and I don't plan on using this in battle! When the tape gets too ragged, just slap some more on there. My tape is longer than it needs to be but I just put it on there for testing.
Here we see the front top of all four magazines showing the cut outs for bullet clearance:
From left to right we have SSD, SSD, DDR and Haenel. Notice that the cut out is different on both SSD magazines. That's kinda' weird if you ask mebeing that they are made in the same factory and only in limited numbers The DDR is different than the Haenel too being pretty much flat at the bottom as opposed to the continuous radius on the Haenel. Also, IIRC, the followers in the SSD's are US made parts. They fit very poorly in the magazine bodies which cannot be good for reliability.
The Eastie produced magazine clicked right in, the dimples were in the right place and there was no front to rear rock in the magazine well. As stated earlier, the MP44 was/is known to be magazine sensitive and front to rear rock is usually the kiss of death in the reliability department. So, I was hopeful about the DDR magazine.
The Haenel magazine clicked right in and the dimples were in the right place BUT there was significant rock.....not good. Then I remembered a conversation I had had with the MP44 Wizard. He told me that he had a number of WWII magazines that rocked in his original rifles and caused feeding problems. His fix was to layer tape on the front of the magazine until it fit properly in the magazine well with no rock. If it worked for him, I might as well give it a try. I found that ten strips of cellophane tape layered on the front of the magazine made it lock up tight. Interesting.
On Saturday, I headed out to the range with 80 rounds and the new magazines. Two sets of 20 in the DDR produced only one jam and it was a stovepipe on ejection which is not a fault of the magazine. Next up was the Haenel with tape. The first set of twenty worked perfectly. On the second set, I removed the tape. The first round charged fine and ejected fine but round two jammed on feeding leaving it nicely bent so that the bolt would not close. The exact same result occurred two more times. At that point, I removed the magazine and put the tape back on. After that, the rest of the magazine went off without a hitch. 80 (77 when you figure in the three destroyed rounds) rounds does not reliability make but the initial results are promising. Alright, let's look at some pictures and I'll show you why I think the SSD magazines that came with my rifle are pretty much scrap.
First though, let's look at some markings. SSD production has no manufacturing mark but is marked "MP44":
DDR production is marked "1001" one side and "MP44" on the other. 1001 is a common mark seen on various Eastie produced firearm bits including Lugers, PP's, P38's and K98K's. It's probably on other stuff that I haven't seen too. Some say 1001 is a manufacturing code associated with the old Walther plant renamed the Ernst Thälmann Werk under GDR occupation. Others say no. I don't know exactly which plant it represents but I do know that it means it was made by the East Germans. That's good enough for me. Enough talk. Pictures please:
Haenel:
A little better picture showing the E/37 waffenamt a bit clearer:
Notice in the pictures above that the "MP44" stamp is distinctly different on all three.
Some pictures showing the dimples in relation to the bottom of the magazine well when locked in place.
SSD:
Note how low they are. The side to side play is negligible. That never seems to be an issue no matter who made them but the front to rear movement is SLOPPY. Both magazines look and fit identical. I have not tried the tape trick yet to get rid of the movement (I will though) but, as will be explained later, I still don't think they would work correctly.
East German:
Minimal clearance between dimples and bottom of magazine well. Minimal movement, no slop.
Haenel:
Looks just like the DDR magazine but just as sloppy as the SSD magazines. Again, ten strips of cellophane tape on the front of the magazine eliminates all slop.
While I personally believe that the vast majority of the PRT44 was made using original dies and molds, I think the magazine side plates were 100% reverse engineered and possible the body too. If the body was made using original dies, it was done poorly. As evidence for my side plate theory look at the following picture:
From left to right we have Eastie, SSD and Haenel. Notice the little reinforcement hump above where the magazine catch engages. On the DDR and Haenel, that bump is rectangular and identical. But on the SSD it is square. Interesting.
The dimples are different too. Here is the Haenel:
Notice that the top of the dimple is sharp and flat. In fact, the stamping pricess has pierced the side plate. The DDR is identical.
Now take a look at the SSD:
It looks completely different. From the size to the shape to the fact that the stamping does not pierce the steel, it's just different.
I keep talking about putting tape on the Haenel magazine to get rid of the rock. Here is what that looks like:
The DDR is on top for comparison. It isn't pretty but if you are careful with how long you make the strips, they can't be seen when the magazine is seated. The tape just acts as a shim. It's kind of a rig job I guess but it works and I don't plan on using this in battle! When the tape gets too ragged, just slap some more on there. My tape is longer than it needs to be but I just put it on there for testing.
Here we see the front top of all four magazines showing the cut outs for bullet clearance:
From left to right we have SSD, SSD, DDR and Haenel. Notice that the cut out is different on both SSD magazines. That's kinda' weird if you ask mebeing that they are made in the same factory and only in limited numbers The DDR is different than the Haenel too being pretty much flat at the bottom as opposed to the continuous radius on the Haenel. Also, IIRC, the followers in the SSD's are US made parts. They fit very poorly in the magazine bodies which cannot be good for reliability.