'U' marking on butt stock?

This was originally appended to Mike's thread on his Luftpark marked Carcano, but I'll start a dedicated thread for future searching and any applicable contributions: I seem to recall reading somewhere that a 'U' stamp in the stock indicated a Luftwaffe depot connection of some kind. Is this known, and is there more information on this?

Thanks,
Pat

Pat, I had heard the "U" stamp on the buttstock was believed to have been a rifle designated for training. There is a photo of Craig's (Hambone) M89/36 that has a "U" stamp on the buttstock in the photo reference. He mentions the "U" stamp it that thread, and I think I had seen it mentioned somewhere else on this forum as well, but don't recall the details.

https://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?17237-M-89-36-Belgian

Thank you Stan, the 'U' I'm referring to is exactly like the one on Hambone's 89/36

FWIW, a member on another forum suggested that it was used to indicate 'inspected' or 'checked' (Überprüft), which would seem appropriate and might have been a less formalized indicator than a depot marking, I guess. I've only seen this twice, both on captured weapons.

Thanks again!

Pat

Pat, the "U" marking does not mean that it indicate to a Luftwaffe depot nor does it directly refer to a rifle designated for training. Nevertheless, there is often a connection to the Luftwaffe.

The meaning of the "U" marking is "Unbrauchbar", which means "unserviceable / not fit for service". A weapon part or rifle marked with "U" may be unserviceable for fileld service, but this does not necessarily mean that the parts or rifles get discarded, sometimes they was used for training.

Here are two examples with "U" marking:
M.89/36 Belgian
Erma M95 EL24 .22 Conversion

When it came to the distribution of the captured weapons, the Luftwaffe was at a disadvantage compared to the Heer. In particular in 1940 there were bitter complaints from the Luftwaffe.

On October 12, 1939 the Luftwaffe received 100,000 Mannlicher M.95 rifles and Stutzen from captured stocks. Of the 100,000 Mannlicher rifles and Stutzen, 20% were already Unbrauchbar / unserviceable when they were taken over. In November 1940 it was announced that the rest of the Mannlicher Stutzen will be taken out of service.

In addition by November 11, 1940 the Luftwaffe had received 290,000 Dutch, Belgian and French rifles. These 290,000 captured rifles from the western states consist of 20 different models, some was completely outdated. Since the Luftwaffe was not informed by the O.K.H. about the number and type of captured weapons, they complained no requests could be made. From this point on, the Luftwaffe requested certain Belgian rifles and more K98ks.

Regards,
Stephan

Stephan,
Thank you for the clarification and the detailed examples! FWIW, here is another example of a 'U' marked carbine, also marked for Luftpark Paderborn: