Danzig 1915

[mauser1908]

Picked this 1915 Danzig, very pleased with how it cleaned up. It was a bit of a rust bucket when I got it. Has a very nice early cross hatched sling, the only real flaw is it's missing the button cover. The barrel code is very interesting, BE 37 which I've never seen. Wartime Danzig rifles are always so striking from their crudeness and commonly exposed barrel codes and acceptance. Note the tool chatter on the interior of the stock and the sloppy bluing job that bled over onto the underside of the receiver. This rifle went through two depot level reworks, one at Spandau and another at depot 14. There appears to be a possible shrapnel strike on the buttstock.

Receiver SN: 8827h
Barrel SN: 8827h
Front sight SN: Missing
Rear sight SN: 27
Sight Slider SN: 27
Ejector box SN: 27
Trigger Sear SN: 27
Front barrel band SN: 27
Rear barrel band SN: 27
Trigger guard SN: 27
Trigger guard screws SN: 27, 27
Floor Plate SN: 27
Follower SN: 27
Stock SN: 8827
Handguard SN: 8827
Buttplate SN: 8827
Bolt SN: 2882i

 

[mauser1908]

 

[Loewe]

An interesting rifle for sure, most curious over the suffix, not sure I have seen a match for that character, will have to do more comparisons... would have delayed posting because limited time at the moment, but on my main pc, so I have access to the database. "BE" I have not recorded before, not for Danzig, nor at all, though I have two "Be" recorded, one off a Simson/1915 and another off a WOK/15, possibly this is the same supplier, but as the finisher applies the code or abbreviation this might be the reason for the different usage. Not sure who the steel supplier is still, possibly "Be" is for Belgium, the Germans in WWII used recovered blanks and utilized Belgian and Dutch barrels initially and did some odd things. It is known FN refused to cooperate, though Pieper did, - FN was stripped and sent to Spandau and WOK, but Germany possessed so many steel concerns we will probably never know unless something shows up in a German archive.

Anyway, its all guessing, but it is only known in 1915 and in the other cases lower case "e".

 

[Loewe]

Perhaps (BSI) Bergische Stahl-Industrie-Gesellschaft Remscheid? None of the three use "BSI" or "BSJ" or "BS" (WMO) blanks, and it is possible Simson, WOK and Danzig use "Be" or "BE" early in 1915 while starting up (neither Simson or WOK did rifles in 1914 and Danzig was a piddler until 1915, during 1914 they were the piddling numbers of both 98a and G98 and doing both seem like a keep workers employed measure which was critical for the boonies of East Prussia); either way none of the three that used "Be" used BSI so far as I have trended, - they supplied Erfurt, Amberg and WMO primarily.

Just a guess, but probably better than going with Belgium!

 

[mauser1908]

Thanks for the great info Paul! Here are a couple better photos of the right receiver and barrel acceptance.

 

[Loewe]

Thanks for taking the time for the RR, - the BC is a bit of a mystery, but this makes it all the more important to get 1915 barrel codes, three rifles from three different makers is little to base theories on!

What is clear though is that these are original factory made barrels, not ordnance spares, which do tend to be prone to unique markings and makers, for instance Fritz Werner is know for ord-spares but very rare, - a fascinating company that is famous for many reasons but made barrels in both world wars.