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A bnz45 that is all matching, made of mostly phosphate parts, has a laminated upper hand guard and a
solid wood stock. I'm not sure what type of wood it is but it could be beech. It is certainly much
softer than either walnut or the laminated type. The highest reported serial number for a bnz45 in "Backbone Of The Wehrmacht" is 5935T. This example is 5701T. It wasn't completed so I suspect it was still in the plant when the plant was captured. The firing proof is visible in one of the pictures but the final acceptance stamp was never applied. The front stock band has holes for screws but none were ever installed. The rear stock band has no provision for a screw but the stock was apparently predrilled for a screw to be installed. As you can see in several of the pictures, the stock fit was very poor. The stock was probably an earlier rejected stock. There is a crack in the stock on the upper right side just forward of the bolt. Under magnification, it appears that there are remnants of a stock filler so I suspect the crack was there when the rifle was made and, assuming it was an earlier rejected stock, could have been the reason for the rejection. Except for handling marks on the stock due to the soft wood, the rifle is in excellent condition although the upper hand guard is not secured because it was never completed. The rifle came out of an old collection and hadn't been properly cared for. There was some dirt on the stock so I used a wood preservative & cleaner lightly sprayed on a cloth to clean it. I was amazed at how much dirt came off. The metal had not received oil for many years so I used a brush lightly dipped in RIG to coat the metal parts and then wiped off the excess. That is all that has been done to the rifle since I have had it. |