Third Party Press

Top 11 Most Common codes/yrs

Bob in OHIO

Senior Member
.... for those interested, in this general info...

Of course, 1. is the most commonly produced maker & year, and the number in parenthesis is production (x1000) based on estimates from Karen/Steve's books and may be rounded. Of course, rankings of guns known in collections or for sale may differ from these production rankings
  1. byf 44 .... (700)
  2. byf 43 .... (535)
  3. 42 1940 ..(419)
  4. dot 1944 .(371)
  5. byf 42 .... (368)
  6. bcd 43 ....(340)
  7. byf 41 .... (336)
  8. dou 44 ....(321)
  9. ce 43 ......(309)
  10. 42 1939 ...(280)
  11. dou 43 ....(272)
  12. bcd 44 ....(240+)
  13. 243 1939 (238)
  14. ce 44 ......(230)
  15. dot 1943 .(227)
 
Last edited:
42 1940 and 1939 have high production totals but are difficult to find matching and nice. I’ve spent 3 years looking for a proper 1939 and I’m always hunting.
 
Good updated info Bob. Ultimately "survivability" is also very important with respect to how we value things now based upon scarcity.
 
Bob,

This is a great idea, would love to see this information in one place, found an old gunboards posting that made the attempt, but appears outdated.


For when this list grows, BLM 1:

1936 (S/237): 11,500 95% yield 11,000
1937 (S/237): 46,200 95% yield 43,900
1938 (S/237, 237): 91,700 95% yield 87,000

Agree with the survivability quotient. Would be interesting to try an quantify what is available over a 1-5 year time-frame from major sales sites in terms of no excuse K98's by code. Would be interested to see the availability quotient, which may also speak to the extent that it can, about the survivability quotient.

1. Bruce Karem and Michael Steves, Karabiner 98k , Vol 1, (United States of America, Third Party Press, 2012), p446.
 
That's pretty interesting.

Anecdotal evidence isn't evidence but the matching examples I've seen on the market since I started looking in the last year seem to suggest a more even playing field: a good amount of dou, ce, bcd, and even bnz examples and not any particular overflow of byf or dot rifles.
I'm also greatly relieved to learn that the rifles I'm looking for are the most widely produced.
 
Very interesting info Bob! It makes me think about where the guns from particular manufacturers ended up as we know that certain maker/year rifles are seen more often as Russian captures rather than bring backs. Great stuff!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I can't help with the Russian captures, but I've done extensive research on the Norwegian captures.

Here is the first chart:
Production Totals.jpg
From top to bottom in descending order are the manufacturer/assembler with the largest production numbers. Mauser Oberndorf accounted for 31.88% of the total production of K98k and Berlin-Suhler Waffen-und Fahrzeugwerke accounted for 0.53% of the total production.

For example, the numbers of Mauser Berlin-Borsigwalde and Berlin-Lübecker Maschinenfabrik are very noticeable. Mauser Berlin-Borsigwalde accounted for 9.95% of the total production of K98k and the Norwegian captures are 15.34%. Berlin-Lübecker Maschinenfabrik accounted for 5.85% of the total production of K98k and the Norwegian captures are 9.79%.

Here is the second chart:
Production Years.jpg
You can see, the most common production years of K98k in Norway are 1941, 1940 and 1939.

Regards,
Stephan
 
Nice work. I have a Norway 1938 bSw, still in Norway though. Can't get it shipped out of the country.
 
Nice work. I have a Norway 1938 bSw, still in Norway though. Can't get it shipped out of the country.

Boo Hoo! As if you need another.




I had a chance to get a mint all matching 43' DOT (Understanding is they aren't "rare" but are scarce) at auction last summer and my dumba$$ passed on it for 800 because funds were tight at the time. New to collecting.. Learned my lesson. Still working on my time machine.

Good info Bob. Maybe add a 1-5 next to your rankings for scarcity? and sticky the post? This could be a great resource.
 
Wow was BBOTW ever wrong about byf43&4 production. I guess that Law assumed each letter block was 100,000 rifles.
 
... revision due...

I see it above, thanks! I ask because in all of my years of collecting I've seen only one matching byf 42 that wasn't a RC, so I purchased it. I assumed these are rare because they went to the eastern front and were lost. Mine:
 

Attachments

  • byf429.jpg
    byf429.jpg
    59.3 KB · Views: 48
Boo Hoo! As if you need another.




I had a chance to get a mint all matching 43' DOT (Understanding is they aren't "rare" but are scarce) at auction last summer and my dumba$$ passed on it for 800 because funds were tight at the time. New to collecting.. Learned my lesson. Still working on my time machine.

Good info Bob. Maybe add a 1-5 next to your rankings for scarcity? and sticky the post? This could be a great resource.

Actually, I got another 1937 bSw yesterday.. heh heh
 
I see it above, thanks! I ask because in all of my years of collecting I've seen only one matching byf 42 that wasn't a RC, so I purchased it. I assumed these are rare because they went to the eastern front and were lost. Mine:

Your suspicion on the fate of most byf 42 rifles is interesting and I think likely true. I have often wondered about the breakdown of guns and equipment (and of course men) sent to the horrors of the eastern front.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Your suspicion on the fate of most byf 42 rifles is interesting and I think likely true. I have often wondered about the breakdown of guns and equipment (and of course men) sent to the horrors of the eastern front.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I also believe that the Eastern Front theory is plausible and in this case my Norwegian data ist interesting. Like I said before, the most common production years of K98k in Norway are 1941, 1940 and 1939.

In this diagram are K98k of all manufacturer/assembler and the percentage of the respective production years:
All manufacturer.jpg

It can be clearly seen that in 1942 in general significantly less K98k came to Norway, in 1943 the number increases again a bit. Just 6,67% of the K98k in Norway are 1942 production.



More important is the percentage of K98k manufacturer/assembler in some production years and here is Mauser Oberndorf:

1938 - 25%
1939 - 23%
1940 - 20%
1941 - 36%
1942 - 8%
1943 - 35%



Percentage of the production year 1942 in Norway:

Berlin-Lübecker Maschinenfabrik - 40%
Gustloff-Werke - 32%
Steyr-Daimler-Puch - 12%
Mauser Oberndorf - 8%
Mauser Berlin-Borsigwalde - 4%
Waffenwerke Brünn Werk II - 4%

Regards,
Stephan
 
Your suspicion on the fate of most byf 42 rifles is interesting and I think likely true. I have often wondered about the breakdown of guns and equipment (and of course men) sent to the horrors of the eastern front.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There was a matched walnut one at the last Dallas DACA show, Pzjgr spotted it walking around, couldn’t be bought though. It’s interesting reading division equipment allocations, breaking down every weapon type, field kitchen, pot and pan they were issued haha. The Barbarossa documents are interesting as well showing the build up of equipment for the kick off.
 

Military Rifle Journal
Back
Top