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Panzerfaust help

Article about: An example of the color-charade mentioned above: two Volkssturm men (of course an elderly gent and a youngish pup in the same foxhole) manning a position in Ratibor, Silesia. Although the wa

  1. #31

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    An example of the color-charade mentioned above: two Volkssturm men (of course an elderly gent and a youngish pup in the same foxhole) manning a position in Ratibor, Silesia. Although the warhead is yellow and has a decal, the tube seems dark, probably German camouflage green - and has no decals. The decals were invariably printed red on Dunkelgelb background, and as we are to see soon, these labels are very contrasting on a green background. But this tube seems to lack them at all. Also, the trigger and sight assembly although lighter than the tube, seems another shade than the warhead - these are known in light-grey as well, just as some Pzf I have just seen in a Helsinki museum last fortnight - almost Austrian WW1 Hechtgrau in color, some with German and one with Finnish decals. That one seem to be post-war modification, as all Finnish WW2 photos (and I have downloaded at least 30 of them from the Finnish War Archive accessible on-line) with Pzf show German labels, mostly on Pzf 30m of both models, kl. and gr.
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  2. #32

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    I'd like to point out a misspelling in the German on this Instruction Leaflet on post #18 that caught my eye...On the left side in the second paragraph, the word "Zundvergaser" is used in describing a misfire. My fellow German speakers will surely agree that the proper word is Zundversager...(w/Umlaut on the U)...
    cheers, Glenn
    Attached Images Attached Images Panzerfaust help 

  3. #33

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    Berlin, 1945, Volksstrum Panzer menace seems not much enthusiastic about the joy that befell them. But we are to take a look at other things: all three have Pzf 100m (at the same time defenders of the Oder were photographed with Pzf 30m (gr.) ), but two have dark, probably green goblets, while tubes, triggers and warheads are all yellow. This photo shows the other visible difference between Pzf 60 and 100, after the retainer clip - the position of the blackpowder propelling charge retaining screw on the underside of the tube.
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  4. #34

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    Now that's good - a misspelling in a military manual Not only have Germans wrecked half of Europe, but they also wrote "dude" instead of "dud". Well, I didn't noticed that before, thanks

    Now back to period photos before the great finale: A youthful SS-man helps himself to cookies from Oma, while carrying a Pzf 60m on his shoulder. This shot shows the details of the collar-type retainer as opposed to the strip retainer of the Pzf 100m - all the more as the retainer and goblet again seems to be painted darker hue than the rest, while the retaining stud is yellow. This time we can see a dark safety slide - perhaps green, assembled into a Dunkelgelb launcher.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Panzerfaust help  
    Last edited by Visniewski; 07-25-2013 at 12:46 AM.

  5. #35

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    And now ladies and gentlemen, the color illustrations. But first a sectional drawing of the Pzf 100m projectile, showing most of what the restored Pzf 100 now lacks. Quick note first: the illustrator took one shortcut too many, preparing this plate - this is in fact a mix between Pzf 60 and 100. The warhead itself is identical, but the goblet is Pzf 60m with it's collar fastener, while the stem has proper traingular fins for the Pzf 100m - only that model had triangular fins, all earlier ones were fitted with rectangular ones. All right, but it still shows the arrangement of the weapon's projectile anyway. That's what shot out of tube with big flash-bangs from both ends of the tube. You might have noticed that fuze and detonator are positioned deep inside the warhead's stem. They were delivered from the factory unarmed, to avoid transport risks in case the weapon fell off the truck or something. The fuze is inertia type impact fuze with spring loaded safeting collar (if anyone is interested to know how this thing worked, "all you have to do is put your lips together and blow" as she said to Bogey) but anyway it was first deemed too dangerous to deliver armed ammunition and it was against the army regulations. So in all Pzfs prior to use you had to take the warhead off and insert the detonator and fuze in their sockets (they were of different diameter so one could not misplace them), and then put the warhead on again. In Pzf 30s the warhead was being screwed-off and on, but that arrangement had serious drawbacks. First, the thread could have been contaminated with sand and you'd never be able to screw the damn thing in. So, in Pzf 30 gr the thread was changed from micro-groove on Pzf 30 kl to a thick one (approx. like one in a lightbulb). But still, in the haste of the battle one could easily misalign the thread and put himself in dire straits. Additional problem was with aiming. If the warhead was screwed-on and -off, there was no way one could put any sights on it. And so the Pzf 30 had a sight ladder with hourglass shaped windows - one had to align the edge of the warhead as seen through the sighting window between the two > < of the hourglass window, and then fire. Not a very much defined aiming point, if you ask me, and VERY much different from any other type of sight utilized in the army at that time.
    So in Pzf 60 the whole arrangement was changed by adding a "goblet" on top of the projectile's stem, into which the tail of the warhead was tucked, and then the warhead was retained with a collar-like perpendicular strip. The stud onto which the retainer was hooked played two roles: first, it immoblized the warhead, keeping the two parts of it together - a goblet with finned tail stem and the warhead, forming a unified projectile. This in turn meant that the warhead fitted the rest of the projectile only in one, always the same position - so, if we put a front sight on it... An so they did, fitting an entirely new sight ladder with rectangular sighting windows featuring classic V-notch, which simplified the aiming. The whole firing mechanism was changed, and now the sight ladder if shut, immobilized the trigger - and additionally forced the safety slide into "ON" position before it was possible to fold the sight. The firing sequence was thus like that: (of course with the weapon armed beforehand) pull the safety pin keeping the sight ladder shut, open sight ladder, thus freeing the safety slide, then slide the safety forward to "OFF" and squeeze the trigger lever, cocking, and then releasing the firing pin. This "cocking and releasing" seems a bit pompous to describe the action of a flat strip of spring steel with a dimple (firing pin) in it's rear end, which is resting upon a shelf in a pivoting lever. When the lever starts to pivot, the strip is being bent, to the point when it slips from the shelf and inflicts a blow on the firing cap, thus igniting the propeling charge.

