german 98 mauser numbers

[gm]

picked up another byf.bayonet and frog..vg cond-numbers;43ffc
receiver is a byf44,barrel is 44f3,bolt; 5758 with a k under it,safty; 6750,floorplate 6016 byf,milled, buttplate(not cupped)1498 with a d under it.barrel band; 6053.

the sling has the numbers worn off the buckle.the stock has faint initials or a design scratched into it.

I think I did good,shoots great,feeds great.gave 300 for it and 100 for the bayonet and frog plus a can with the cleaning kit all intact.codes are intact.everything is blued cept the receiver- is parked.bolt is shiny cept the backcover and safty and extractor which are blued.the bayonet blade is even blued,has a bakelite handle.

anything about it would be nice.so many numbers.

 

[Jim Watson]

parts gun.
the numbers all matched when new.

 

[gm]

thanks.any significance to the dates of each numbers?

im asuming the byf 44 means 1944 but no idea what 44f3 means on the barrel nor the 43ffc is on the bayonet.did the germans blue their bayonet blades?

lastly why are there 2 eagles on some things and only 1 on others?what are those eagles to mean?

 

[Jim Watson]

byf 44 means made in the main Mauser plant at Oberndorf in 1944.
That and other marks are German production codes, the intent being to conceal the amount and source of weapons they were making. Some of them have been identified - I bet somebody knows which cutlery maker ffc did your bayonet - but others are not known. We tended to drop bombs on the factories and burn up the records.
An eagle over a number is a Waffenampt mark, indicating which German government office handled inspection of products from that maker. An eagle over letter N is the proof test mark. Why parts are sometimes struck once, sometimes twice, you would have to find an elderly German bureaucrat to ask, or maybe a serious collector.
Four digits and a letter are the serial number. They would have all matched on a new gun.

 

[JMB]

Check out this site for codes. http://mauser98k.internetdsl.pl/kodyen.html

There is another site out there but I can't seem to remember it. I used it to look up my 98 codes. JW is correct in saying it started life with all matching numbers but the most important thing for a shooter is that the bolt and receiver numbers match. Much better chance of the gun having the correct headspacing. But you still should check it to be sure.

 

[Jim K]

I can't find "ffc" but "ffo" was Maschinenfabrik Tannwald, Tannwald / Sudetengau (renamed 'Tannenwalder Textilwerke AG' in 1943).

The single eagle and number indicates that the part was inspected and passed by the inspector assigned that number. There may be three eagles on the receiver; one indicates the receiver passed inspection, the second one that the completed rifle passed inspection, and a third larger one with a swastika indicates the rifle passed firing proof and was accepted by the Army.

Small numbers under the barrel are the actual bore diameter in millimeters as checked by a bore gauge.

Yes, bayonet blades were blued.

HTH

Jim