Fallschirmjägergewher 42

I have FINALLY gotten a copy of Death From Above; The German FG42 Paratroop Rifle by Thomas B Dugelby and R Blake Stevens.

This also settles the hash of one Hans Christian-Vorsitch. He has been insisting, based on a series of articles referenced in the aforementioned book that there are THREE widely issued variations of the FG.42.

Dugelby claims five major variations. Those can be subdivided into about 25 total variations, but he says that they all can be categorized into one of the five main types. The issue is clouded by the Luftwaffe only assigning one designation to all types, FG.42. Most mainstream books call out FG.42/I and FG.42/II to differentiate between the two main types. Dugelby designates the FG.42/I as a Type C, D or E and the FG.42/II as a Type F or G.

Type A and B were never more than non-firing models.
Type C was the pre-production version, 50 made by Rheinmetall-Borsig; technically not an FG.42 but known by its specification number, LC-6.
Type D was the initial trials version, approximately 50 made by Rheinmetall-Borsig.
Type E was the first production model, so called the FG.42/I in most books, 2001 made by Krieghoff.
Type F was the earliest of the FG.42/II style guns, 220 made by Rheinmetall-Borsig for troop trials.
Type G was the definitive FG.42/II, 5773 made by Krieghoff and 400 made by L O Dietrich.

So, to me, we have two main types, E and G; just like most of the mainstream references say. The Luftwaffe agrees, only two manuals were issued.

Han's stats in GURPS: WW2 give a Weight of 12.4 lbs loaded and 1.8 lbs for a loaded magazine. The Lufwaffe manuals give a weight of 11.06 lbs loaded with a 1.8 lbs magazine for the Type E and 12.9 lbs loaded with a 2 lb magazine for the Type G.

I was attempting to figure out which version of FG.42 he was referencing and asked him on the SJ Games forums. We did a lot of back and forth until he established that my FG.42/I was earlier than the version he listed in the WW2 book and my FG.42/II was later. So in my 4e conversion I called his gun the FG.42/II and my later version FG.42/III. I guess his numbers could refer to the Type F. The main type is the Type G though, 6173 guns made in total.

The next thing to figure out was the RoF. The early gun had a cyclic of 900 rounds per minute (GURPS RoF 15) and the late guns had a cyclic of 750 rounds per minute (GURPS RoF 12 or 13). Hans gun lists a RoF of 15. Both the Type F and Type G have the slower cyclic rate, a lower rate was specified in the redesign. He also claimed the gun I was calling the FG.42/II had a cyclic rate of 600 rounds per minute (GURPS RoF 10). Which gun is he talking about again?

Again, this book is the definitive reference for the FG.42, and it includes the material he claimed in our web debate.

For my 4e conversion I have changed back to two listings for the FG.42. I am calling the Type E, FG.42/I and the Type G, FG.42/II. I don't think there were enough Type C, D or F were made to give them their own listings, especially since they never saw combat.

Another source, Rifles of the World, Second Edition, by John Walter lists the FG.42/I as 9.66 lbs without magazine, which yeilds 11.46 lbs loaded with a cyclic rate of 800. He also lists the FG.42/II as 11.13 lbs empty which gives a loaded weight of 12.33 lbs and a cyclic rate of 750 rounds per minute.