    OK, so now we know how it works and what makes what, so time came to meet Mr Panzerfaust himself.

    [it that were TV, now you'd now have to watch half frigging hour of annoying commercials]
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Panzerfaust help  
    Last edited by Visniewski; 07-25-2013 at 11:21 AM.

  6. #36

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    This (relatively) pristine Pzf 100m is not mine and never has been . It is preserved at a friendly (until disclosed, so don't ask) military facility as a part of their reference collection and is unmolested except for deactivating by melting out the main charge from the warhead, flushing out the propelling charges and replacing a firing cap in the trigger mechanism with a copper peg. As you can see, it was painted green all over (except the yellow goblet), with safety decals applied all over - with exception of the warhead decal, the most visible one. The presence of the decals is the best guarantee that the paint scheme is an original one - these were rather out of reach of Bubba (except for warhead decals, which are available online as repros), and besides, no one here ever knows how rare this thing became over the years. For them it's just another exhibit for the officer-trainees. If the paint would be Bubba, it would be applied all over the decals. There's not a trace of the decal on the exterior of the warhead, though.
    On the tube there's a host of these, however: the front fire-jet warning, mid-section "Vorsicht!" general warning label, rear fire-jet warning (and upon seeing the photo of fiery discharge there's small wonder why both are needed), a safety status indicating label (red "Unsafe" white "Safe"), trigger lever decal (Feuer), and a big descriptive (perhaps too much even) two-line hazardous material warning decal. AND - a warhead decal on top of it. Other notes are written all over the photos - if someone would have problems with understanding anything (hey, English is a foreign language to me!) just drop me a note in a post.
    One thing that may be difficult to comprehend - despite this being the Pzf 100m, the sight is labeled for 60 meters! In fact, both the 60 and 100 m sight ladders were identical, only differing in numbers struck at the windows - it was the extended propelling charge that took care of different ballistics. The main window on the Pzf 100m sight was for firing at 100 m - no matter if the numbers said 60 or 100 .

    And now the Rocky Horror Panzerfaust Show:
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Panzerfaust help   Panzerfaust help  

    Panzerfaust help   Panzerfaust help  

    Last edited by Visniewski; 07-25-2013 at 11:17 AM.

  7. #37

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    rest of the photos, good night (it's nearly 02:00 AM here).
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Panzerfaust help   Panzerfaust help  

    Panzerfaust help   Panzerfaust help  

    Panzerfaust help  

  8. #38

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    Now that was a real education. Many thanks for pointing out different models and how they functioned. Quite an awesome weapon.

  9. #39

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    Good posts, thank you.

    Cheers, Ade.
    Had good advice? Saved money? Why not become a Gold Club Member, just hit the green "Join WRF Club" tab at the top of the page and help support the forum!

  10. #40

    Default Re: Panzerfaust help

    Thanks a lot for kind words. Do you want more Pzf insight and photos? I can go on like that for days on end until you puke with Panzerfausts

    A mechanized anti-tank personnel carrier, AD 1945:
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