Did some research on Wa359 and Wa37 (followup to post "Mystery 1939 147 k98 Mauser"
In addition to collecting 98k's over the years, I also collected MP40's... I was looking at the photos on post "Mystery 1939 147 k98 Mauser" and I thought the stampings Wa359 and Wa37 odd as I always thought Wa37 was attributed to Haenel manufacture. I did some cursory research and found the following about the attribution of the Wa inspectors:
Keep in mind the Wa359 and Wa37 and Wa37 are on the receiver...
From: This article was originally published in the KCN in their September 1990 newsletter as: THE ERFURT K98k Originally written by Bob Jensen and was edited by Peter Kuck 06/11/2002
http://ycgg.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/erma.pdf
"The Erfurt made K98k is among the most “pure” of all other K98k’s. Very few subcontracted Parts can be found on any Erfurt made rifle. A few Waffenamt “63” rear sight parts are found on early rifles and a very few Waffenamt “37” floorplates on late examples can be found. Erfurt made ALL their own parts for their rifles. It is assumed that this is because the factories at Erfurt were located, for the most part, in the same buildings, and used many of the same workers who had made thousands of Gew. 98's, P.08's, bayonets, and artillery pieces for the Imperial German government before and during World War I, and had been entirely equipped, experienced, and prepared to manufacture complete rifles. At the end of the First World War the Imperial government’s factories had been bought by ERMA, and had continued to manufacture civilian goods and commercial weapons. This is most likely why Erfurt was chosen as one of the earliest makers of the K98k by the Nazi government. The single known variation is the 1941 “ax” coded rifles, which were built on a receiver made by Sauer. It can be identified by the presence of a single Waffenamt “37” proof on the right side of the receiver ring followed by two Waffenamt “280” proofs. The first eagle on the far left of the right side of the receiver ring is that which was applied on the initial inspection when the receiver had completed its construction and was checked to be certain it passed all quality control requirements. The two eagle “280” proofs were applied at Erfurt later in the assembly process. These rifles also have the block letter “Mod. 98” marking on the siderail in place of the Erfurt scripted style. These rifles have been found only in the “a” and “b” serial number range."
From the MP40 website: http://www.mp40.nl/index.php?page=mp-40
Cooperation between factories
Even before the start of the war it was clear that both Erma and Haenel could not meet the high demand the Wehrmacht required. In fact they even could not meet the production targets they planned themselves. Apart from production problems and delivery problems with subcontractors Erma and Haenel were basically too small to meet the demand. Already in 1939 it was clear to the Heeres Waffen Amt that something needed to happen quickly, both on the method of production as well as the production capacity.
I think that in this early stage both Erma and Haenel worked closely together. There are various examples that this was the case. For example very early MP38 magazines have both the 280(Erma) Wafffenamt stamp and the 37 (Haenel) waffenamt stamp. Also it's frequently seen that on number matching MP38's (Erma) small parts like the strap loop had a different waffenamt code (37). Apart from this kind of proof it's obvious that engineers and designers from the Erma factory would have trained and helped out the Haenel personnel with the producton start up of the MP38. As I described on the introduction page, Hugo Schmeisser role should not be underestimated in this cooperation. Already the Heeres Waffen Amt had more or less forced Erma to use Schmeisser’s patented designs in the MP38. Also the first factory after Erma that started producing the MP38 was Haenel. Designers of both companies together with the “mass production” specialists from Merz Werke and Krupp developed the “mass production” version of the MP38. Apart from improved production methods something also needed to be done about the production capacity. Steyr was asked to assist in the MP40 production. Steyr never produced the MP38 although some books claim they did! Steyr did however produce the MP40 and was also reponsible for the highest production numbers during the time the MP40 was produced.
Walther Wa37 P-38 Magazine Manufacture: http://www.p-38.info/pdf/magazine_guide.pdf
(See text on Link)
(Wa37 Inspector gets around) https://www.scribd.com/doc/113602641/WaffenAmt
WaA Code Objects Factory Place Name Period
Wa37 147 K98k Sauer und Sohn Suhl (Th) 1939 - 40
Wa37 Sauer 38-H pistol Sauer und Sohn Suhl (Th) 1940 -45
Wa37 98 bay. Gebr. Heller Marienthal bei Schweina (PL?) 1939 - 40
Wa37 ce K98k Sauer und Sohn Suhl (Th) 1941 - 44
Wa 122 MP38 Haenel Suhl (Th) 1940
Wa37 fxo P08 mag. Haenel Suhl (Th) 1941 - 42
Wa37 fxo MP44 parts Haenel Suhl (Th) 1943 - 44
Wa37 fxo MP44 mag. Haenel Suhl (Th) 1942 - 44
Wa37 fxo MP40 mag. Parts Haenel Suhl (Th) 1941 - 42
Wa37 MP41 mag. and loader Haenel Suhl
Inspector Wa359 gets around https://www.scribd.com/doc/113602641/WaffenAmt
WaA Code Objects Factory Place Name Period
Wa359 S/147 147 K98k rec. +r. sight for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1936 - 38
Wa359 147 K98k rec. + stock for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1939
Wa359 147 K98k rec. for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1940
Wa359 ce K98k rec. + r. sight for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1941 - 42
Wa359 ce K98k rec. for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1943
Wa359 ax K98k rec. for ERMA Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1941
Wa359 480 P38, PPK C. Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1939, 40
Wa359 ac G41, G-K43 C. Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1941 - 45
In addition to collecting 98k's over the years, I also collected MP40's... I was looking at the photos on post "Mystery 1939 147 k98 Mauser" and I thought the stampings Wa359 and Wa37 odd as I always thought Wa37 was attributed to Haenel manufacture. I did some cursory research and found the following about the attribution of the Wa inspectors:
Keep in mind the Wa359 and Wa37 and Wa37 are on the receiver...
