"FSB" Mark on 71/84

[chrisftk]

I picked up an Amberg 71/84 locally. It is all matching 1887 in pretty good shape. One thing puzzles me though. Next to the date of manufacture and issue, there are three letters: FSB. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[chrisftk]

Here are the rest of the pics of the rifle.


It's Bavarian Leib Infantry marked and matching. The Bayonet is marked to the same unit.

 

[Rutche]

The FSB is interesting, could be something related to Bayern, but no idea what so ever

 

[Absolut]

What nowadays is most known for carrying the FSB name I assume is incorrect

 

[PrayingMantis]

Damn fine Amberg! With this and Spandau 1886 1, it's great to be able to add two nice 71/84s to the reference at the same time.

 

[7up]

Here are the rest of the pics of the rifle.


It's Bavarian Leib Infantry marked and matching. The Bayonet is marked to the same unit.
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Nice , I have come across a similar rifle. What was the role of the Infanterie Leib ?

 

[Fal Grunt]

Nice , I have come across a similar rifle. What was the role of the Infanterie Leib ?

It’s worth a google. They were “Life” guards, early on essentially body guards. While your going down the rabbit hole the House of Wittelsbach is an interesting one.

 

[7up]

It’s worth a google. They were “Life” guards, early on essentially body guards. While your going down the rabbit hole the House of Wittelsbach is an interesting one.

Cool - Thanks, will do just that

 

[Cyrano4747]

Something that might be worth chasing down is what the state forestry service was called in Bavaria during the Imperial era. I could easily see rifles getting sent there once they were no longer considered fit for military use, but still adequate to deal with game or light duty police work (poachers, etc).

Some mild digging shows that during the years right before Unification Bavaria was organizing its forestry officers along Kries lines with an over-arching Bayerischer Forstverwaltung. I'm not 100% on any of the office names and it's a niche enough subject that online sources are paltry to say the least.

Kind of a shot in the dark, but it's probably the first avenue I'd really start digging down.

 

[Fal Grunt]

I didn't pursue the documents any further, but there were references to the 71/84 still being in service in the 20's and 30's in Germany. I think the one search hit referred to ice breakers or something of the sort in the kriegsmarine? Lots of possibilities with everything from Forestry to small governmental agencies. And good lord, every time I think the US has 10 times too many governmental agencies, a couple hours digging through the German archives will make your head spin.