FG 42

The **FG 42** (German: *Fallschirmjägergewehr* 42 or "paratrooper rifle 42") was a battle rifle. It was made in Nazi Germany during World War II. The weapon was made for use by Fallschirmjäger airborne infantry in 1942. It was used in small amounts until the war ended.

The FG 42 had the power of a light machine gun. It was light and was no larger than the Kar 98k bolt-action rifle. The FG 42 is thought to be one of the most advanced weapons of World War II. It helped shape the modern assault rifle idea.

## History
 *Fallschirmjäger* with his FG 42.]]
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At the time of the Battle of Crete (Operation Mercury), German *Fallschirmjäger* had the same weapons as the regular army. When they jumped from aircraft, they only had pistols and hand grenades. Submachine guns, rifles and other heavier weapons were dropped in crates. The design of the German parachutes meant that it was not safe to carry heavier weapons like rifles on jumps. At Crete, Commonwealth defenders killed or injured many German soldiers. This is because the German paratroopers had to go and collect their weapons from containers. These could be all over the battlefield. This showed that the weapons the regular army used were not good for air operations.

### Development
In 1941, the German Air Force (*Luftwaffe*), asked for a selective fire weapon for the paratroopers. Senior Staff Air Secretary Ossenbach at the *Luftwaffe* Weapons Development Branch (at Tarnewitz near Lübeck) was asked to develop this new weapon. However, the paratroopers had many casualties during Operation Mercury. Because of this, Hitler decided that air assaults were not important, and the plans for the weapon were cancelled. There was one design, made by Louis Stange at Rheinmetall-Borsig, that was accepted. It was tested at a test station at Tarnewitz in mid-1942.

The basic parts of the LC-6 were accepted. A group of changes to the design came afterwards. The improved version of the LC-6 was called the '''*Ausführung* "B"**. This improvement changed the hand guard so that it gave better protection against heat and a better grip when it was wet.

#### BD 42 
The **BD 42/I** is a semi-automatic copy of the early FG 42 rifle. The **BD 42/II''' is a semi-automatic copy of the later FG 42. Both of these were made by HZA Kulmbach GmbH.
## Design details
### General information
The FG 42 was a selective fire weapon. It was cooled by the air. The FG 42 also had its magazine at the side. It was quite easy to control if it was being fired on fully automatic mode.

### Feeding and firing
The FG 42 got its bullets from a box-shaped magazine. This magazine could hold 10 or 20 rounds.

The FG 42 was semi-automatic when it was being fired from a closed bolt. There was not very much movement when the weapon was being fired. This meant that firing single shots was more accurate. When the weapon was being fired in automatic mode, it was fired from an open bolt. When automatic mode was on, the bolt stayed open to keep the weapon cool.

### Testing
The FG 42 was supposed to give some useful firepower to Nazi Germany. However, only a small amount were made. When it was tested, the paratroopers quite liked it. However, the FG 42 did have some issues. The FG 42 had a 20, or sometimes 10, round magazine which was put into the left side of the rifle. It was quite usual for submachine guns to have magazines on the side, but the bigger magazine with the heavier cartridges of a rifle quite unbalanced. Also, the end of the FG 42 rose into the air quite quickly when it was being fired in automatic mode. This made accurate automatic fire difficult. It also meant that automatic fire was not very useful. The U.S. M14 rifle had problems similar to these.

### Weapons based on the FG 42
The American M41 Johnson LMG has many things that are similar to the FG 42. Both of these had their magazines on the left side. They also fired from an open bolt in automatic mode and closed bolt in semi-automatic mode. Although there are some things that are similar, there is no evidence that the designers of one weapon copied the design of another.

The last known weapons that were based on the FG 42 are the Sturmgewehr 52 and M60 machine gun.

## Use
After around 2,000 FG 42s were made by Krieghoff, the manganese steel that many important parts were made from were moved away to be used for other things. This meant that the weapon had to be redesigned to use stamped steel. Soldiers using the FG 42 asked for many small changes to be made to the design. These changes can be seen on later FG 42s. The FG 42 also had a simple bayonet under the barrel. It was hidden by the bipod. In the later version of the FG 42, the bayonet was shortened. Before the update, it was . Afterwards, it changed to about .

## References and notes 
## Bibliography
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## Other websites