http://www.americantactical.us/

The StG 44 is one of those guns in history that is in a class by itself. By most accounts, it was the first modern “assault rifle,” and would have made a big difference in WWII had it arrived sooner in the war. but it didn’t, and the StG 44, otherwise known as the MP43 or MP44, has taken its place in history as part of the failed Nazi war effort that was defeated handily by the Allies.

American Tactical Imports (ATI), is bringing in a replica of this famous rifle in .22LR rimfire this year, and we got to take a look at one for Media Day at the Range, SHOT Show 2012. It is made in Germany by GSG, and ATI has already imported several other rimfire guns from this company over the past several years. The StG 44 is a full weight, almost exact replica of the original 8×33 Kurz rifle that is said to be the predecessor to the Kalashnikov, as well as all of the other assault rifles spanning the decades after WWII.

Available this summer, the GSG StG 44 will retail for $599, and it will come in the wooden crate you see here in the pictures. We were able to try the initial prototypes at the range and they seemed to work great. Hopefully ATI will send us a gun or two to test once they are ready to sell them. As a collector’s item, the original StG 44 is out of the reach of most American collectors, in part because the original was select fire and therefore banned from import by the 1986 machinegun law. In semi-auto .22LR rimfire, not only can you own a gun with the original look and feel of the real StG 44, you will be able to shoot it cheaply, and it will itself be a big collector’s item as we go down the road. This was one of the guns everyone was talking about at SHOT this year, and if you can get one ordered, you might want to get in line now because supply will not keep up with demand for a long time after they start coming into the country. Have your local gun dealer get in touch with one of the distributors listed on the ATI website now if you want one