Gewehr 41 (W)

About the Gewehr 41 (W)

The Gewehr 41 (W) was a German semi-automatic rifle developed by Carl Walther for the Wehrmacht during World War II, chambered in the standard 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge. It was Germany's response to Soviet semi-automatic rifles and used a muzzle gas-trap (Bang) operating system that captured propellant gases at the muzzle to drive an annular piston, cycling a non-reciprocating bolt. Ammunition was loaded into a fixed 10-round internal magazine via two five-round stripper clips, the same clips used by the Karabiner 98k.

The G41's muzzle gas-trap operating principle was derived from a system patented by Danish designer Soren H. Bang decades earlier; the resulting mechanism was so fouling-prone and front-heavy that German troops nicknamed it cumbersome, and it was quickly superseded by the Gewehr 43 once Germany copied the cleaner Soviet Tokarev gas system.

Gewehr 41 (W) specifications

The Walther G41(W) competed against the Mauser G41(M); both were required to avoid a bolt-cycling handle and to retain manual-cycling capability, constraints that hampered the designs. The complex muzzle gas-trap system fouled easily and the rifle was muzzle-heavy. Lessons learned led directly to the simpler, gas-piston-operated Gewehr 43.