Stephan98k
aka 8x57IS
In the last years I have read many assumptions about the meaning of the letter "P" marking on K98k stocks. These markings must have been important, otherwise they would certainly not have been applied to the stocks.
The Mauser Oberndorf chapter, page 230-231 in the "Karabiner 98k Volume I" book is very interesting. In 1935 the development of alternative stock materials was started and early 1936 tests was completed. The result was that the walnut stock was better than the laminate stock and they said "such a stock cannot be taken into consideration for use during war". Nevertheless, in July 1937 Mauser Oberndorf ordered laminate beech stocks and in October 1937 the first rifles fitted with laminate stocks was shipped.
Here are some previous assumptions about letter "P" markings:
- the letter "P" is a code or abbreviation of the laminate blank provider
- it's a subcontractor marking or lot identifier
- it's a supplier that developed the first laminate stock blanks
- it's a marking for a armorer stock
- the stock was rejected and replaced during manufacture and therefore the marking
Observations about these letter markings:
- walnut stocks doesn't have the marking
- the marking starts with the early laminate stocks
- letter "K" isn't so common like the letter "P" marking
- the marking was phased out around 1941 / 1942
- laminate stocks have the marking and at the same time a different laminate supplier code in the barrel channel or behind the buttplate
The problem in the first place is not the beech wood, the development of laminated wood has been vigorously tackled since around 1930 and a good solution was achieved by Mr. Kraemer in the department of the Deutschen Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (German Research Institute for Aviation). The main problem was the gluing of the individual layers of the laminate wood. The beech wood has a high absorbency and is particularly suitable for soak-glueing with liquid synthetic resin glue. Different types of wood glue has been used and they had to observe how they behave in the coming months or years in daily use. Many layers of wood provide high stability, but the size and number of glue line negatively affected the moisture resistance, since the binding force of the originally used casein-glue drops a lot upon moisture absorption. But with the synthetic-resin-glue, in particular of the phenol type (Phenol-Formaldehydharzleim), water-resistant binders have been developed.
In the early days these laminate stocks would certainly closely examined, as there were no long-term results on the durability of the glue of these laminate beech stocks. An external marking of the stocks with the different glue types would make sense, so that they could identify them quickly and easily if problems occur.
I have named two known glue types, "casein-glue" and "synthetic-resin-glue of phenol type". The German names are:
- Kaseinleim
- Phenol-Formaldehydharzleim
The Phenol-Formaldehydharzleim had advantages over the Kaseinleim and that could explain the much more common letter "P" marking on the stocks.
The Mauser Oberndorf chapter, page 230-231 in the "Karabiner 98k Volume I" book is very interesting. In 1935 the development of alternative stock materials was started and early 1936 tests was completed. The result was that the walnut stock was better than the laminate stock and they said "such a stock cannot be taken into consideration for use during war". Nevertheless, in July 1937 Mauser Oberndorf ordered laminate beech stocks and in October 1937 the first rifles fitted with laminate stocks was shipped.
Here are some previous assumptions about letter "P" markings:
- the letter "P" is a code or abbreviation of the laminate blank provider
- it's a subcontractor marking or lot identifier
- it's a supplier that developed the first laminate stock blanks
- it's a marking for a armorer stock
- the stock was rejected and replaced during manufacture and therefore the marking
Observations about these letter markings:
- walnut stocks doesn't have the marking
- the marking starts with the early laminate stocks
- letter "K" isn't so common like the letter "P" marking
- the marking was phased out around 1941 / 1942
- laminate stocks have the marking and at the same time a different laminate supplier code in the barrel channel or behind the buttplate
The problem in the first place is not the beech wood, the development of laminated wood has been vigorously tackled since around 1930 and a good solution was achieved by Mr. Kraemer in the department of the Deutschen Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (German Research Institute for Aviation). The main problem was the gluing of the individual layers of the laminate wood. The beech wood has a high absorbency and is particularly suitable for soak-glueing with liquid synthetic resin glue. Different types of wood glue has been used and they had to observe how they behave in the coming months or years in daily use. Many layers of wood provide high stability, but the size and number of glue line negatively affected the moisture resistance, since the binding force of the originally used casein-glue drops a lot upon moisture absorption. But with the synthetic-resin-glue, in particular of the phenol type (Phenol-Formaldehydharzleim), water-resistant binders have been developed.
In the early days these laminate stocks would certainly closely examined, as there were no long-term results on the durability of the glue of these laminate beech stocks. An external marking of the stocks with the different glue types would make sense, so that they could identify them quickly and easily if problems occur.
I have named two known glue types, "casein-glue" and "synthetic-resin-glue of phenol type". The German names are:
- Kaseinleim
- Phenol-Formaldehydharzleim
The Phenol-Formaldehydharzleim had advantages over the Kaseinleim and that could explain the much more common letter "P" marking on the stocks.