We met up with Greg – who runs Allegheny Arsenal – at a gun show a couple weeks ago, and this is the first of a couple interviews we did with him on the MG34 and its mount. I realize the audio is bad – I apologize, and I promise we’re getting some better gear. 🙂 Greg can do anything that needs to be done to a Lafette mount, and stocks all the parts you’ll need to get your 34 running and keep it running (plus a wide selection of other machine gun parts). His support of the site helps me keep good content coming your way, and I hope you’ll keep him in mind when you need some of the cool stuff he sells.
In addition today, we also have a copy of the original German manual on the Lafette mount. You can download it here for free in German, or pick up a hard copy of John Baum’s English translation at (you guessed it!) MG34.com.
Don’t forget that this type of mount, where the gun is in a spring-loaded slide, is a Danish invention.
I have read somewhere that at some point in world war 2, the mount (this mount) was more expensive to make than the MG42. I always thought of that comment as nonsense, but seeing the mount in detail makes it seem to be possible. (maybe if you include the optics.) This is one detailed/expensive to make mount.