Yes, there were assembly numbers on some of the small internal parts. All of my matching rifles are the same way. I can only guess as to the purpose but I believe it was some sort of internal system of numbering at the factory.
This seems to be a common practice for that time frame. I’ve seen Japanese rifles with the same things going on. But Japanese rifles are a lot more fickle as little is none about them. The Japanese didn’t keep the best records of their stuff. Thankfully the Germans did.
Very true, Bavarian Werders are another example where internal assembly isn't actually matching. The actions on those were made separately by a different company and serialized by them. When an action was mated to a rifle, the outside of it was stamped with the rifle serial number, but if you remove the side plate on the action you will see that all the internal components match the action number not the rifle number.
Quite possible. I could also see where they would make the action as a separate assembly at the start and then mate it to the receiver. Similar to how the belgiums did the Comblain.
