The Sturmgewehr 44, or STG 44 for short, was the first small arms design that we know today as an assault rifle. Indeed, Sturm-gewehr translates from the German for assault or storm rifle. The STG 44 started life as a Nazi wonder weapon before inspiring the practical modern rifles we know and love today. Nearly eighty years after its formal adoption in 1944, the STG 44 is more popular on the range and in gun lore than ever. Follow along as we explore the history and use of the STG 44, as well as show you where there’s an STG 44 for sale so you can snag yourself one.

Stormed in Secret

Since the end of the First World War, German engineers tried unsuccessfully to create an intermediate-caliber automatic rifle with the rate of fire and controllability of a pistol-caliber submachine gun with the added range and punch of a rifle round. German small arms doctrine going into the Second World War relied on the light machine gun backed by grenade-laden infantrymen carrying Kar. 98k Mauser bolt-action rifles. This allowed the Germans to fix and then bypass strong points when on the attack. After Operation Barbarossa failed in the fall of 1941, the Wehrmacht found themselves increasingly on the defensive in Russia.

The Soviets were not skittish about arming as many of their rifleman with semi and fully automatic weapons, like the SVT-40 and the PPSH-41. The Germans attempted to field semi-automatic and fully automatic shoulder rifles chambered for the existing 7.92×57 Mauser round. In the full-auto FG-42, this full powered round was impossible to control and the semi-autos were released half-baked. The intermediate-caliber cartridge idea was revived in the form of the 7.92×33 Kurz cartridge, a shortened and lightened version of the old Mauser round. The Kurz used a 123-grain bullet traveling at 2,200 feet per second, compared to the Mauser’s 196 grain bullet at 2800 feet per second. The Mauser round was accurate and effective out to 1000 yards, but the First World War had already demonstrated that combat distances of less than 300 yards was more typical. The new 7.92 Kurz could do the task with less felt recoil, but more power and with less drop than existing 9mm Luger pistol ammunition.

Walther and Haenel designed prototype rifles for the new cartridge. Hugo Schmeisser, the head of the Haenel group, had worked on an intermediate design even before the invasion of Russia. The final gun ultimately carried most of the features of his early prototype, though Walther’s gun was mechanically similar. It was a gas-operated, internal hammer fired rifle constructed principally of sheet steel, not unlike the FG-42. Like the FG, the barrel and stock were arranged in a straight-line to mitigate recoil and a wooden pistol grip was added.  The new rifle also used a Walther-inspired closed tilting bolt and accepted thirty-round box magazines. Later in 1942, a dust cover over the bolt and a rail to mount an optic was added.

When Adolf Hitler learned of the new rifle and its new cartridge, he ordered the project canceled. That year, German logistics were stretched to their limit. In 1941, Hitler had pulled skilled labor from the Reich to reenforce his invasion force that now broke down on the Russian steppe. The lack of fuel and spare parts became even more acute as the Germans stretched themselves further during Case Blue, the offensive toward Stalingrad and the Caucasian oil fields. The Wehrmacht were fielding or gifting dozens of domestic and foreign small arms. The Fuhrer was worried about have yet another non-standard rifle in inventory. But the industrialists were convinced of the value of the new design. So what did they do? They named their creation the MP43 or machine pistol 43 and continued production anyway. To the casual observer, it was just another submachine gun chambered in the standard 9mm Luger round. But it was not. Later in 1943, Hitler found out the scheme because of positive field reports coming from the Eastern front. But he was impressed enough to allow the project to continue in mass production.

The field reports of the new rifle were more than propaganda. The select-fire STG 44 gave the individual soldier the ability to suppress the enemy like a light machine gun could but defend his position from the enemy better than if he had a five-shot Mauser rifle. The Schmeisser prototype was airdropped to German troops surrounded in the Cholm Pocket in January 1942. The 218^th Infantry division and the remnants of other units, numbering only 5,000, were able to resist and then break free from the three Soviet divisions besieging them. Fast forward to 1944 and the MP43 is in mass production. But the war had turned against Nazi Germany and in his frantic grasp at straws, Hitler renamed the rifle the Sturmgewehr. Over 400,000 of these rifles were produced by the war ended and production ceased in May 1945.

A Proto-AK?

The STG 44 is a ground-breaking rifle with features we have come to appreciate on today’s modern rifles like the AR-15 and the AK-47. The dust-cover and accessory rail on the STG are direct antecedents to the AR-15, as is its intermediate caliber and higher capacity (for its time) magazines. The STG’s stamped steel construction and overall appearance appeared to have informed the design for the AK. But mechanically, the Sturmgewehr has more in common with the Soviet SKS. The SKS is a semi-automatic rifle with a fixed magazine that uses an intermediate 7.62x39mm round later used in the AK. The SKS was developed directly in response to the STG 44 and came online during the final months of the war.

 

STG 44 for sale: where to find yours.

Find an STG 44 For Sale

• Gun.Deals ($$$ compare)
• Palmetto State Armory
• Guns.com 

 

 

 

 

The STG 44 Today

Vast sums of Sturmgewehrs were snatched by the Soviets at the end of the Second World War and were handed out like candy to friendly regimes during the Cold War. Over the years, the STG 44 has popped up in conflicts like the Vietnam War and the Syrian Civil War. But these old-stock rifles are elderly as is the ammunition. Some of these old rifles also ended up in American inventory post-war and into private collections. The demand for ammunition is such that companies like Hornady and PPU produce runs of 8mm Kurz.

The history of the STG 44 and its latter uses was enhanced by World War II first-person-shooter games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor in the 2000s. The demand for a new and accessible Sturmgewehr was there and the market responded. Blue Line Solutions and Hill & Mac Gunworks have offered a semi-auto .22 LR version of the STG from time to time. HMC also makes a version in 8mm Kurz, 5.56 NATO, 7.62×39, and 300 Blackout. In 2023, Palmetto State Armory debuted a Sturmgewehr of their very own with the same caliber options. These are fitting tributes to a rifle with an outsized influence that went beyond its brief service life.

For more information on the STG 44’s predecessor, the Mauser 98, and how it survived into the Cold War, check out Bucky Lawson’s article on the Zastava M48 Mauser.

For more on the American take on the autoloading intermediate caliber rifle, check out Peter Suciu’s work with the M1 Carbine.