AYE K43 Mag Variations - "+" Marked and Double Stamped

[gergnotwen]

In the spirit of keeping some activity alive on this forum, I thought I would post some variant photos of three K43 AYE Magazines after finding a couple of interesting things last weekend when wiping down a couple of rifles with Ballistol (something that is well advised in Florida).

Mag #1 - Was acquired with a K43 - DUV44 "i" block and I knew it was a bit strange as it had a double stamped aye and Waffenampt. Something else looked a bit strange at the Waffenampt stamp which was a bit grubby so I hit it again with a toothbrush and Ballistol and got out the magnifying glass and it turned out to be one of the "+" stamped mags. Looking closely at the double stamp, it appears that the manufacturers code and the Waffenampt may have been on the same stamping block as they both seem to be in the same plane. The K43 is not double stamped so that may indicate that this was in the tooling for the actual magazine sheet metal stamping.

Mag #2 - I've had this one for a few years, original gloss paint that is very heavy and it came with a G43 - AC44 "n" block with the cosmetic receiver. After "discovering" the "+" on mag #1, I pulled out all of my mags and went over them to check to see if I had missed anything and it looks like I did. With a magnifier this "aye" K43 also is marked with the mysterious "+" as well, faint but there.

Mag #3 - Is a late production aye K43 with a phosphate finish on my AC45 "b" block that is completely phosphate finished except for the barrel and front sight base. Look at the "K43" and note the worn tooling where the top of the "3" is missing so I would suspect that this one was produced later than the two painted mags #1 & 2. The Waffenampt is crisp and deeply struck but the "aye" is very light.

So my question to fellow collectors is this, are there any other makers other than "aye" that have the "+" marking? I have looked for a while and have not seen any other K43 mags marked with the "+", anybody have one? Even the mag in Darrin's book shows only the "aye" K43 mag with the "+" stamp. Are there any marked with the "+" that are stamped G43? None of my early aye G43 mags have this marking.

Just goes to show you that when you think you know exactly what you have in your collection, sometimes taking a second closer look can surprise you.

 

[bill grist]

Very nice Mags.... Thanks for showing....BILL

 

[jack944]

Fun Post

Great post...now I have to dig through my mags. I like a post that make you work a bit.

Let us show these 98 guys we are alive...

 

[Brian Kowalski]

Excellent question. I have seen a lot of G and K 43 mags. If they had a "+" on them, they were always on a "aye" marked mag. and on a K43 marked one...will have to double check though. I would guess 15% would have the "+"?

Thank you for the great pics.

Maybe it is just that there are so many more "aye" mags as compared to, say, awj, rqs, acw??

Anybody else have another maker with a "+" on it?

 

[gebirgsjager]

mags

My aye g43 has no plus. It is my only accessible mag at this time. Will get back later.

 

[jack944]

Same datat

Great post...now I have to dig through my mags. I like a post that make you work a bit.

Let us show these 98 guys we are alive...

Only my aye's have +. G43 marked aye have no + on the ones I have. Hard to believe there is no overlap.

 

[Brian Kowalski]

Now, what does that "+" really mean?

I suspect it is not a spare mag, as in other pistol mags, but could be wrong.

 

[gergnotwen]

I tend to agree that it is probably not a spare mag marking based on the current trend what others are now reporting. So far no overlap between aye G43 and K43 mags and no other manufacturers with the "+" have shown up.... yet. Were the "+" markings stamped before or after the Waffenampt was applied? Could this be a reject marking that when fixed or repaired, were stamped with the inspection stamp and issued? I will see if I can get some really tight macro shots of mine to see if anyone can determine if the "+" was added before or after the inspection mark. I do know that some parts for weapons when rejected were stamped as such but in late war were used to keep production output going. Just a thought at this point. Good work gentlemen!

Greg

Now, what does that "+" really mean?

I suspect it is not a spare mag, as in other pistol mags, but could be wrong.

 

[WaA623]

Here are a couple of pictures of My AYE with a + it came on the first g43 I bought over twenty years ago from the Vet himself, it is on an AC44 G43 in the "p" block.:

 

[Brian Kowalski]

Appears to me, that the "+" was there, mag painted, then final proofs added.

 

[gergnotwen]

Really interesting, thanks guys!

It's certainly looking like the "+" was there before the final proof stamps. So the next question that comes to mind is was the "+" stamped at the same time as the "K43" marking as part of the stamping tooling? I doubt it looking at the mag #1 from my first post as it appears to be rotated so it almost looks like an "x". The location of the "+" on all the mags I have seen has been amazingly consistent and is always covered by the waffenampt number "43".

I'm leaning toward thinking that the "+" marking was a reject part that was fixed/repaired and later approved for issue by the inspector. Any other theories? I'm still baffled that it does not show up on any other mag codes or on the aye G43 mags.

Appears to me, that the "+" was there, mag painted, then final proofs added.

 

[Sarge]

My good mags are put away, but I just looked at the 7 mags in my "extra" pile.
I have one aye K 43 with the + stamped over the top half of the 3.
I noticed that on the 4 gcb mags the K43 is closed as opposed to the 3 aye K 43 mags being open.
Sarge

 

[Brian Kowalski]

Whatever it is for, they guy stamping the WaA could care less about it. Many "+" stamps are hidden under the WaA and barely visible.

 

[THunter]

Here's my aye magazine with '+' marking:


That '+' was definately there before the WaA.

 

[RyanE]

Maybe these mag bodies were subbed out by aye? The "+" might then be a subcontractor's in house inspection acceptance before being shipped out to the primary for final assembly and WaA acceptance.

 

[Brian Kowalski]

Good point. It seems that the mags have the "+" on there and the K43, then they are pinted ....the "aye" and waA are added later it seems.

Maybe these mag bodies were subbed out by aye? The "+" might then be a subcontractor's in house inspection acceptance before being shipped out to the primary for final assembly and WaA acceptance.