GEWEHR 41 WW II German Semi Automatic Rifle
Looking at the G43 Rifle Stock Butt Plates
"Never give a sucker an even break"
W.C Fields
Since the beginning of time people have been trying to forge things. It would not surprise me that as Moses was bringing the Ten Commandments down the mountain side, somebody was thinking "hmmm" I could knock out two of three of those in a week! I could make a fortune here.
Ratius!, grab a piece of cloth and some chalk, tonight while Moses sleeps we trace these Ten Commandments. And so it began.
As I collect WW2 weapons it is no different. Some of are very clever. Others word things on the web just right so that if
you are not really paying attention you think that you have scored on a weapon or part for a weapon.
Here are a couple of things that I hear over and over.
"As far as I can see all of the serial numbers match" Really! were you standing in the next room!
"This was a Vet bring back" actually a vet brought it back from a gun show and you purchased it off of him.
This next one is a half truth. While the butt plate will fit on all of the above rifles it was not on them originally.
"Used WW2 Butt Plate, K98, G41, G43, K43 original". When you see several German rifles lumped together a warning light should come on.
There are two correct buttplates for the G43/k43 rifles. The early G43's had the ribbed trap door butt plate. At some point they switched to a smooth type.
In both cases the trap doors are hinged at the top.
The side ribbed Spanish Mauser Buttplates are often found on the G-K 43's See image below left. The image on the right is a correct buttplate.
This next image shows four smooth type buttplates. These are not all original. Can you tell which is not original?
Click any image to enlarge. 
The plates above are the inside shots of the same 4 plates in no particular order. What did you guess?
1 original? 2, 3 maybe all are? Let me help you. Two are original and two are not.
The only thing that I have seen that cant be faked with todays reproduction buttplates is the thickness of the metal.
The original plates are about 35% thicker than the reproductions. Also the originals have a small dent at the top where the soldier would push
with a bullet to open the trapdoor. However that would be simple to recreate as I have done in the photo showing the exteriors.
Also know that k98 buttplate screws are slightly different from G/K43 buttplate screws. Why would they do that?