Grandpa Joe claimed it came from a German POW who claimed that he saw action on the Russian front and was terrified to return, so he was happy to surrender to the Allies.
My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps and didn’t see any combat as an infantryman. (But he did fly missions over hostile territory as a gunner.) He won the rifle in a card game.
Like all family legends, I don’t know how true the story is, but I do know this: I wouldn’t part with that old gun if my life depended on it. It means the world to me.
I like history and wish the rifles could talk. At the end Germany used whatever was on hand.