Common Codes

[Lou50]

My first post here, I wanted to say how glad I am to be a part of the 'family'. I have a question about codes and what is considered 'common' I have been reading a lot of posts and there are a lot of comments how 'common' a code is. Is there a listing or anything that would let me know which codes are considered common and which are considered rare.

Thanks

 

[bruce98k]

Common codes

For all of its weaknesses, Backbone does have some very useful information, and the table on page 267 (revised edition) is very helpful, even after all the new serial number and production data accumulated since its publication.

As far as common codes, the group of most found codes would be byf44, dot44, dou44, followed by dou43 and byf43. It would follow that Mauserwerke, BrunnI and II produced the most
K98ks in the 43-44 time period, except for Brunn I (dot) in 1943 when production of the K98k started there late. Late bcd4 coded rifles are also fairly common.

Rare codes would be S/147K, S/42K, S/243G, S/27G, 660-1939, 337-1939 with the BSW (37-39) following thereafter.

In my experience the single rarest or hard to find codes are the S/243G, 660-1939, and 337-1939.

Surprisingly the S/27-1936 is also a scarce code.

 

[Pisgah]

King of the common codes is byf 44. Other common codes include byf 43, dot 1944, dou.44, and bcd 4. There is a list of codes by production estimate in the book Backbone of the Wehrmacht. It is interesting but if you use it be aware that some of the assumptions used to come up with the production estimates were wrong and this means that some of the production estimates are wrong there. This mostly affected the estimates from the years 1943-45.

Regarding rare codes, there are two codes which weren't recognized in that book as they were discovered after the book was written: swjXE (5 known) and bSw 1936 (1 known). Other rare/uncommon codes include S/27G, S/243G, 337 1939, S/42K, S/147K, S/237 1936, S/27 1936, and 660 1939. Note that other than swjXE which was manufactured in 1945, all the other uncommon codes were manufactured the first year the war started or earlier and this makes them even more difficult to find because of attrition. There are other uncommon variants and sub-variants like SS marked rifles, dual codes, district assembled rifles, commercial assembled rifles, and many more, but they are a bit more difficult to characterize in terms of accurate production estimates.

 

[bruce98k]

Common codes

Left out the very common and plethoric 'swjXE. Yea right... and the bsw-1936.

Actually since Backbone was published, three new codes surfaced - the first was the swjXE, followed by the BSW-1936 and bcd/ar 41.
There are a handful of swjXEs in the US and likely several more will surface over the next years, but I doubt if a BSW-1936 will ever be found stateside.

 

[Bigdibbs88]

does anyone have pics of the bsw 1936? is it in a private collection or does it exist only in legend? i have never seen it

 

[zfox44]

Left out the very common and plethoric 'swjXE. Yea right... and the bsw-1936.

Actually since Backbone was published, three new codes surfaced - the first was the swjXE, followed by the BSW-1936 and bcd/ar 41.
There are a handful of swjXEs in the US and likely several more will surface over the next years, but I doubt if a BSW-1936 will ever be found stateside.

Bruce,
Were you referring to the Ax/ar 41? Haven't heard of a Bcd/ar 41 before. Would be interested to see an example that does exist.

 

[Pisgah]

I don't get the bSw 1936. If I read the GunBoard post by the Russian guy with the rifle, he says it has three digits and no letter suffix. To me this means that potentially hundreds of this code were manufactured. It doesn't help that there is likely a language barrier and that the owner seemed to want to be a bit cryptic about the rifle although I do not understand why. If anyone is interested in reading it, the posts on that rifle are here starting in post #52:

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthr...337-1939-40-serials/page2&highlight=rare+1936

If I did understand the owner correctly regarding the serial number, then I wouldn't be surprised if one or more don't eventually turn up in RC trim or even as a non-import marked example. As the numbers would appear to be very small, it may take a while for another to turn up. I believe we will see more swjXE's also.

 

[Pisgah]

Here are the quotes I'm referring to extracted from the GunBoards thread along with the two photos of the bSw 1936.

Excuse, but all I will not show. Very rare thing, start up there will be a few secrets. The suffix is not present. Number three-value.

All is very simple. I wish to write the book about 98к and consequently all photos will be there, and till this time I do not wish to show all information. Excuse, I well understand that all wish to see the full information... Once again excuse!
It is an original carbine on 100 %. I have found it on an armoury in Russia.
It is very difficult to communicate through the electronic translator.

 

[bruce98k]

Rarity

Given the survivability of the 45 dated rifles versus the 36 dated examples (really any code), the likelyhood of another bsw36 showing up is pretty slim.
Thats why I suspect that several more swjs will be uncovered in this decade.

 

[mrfarb]

Bsw 1936

Regarding the BSW 1936, the Russian collector was holding back on the serial number and other info as he is involved in a K98k book project in Russian. However, he sent me photos of the serial for our book- wish I could divulge the photos here but I was asked to just use them for the book. The serial number is under 200 though, and above 150. I hope there are at least a few left in existence...

 

[Lou50]

That explains a lot, thanks for the info. I'm really glad I found this site.

 

[Loewe]

I agree, considering survival rates across the board of early manufacturers, most of which have very high rc rates, the likelihood of finding another 1936/BSW is remote, possibly as an rc, but still very slim if under 200 were made. Hopefully they made many more.

Bright side is that it is possible more were made, as the nationalization took place Nov-Dec 1935, they had a year to undertake rifle production again, and you would think more were made. Especially as they made more than 5500 MG34's in 1936 also.

Given the survivability of the 45 dated rifles versus the 36 dated examples (really any code), the likelyhood of another bsw36 showing up is pretty slim.