Volkssturmgewehr VG 1

About the Volkssturmgewehr VG 1

The Volkssturmgewehr VG 1 is a German bolt-action rifle developed by the Walther company as a 'last ditch' weapon during the final months of World War II in early 1945. Built quickly and cheaply from stamped steel and a coarsely machined beech stock, it used a simple rotating bolt locked by two frontal lugs and fed from the 10-round detachable box magazine of the Gewehr 43. Chambered in the standard 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge, it was issued to hastily raised Volkssturm militia units and is notable for its crude, expedient construction and minimal fit and finish.

Faced with crippling shortages of standard arms, Nazi Germany ordered a family of crude 'people's rifles' (Volkssturmgewehre) to equip the Volkssturm, a militia of men and boys aged 16 to 60 conscripted in October 1944. The VG 1 epitomized this desperation: stamped, welded and screwed together with minimal machining so it could be churned out by non-specialist workshops in the war's final weeks.

Volkssturmgewehr VG 1 specifications

One of several Volkssturm rifle designs produced in 1945; the related Gustloff VG 1-5 was instead a semi-automatic gas-delayed blowback rifle chambered in 7.92x33mm Kurz. Surviving VG 1 rifles were made of inferior materials and may be unsafe to fire today.