Bavarian/Austrian Questions

I have noticed the Bavarian’s seem to exhibit more stamps and details that demonstrate that they spent time in Germany. Oppose to that, the Austrian can exhibit far fewer tracks to confirm their authenticity. Seems as if someone could stick a properly marked trigger housing on about anything and claim it’s Austrian. Other plum tented components could be added as well.

floydthecat wrote: Seems as if someone could stick a properly marked trigger housing on about anything and claim it’s Austrian.

I purchased one at a mix-master shooter price not wondering if it was authentic or not. The plum tented parts as well as the plum tented marked TH lead me to believe it’s authentic as well as the deep blue finish, but that’s all I have to go on. No import marks. It wound up being a very tight SG action with a decent ME and is a good shooter. The wonder is if it is authentic Austrian or a jumble of parts from a salvaged Austrian hung onto a decent SG barreled action. The stock is unmarked. How can we tell?

Well Wayne, that might accomplish 2 things. I might find out something that I would rather not know and it might drive my cost up past the value of a mix-master shooter.😁i

I may be able to shed some light on a few things. This can get confusing as the "Bavarians" were marked, used, abused, repaired, changed from their original U.S. mfg condition by the U.S. military in Europe, West German agencies who received them from the U.S. military, Austrian agencies who received them from the U.S. military, and Austrian agencies who bought them from Bavaria. But I'll give it a try.

What follows applies to the carbines used by Austria. When Austria recalled all their carbines from their various agencies they were all returned to one central Austrian Self-Defense Forces facility and stored/left in the crates in which they were received. Meaning all from a particular agency were kept together as received. When Austria sold or returned any, they did so by agency.

If the question is, is my Austrian marked trigger housing on the carbine it was on when used by Austria ...

Trigger Housing Markings

LGKB (Burgenland) on trigger housing

None of these carbines are known to have made it back to the USA. Unknown who they were sold too but some have turned up in Western Europe.

LGKNÖ NiederÖsterreich (Lower Austria)
LGKSb (Salzburg)

7,991 carbines sold to Intrac and imported into the USA in the mid 1990's. Intrac sold these carbines to two wholesale/retailers in the USA, TN Guns and Centerfire Systems.

In addition to the LGK markings, These will have the Intrac import mark on the underside of the barrel just behind the front sight.

I have the Centerfire inventory lists with serial numbers, published and handed out to other retailers. I have no info on those sold by TN Guns.

So, if you have a trigger housing with these markings, look for the Intrac import mark. Think about sending me a PM and I'll see if I have any info from Centerfire Systems.

LGKK (Kärnten - Carinthia)
LGKOÖ (OberoÖsterreich - Upper Austria)
LGKST (Steiermark)
LGKT (Tirol)
LGKV (Vorarlberg)

These were returned to the U.S. Army by Austria, then given to CMP for inspection and sale. CMP received them in two separate shipments.

The first shipment arrived at CMP in Dec 2009. About 7,500 carbines (I'm not finding the exact total at the moment).

I was invited to do research and spent 2 weeks in hillbilly heaven as the armorers began inspecting these. I provided a simple research survey asking the armorers note the s/n, bbl date, trigger housing markings, receiver markings. Some armorers were more cooperative than others. Some only indicated the serial number, omitting anything else. I have the hard copies. Some great folks chipped in with data entry (including the Centerfire lists) so we have an Excel file with all shared. Keeping in mind, we have what was shared, not all was shared. I'm certain not all serial numbers were shared. My data does not include those inspected and sold at auction by CMP. But, what I/we did get was a lot.

Carbines from the first shipment were sold starting in Sep or Oct 2009. These will obviously have no import mark, no markings on the carbine indicating it came from CMP. However, I can check our inventory lists from this first shipment and share what was shared with us. Just know, not all was shared on all.

The second shipment received by CMP was about 2012/2013 with I think about 1,700 carbines. I was told they appeared to be leftovers including incomplete carbines in various stages of unservicable. As if they all came from a central repair facility. I don't know if these included carbines used by the states other than those in the first shipment. I have no other info on these.

So, if you have one of these trigger housings on your carbine and can't figure out if the carbine it's on is the one it was on in Austria, send me a PM and I'll see if I have any further info. Also, CMP used to be good about checking their files and sending out a replacement CMP certificate to the original purchaser if they lost theirs.

ZW (Zoll Wache - Customs/Border Guard)

These were 3,850 and sold to Euroarms in Italy. They sold them retail and to other dealers in Western Europe 2002-2009. I haven't seen any of these in the USA.
___________________________

The Austrians did repair carbines that needed it. They received a lot of spare parts from the U.S. military with their carbines. They had spares left over, all supposedly sold to Intrac en masse with the carbines they bought.

I haven't seen or know of Austria making or buying stocks for their U.S. carbines. Some of the carbines purchased from Bavaria, the Bavarians had replaced some stocks with the Northern European Beech stocks. I don't know if Bavaria included extra stocks in what they sold to Austria.

Hope this makes sense.

Jim