Volkssturmgewehr 1 - 5 The " Volkssturmgewehr " 1 - 5 ( " People ' s Assault Rifle " ) is a set of 5 rifle designs developed by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II . They were very simple designs , derived from the Mauser 98k , but with poor quality parts and a rough finish . There is confusion concerning the designation , sources talk about the VG 1 - 5 , the Volkssturm - Gewehr 1 - 5 , " Versuchs - Gerät " 1 - 5 , " Gustloff " and " Gustloff Geräts " 507 . It is often believed that the VG 1 - 5 refers to a specific type , usually the Gustloff design , a semi - automatic rifle chambered for the 7 . 92x33mm Kurz caliber . This was however another type of weapon though may also have been a part of the same program . " Primitiv - Waffen " - Programm . At the end of 1944 the war was going against Germany . They had lost entire armies to the advancing Russians and Western Allies . As a countermeasure the " Volkssturm " was mobilized – a German national militia . These needed to be armed but there were not enough rifles to go around . For this reason the " Primitiv - Waffen - Programm " ( " primitive weapons program " ) was initiated . It called for weapons that were very easy to produce . Several companies came up with designs , all very basic in design and crude in finish . Walther designed the " Volkssturmgewehr VG 1 " rifle , " Spreewerk Berlin " the VG 2 , Rheinmetall the VG 3 , Mauser the VG 4 and Steyr the VG 5 ( aka VK 98 ) . All of these were bolt - action rifles and derived from the standard Mauser Karabiner 98k rifle . Besides those there were other designs by other companies . Best known is the " Volkssturmgewehr " by Gustloff which was however a gas - delayed blowback semi - automatic rifle . In the last weeks of the Reich , communications collapsed and no organized production could be started . Eventually the local Gauleiter ordered arms producers in their regions to commence production . It is unclear exactly how many Volkssturmgewehr were produced . Only very few still exist today . VG 1 , 2 and 5 . The Volkssturmgewehr VG 1 rifle is a manually operated bolt action rifle . It uses a simple rotating bolt , with locking provided by the two frontal lugs ; the crude bolt handle engaged a cut in the cast steel receiver to provide additional safety . The feed is from detachable box magazines , originally developed for G . 43 rifle . The manual safety is also very crude , and consist of a stamped steel lever pinned to the trigger guard just behind the trigger . When engaged , the safety lever blocks trigger movement . To disengage the safety user must turn it sideways with a finger . The stock is crudely made from wood , and non - adjustable iron sights are provided for close - range shooting only . It was meant to be produced by Zbrojovka Brno in the current - day Czech Republic . The Volkssturmgewehr VG 2 rifle is also a manually operated bolt action rifle with a similar rotating bolt and crude manual safety . Locking is provided by two frontal lugs which lock into the steel insert pinned inside the stamped steel receiver . The VG 2 rifle is fed from detachable box magazines , originally developed for G . 43 rifle . The stock is crudely made from wood and consists of two separate parts : shoulder stock with semi - pistol grip and forend . Wood parts are permanently pinned to the receiver . Non - adjustable iron sights are provided for close - range shooting only , and zeroed for . The VG 5 or more correctly , the Volkssturmkarabiner VK 98 rifle is even more basic . It uses the Mauser Gewehr 98 type bolt action with rotary bolt , but has no magazine , so every cartridge has to be manually loaded into the chamber making it a single shot rifle . The sights are fixed , non - adjustable . These rifle prototypes were developed part of the Volkssturm - Mehrladegewehr program . Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr . The Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr was designed by Karl Barnitzke of the Gustloff - Werke for the " Primitiv - Waffen - Programm " ( " primitive weapons program " ) in 1944 and was intended to be used by the " Volkssturm " . Production of the Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr occurred from January 1945 till the end of the war ; roughly 10 , 000 were made . This gun was initially called MP 507 . The MP 508 was fairly similar except it had a pistol grip . The weapon employed the same 7 . 92x33mm Kurz intermediate cartridge as the earlier StG 44 assault rifle and also used the same detachable 30 - round box magazine . The Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr uses a gas - delayed blowback action based on the Barnitzke system , whereby gas bled from the barrel near the chamber creates resistance to the rearward impulse of the operating parts , which ceases when the projectile leaves the muzzle , allowing the operating parts to be forced rearward by the residual pressure of the cartridge case . This principle has been used most successfully in the Heckler & Koch P7 pistol . The Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr is constructed rather like many semi - automatic pistol s , it has a casing and spring around the barrel ; the whole casing recoils backward . The breech block , with firing pin and extractor , is pinned to the back end of the barrel casing . The rear end of the gun does not recoil and has the hammer , sear and trigger built into it . Gas coming from four vents , near the end of the barrel , holds the bolt closed till the gas pressure drops to a safe level . Some selective fire VG 1 - 5s were made . The Grossfuss Sturmgewehr used the same principle of gas - delayed blowback operation , but it was somewhat more efficient in the use of gas ; its bolt weighted 0 . 8 - 0 . 9 kg compared to 1 . 4 kg in the Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr . The Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr was assembled out of 39 metallic parts , not counting rivets and screws . Of these specific parts , 12 required milling , 21 could be produced by stamping alone , and 6 were springs . Testing of a captured Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr at a Soviet GAU shooting range showed that it was rather inaccurate , with 50 % of the shots at 100 m landing in a circle with 10 . 2 cm radius and with 100 % of the shots at the same distance landing in a circle with a 19 . 8 cm radius . At 300 m these the corresponding radii were 25 and respectively 50 . 3 cm . The fixed sights of the Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr made aiming difficult because the Kurz patrone raised some 29 cm above the sightline at 100 m and dropped 43 cm below it at 300 m .