From: This article was originally published in the KCN in their September 1990 newsletter as: THE ERFURT K98k Originally written by Bob Jensen and was edited by Peter Kuck 06/11/2002
http://ycgg.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/erma.pdf
"The Erfurt made K98k is among the most “pure” of all other K98k’s. Very few subcontracted Parts can be found on any Erfurt made rifle. A few Waffenamt “63” rear sight parts are found on early rifles and a very few Waffenamt “37” floorplates on late examples can be found. Erfurt made ALL their own parts for their rifles. It is assumed that this is because the factories at Erfurt were located, for the most part, in the same buildings, and used many of the same workers who had made thousands of Gew. 98's, P.08's, bayonets, and artillery pieces for the Imperial German government before and during World War I, and had been entirely equipped, experienced, and prepared to manufacture complete rifles. At the end of the First World War the Imperial government’s factories had been bought by ERMA, and had continued to manufacture civilian goods and commercial weapons. This is most likely why Erfurt was chosen as one of the earliest makers of the K98k by the Nazi government. The single known variation is the 1941 “ax” coded rifles, which were built on a receiver made by Sauer. It can be identified by the presence of a single Waffenamt “37” proof on the right side of the receiver ring followed by two Waffenamt “280” proofs. The first eagle on the far left of the right side of the receiver ring is that which was applied on the initial inspection when the receiver had completed its construction and was checked to be certain it passed all quality control requirements. The two eagle “280” proofs were applied at Erfurt later in the assembly process. These rifles also have the block letter “Mod. 98” marking on the siderail in place of the Erfurt scripted style. These rifles have been found only in the “a” and “b” serial number range."
From the MP40 website: http://www.mp40.nl/index.php?page=mp-40
Cooperation between factories
Even before the start of the war it was clear that both Erma and Haenel could not meet the high demand the Wehrmacht required. In fact they even could not meet the production targets they planned themselves. Apart from production problems and delivery problems with subcontractors Erma and Haenel were basically too small to meet the demand. Already in 1939 it was clear to the Heeres Waffen Amt that something needed to happen quickly, both on the method of production as well as the production capacity.
I think that in this early stage both Erma and Haenel worked closely together. There are various examples that this was the case. For example very early MP38 magazines have both the 280(Erma) Wafffenamt stamp and the 37 (Haenel) waffenamt stamp. Also it's frequently seen that on number matching MP38's (Erma) small parts like the strap loop had a different waffenamt code (37). Apart from this kind of proof it's obvious that engineers and designers from the Erma factory would have trained and helped out the Haenel personnel with the producton start up of the MP38. As I described on the introduction page, Hugo Schmeisser role should not be underestimated in this cooperation. Already the Heeres Waffen Amt had more or less forced Erma to use Schmeisser’s patented designs in the MP38. Also the first factory after Erma that started producing the MP38 was Haenel. Designers of both companies together with the “mass production” specialists from Merz Werke and Krupp developed the “mass production” version of the MP38. Apart from improved production methods something also needed to be done about the production capacity. Steyr was asked to assist in the MP40 production. Steyr never produced the MP38 although some books claim they did! Steyr did however produce the MP40 and was also reponsible for the highest production numbers during the time the MP40 was produced.
Walther Wa37 P-38 Magazine Manufacture: http://www.p-38.info/pdf/magazine_guide.pdf
(See text on Link)
(Wa37 Inspector gets around) https://www.scribd.com/doc/113602641/WaffenAmt
WaA Code Objects Factory Place Name Period
Wa37 147 K98k Sauer und Sohn Suhl (Th) 1939 - 40
Wa37 Sauer 38-H pistol Sauer und Sohn Suhl (Th) 1940 -45
Wa37 98 bay. Gebr. Heller Marienthal bei Schweina (PL?) 1939 - 40
Wa37 ce K98k Sauer und Sohn Suhl (Th) 1941 - 44
Wa 122 MP38 Haenel Suhl (Th) 1940
Wa37 fxo P08 mag. Haenel Suhl (Th) 1941 - 42
Wa37 fxo MP44 parts Haenel Suhl (Th) 1943 - 44
Wa37 fxo MP44 mag. Haenel Suhl (Th) 1942 - 44
Wa37 fxo MP40 mag. Parts Haenel Suhl (Th) 1941 - 42
Wa37 MP41 mag. and loader Haenel Suhl
Inspector Wa359 gets around https://www.scribd.com/doc/113602641/WaffenAmt
WaA Code Objects Factory Place Name Period
Wa359 S/147 147 K98k rec. +r. sight for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1936 - 38
Wa359 147 K98k rec. + stock for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1939
Wa359 147 K98k rec. for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1940
Wa359 ce K98k rec. + r. sight for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1941 - 42
Wa359 ce K98k rec. for Sauer Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1943
Wa359 ax K98k rec. for ERMA Carl Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1941
Wa359 480 P38, PPK C. Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1939, 40
Wa359 ac G41, G-K43 C. Walther Zella-Mehlis (Th) 1941 - 45
