Nice-looking extra for that special figure in a late-war dio. Only one question: what's with the ISIS wanna-be sighting the weapon in the third pic? The Stg 44 seems to be in remarkable condition but it seems almost like it is being offered in an outdoor market. Why anyone would choose this assault rifle in a world populated with cheap AKs is beyond me. Interesting only as a puzzle without an answer.

Probably as an advertisement or photo-shoot. The guy doesn't even have a mag loaded.

The Russians captured a bunch of Stg-44s and they have been turning up in places like Iraq, Syria, Somalia etc for years. There was a cache of 5,000 Stg-44s found in Syria back in 2012 or so. This was quite big news in the fireams world for collectors like me. If you google a little bit there's a lot of articles about Stg-44s turning up in the middle east, Africa, Eastern bloc places Czechoslovakia. For example, lots of pictures on this page including the one from this article (scroll down to Stg-44 section) LINK

Still begs the question of why bother? Wonderful weapon that it was in its day, the Stg 44 clearly is an oddity that I wouldn't want to carry onto any engagement now. Hard-to-access ammo, clearly no spare parts or competent armourer servicing, etc. I had the chance to pick one up locally back in the mid-1980s and for the reasons listed- passed on it and opted for a surplus G3 which served me just fine for many years. The scarcity of the ammo alone should disqualify it from active carry. Nonetheless an interesting weapon and there were times that I wish I had had the means to buy both back in the day as I'd still have the Stg, if only as a collectable.

To use - as I'm sure you know, at the time the StG-44 was an excellent firearm. And they were 'free'. True now - but back then East Germany and Czechoslovakia manufactured the Kurz round so wasn't a problem. And reading that article I linked, sounds like Spain manufactured Kurz as well (didn't know that before). Wow - would have been a great investment, but like you say, always an opportunity cost. I didn't start collecting until 10 or so years ago and an Stg-44 now costs more than I am prepared to put into that hobby - but if I win lotto it's on my bucket list ...