Volkskarabiner Steyr

摘要

In autumn 1944, the development of Volkssturm (People's Army) weapons was in full swing. The company Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG from Austria featured among the companies involved. However, for the first two shooting competitions in October and November, Steyr did not manage to submit a rifle design of its own on time. After the beginning of December, the decision in favor of the Carl Walther model in 7.92x57 caliber as the future "People's Rifle" was made. However, a final shooting competition for rifles chambered for the 7.92x33 "Kurzpatrone" (short cartridge), as used with the new assault rifle Stur-mgewehr 44, was still pending. It finally took place from December 15 to 22 at the Kummersdorf experimental shooting range, and this time Steyr submitted a bolt-action rifle fitted with an MP44 stick magazine-aibeit rather unsuccessfully. Rounds failed to fire, the bolt jammed and couldn't be opened without tools, and the stock splintered after launching only four rifle grenades. Thus, Steyr seemed to be out of the race.