The simpler, sturdier design and mechanism of the G43 made it lighter, easier to produce, more reliable and also much tougher than the Gewehr 41 German mountain troops would use them as ladder rungs during climbing.
The SVT series used a simpler gas-operated mechanism, which was soon emulated by Walther in its successor to the G41(W), producing the Gewehr 43 (or G43). This was a shock to the Germans, who ramped up their own semi-automatic rifle development efforts significantly. Just prior to the opening of hostilities the Soviet Red Army had started re-arming its infantry, complementing its older bolt-action rifles with the new semi-automatic SVT-38s and SVT-40s. In 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa. It was accepted and entered into service as the Gewehr 43, renamed Karabiner 43 in April 1944, with production amounting to just over 400,000 between 19. In 1943, Walther combined a similar gas system with aspects of the G41(W) providing greatly improved performance. It was clearly superior to the G41's, and simpler as well.
These used a simple gas mechanism powered from a port cut into the barrel about 1/3 of the way back from the end, and replaced the conventional stripper reloads with a modern box magazine. The German invasion of the Soviet Union led to small numbers of the SVT-40 being captured and returned to Germany for examination. Meeting this requirement meant the designs had to use uncommon mechanisms that were simply unreliable and highly prone to fouling. The problems with both designs stemmed from a demand made by the Army that the rifles not use holes drilled into the barrel, known as ports, to run the automatic loading mechanism. The Walther design fared better in combat but still suffered from reliability problems. The Mauser design was introduced in 1941 and at least 12,755 were made, but it proved unreliable in combat. Germany's quest for a semi-automatic infantry rifle resulted in two designs – the G41(M) and G41(W), from Mauser and Walther Arms respectively. It was manufactured using innovative mass-production techniques. The design was based on that of the earlier G41(W), but incorporated an improved short-stroke piston gas system similar to that of the Soviet Tokarev SVT-40. The Gewehr 43 or Karabiner 43 (abbreviated G43, K43, Gew 43, Kar 43) is a 7.92×57mm Mauser caliber semi-automatic rifle developed by Germany during World War II. Iron sights, Zf42 optical crosshair sight Gas-operated short-stroke piston, flapper lockingġ0-round detachable box magazine or 5-round stripper clips Gewehr 43 from the collections of the Swedish Army Museum