RESEARCH PROJECT - Amberg 1916-1918
- Thread starter Loewe
- Start date
mauser1908
Senior Member
Amberg 1917, 2866 p- 8G7-0, Barrel Code: BC. 742, Bolt Code K5 7G7 0BS
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Absolut
Senior Member
Since I had been asked to participate, but have never found time yet, I finally did examine my three Amberg rifles fitting to this period:
1. Amberg 1917, serial 5600 q (I think q, but might also be a g?) receiver side marked "3 H7 0" (yes, looks like there is a space between 3 and H7), Letter G on receiver bottom
2. Amberg 1917, serial 1893k, receiver side marked "3E7 0", Letter G on receiver bottom
3. Amberg 1918, serial 437f, receiver side marked "8E8 0". Can't remove H band from rifle since sitting so tight (this rifle surely never had been apart since spiders and plants fell out when I removed the magazine guard), so can't tell on the receiver bottom code
All rifles are all matching numbers, never reworked, reblued, reproofed or anything else - and original WWI configuration.
Edit: just a wild guess (if neither of you have made this one themselves previously) - the German proof post WWII interestingly always coded the year with letters, but leaving out the letter I (maybe because it can be confused quite easily with J if not stamped properly?). Using this system for the months would work too, especially since the higher the serial blocks they only reach up to letter M highest in your listing, which would equal December:
A - 1 (January)
B - 2 (February)
C - 3 (March)
D - 4 (April)
E - 5 (May)
F - 6 (June)
G - 7 (July)
H - 8 (August)
J - 9 (September)
K - 10 (October)
L - 11 (November)
M - 12 (December)
This would for my rifles mean H7 be August 1917, E7 be May 1917 and E8 being May 1918. And it would fit that rifles made in early no letter blocks would use parts made in December from previous year (M6 and M7 coded).
1. Amberg 1917, serial 5600 q (I think q, but might also be a g?) receiver side marked "3 H7 0" (yes, looks like there is a space between 3 and H7), Letter G on receiver bottom
2. Amberg 1917, serial 1893k, receiver side marked "3E7 0", Letter G on receiver bottom
3. Amberg 1918, serial 437f, receiver side marked "8E8 0". Can't remove H band from rifle since sitting so tight (this rifle surely never had been apart since spiders and plants fell out when I removed the magazine guard), so can't tell on the receiver bottom code
All rifles are all matching numbers, never reworked, reblued, reproofed or anything else - and original WWI configuration.
Edit: just a wild guess (if neither of you have made this one themselves previously) - the German proof post WWII interestingly always coded the year with letters, but leaving out the letter I (maybe because it can be confused quite easily with J if not stamped properly?). Using this system for the months would work too, especially since the higher the serial blocks they only reach up to letter M highest in your listing, which would equal December:
A - 1 (January)
B - 2 (February)
C - 3 (March)
D - 4 (April)
E - 5 (May)
F - 6 (June)
G - 7 (July)
H - 8 (August)
J - 9 (September)
K - 10 (October)
L - 11 (November)
M - 12 (December)
This would for my rifles mean H7 be August 1917, E7 be May 1917 and E8 being May 1918. And it would fit that rifles made in early no letter blocks would use parts made in December from previous year (M6 and M7 coded).
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That is exactly what I think!
I only made one mistake in my previous assumptions. I thought, the first digit is part of the date. But Stephan convinced me that it is more likely a batch#.
Some time ago I got the production numbers for Amberg rifles from November 1916 - November 1918. Dr. Dieter Storz from the Bavarian Army Museum, was kind enough to provide the data. This will help a lot for further research.
Please do not expect any results within the next few weeks.
Thanks
Wolfgang
I only made one mistake in my previous assumptions. I thought, the first digit is part of the date. But Stephan convinced me that it is more likely a batch#.
Some time ago I got the production numbers for Amberg rifles from November 1916 - November 1918. Dr. Dieter Storz from the Bavarian Army Museum, was kind enough to provide the data. This will help a lot for further research.
Please do not expect any results within the next few weeks.
Thanks
Wolfgang
Thanks Georg for the report, haven't had too many recently. I changed the suffix to an e-block because Amberg only went to the h-block in 1918 (every block recorded, none beyond and of the three known in the h-block all are low serials, doubtful they made it to the i-block)
Gerst, Sam told you exactly what the batch numbers on the bolt meant on your original thread.
I have never seen anyone here take up as much bandwidth with questions that could be answered with a review of the reference section, nor been less willing to listen on answers from knowledgeable folks. Appreciate the interest, but Jesus man, pump your brakes.
Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk
Gerst
Senior Member
Hey, chill out. I looked at the reference section. It shows lots of bolts with codes. The section doesn’t tell me what the numbers mean. If you can direct me to the place to look that up, I’d appreciate it.
I posted the bolt here for the lion man.
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PrayingMantis
Senior Member
Post #44. Unfortunately, as we have been trying to explain today, without a serial number not much else can be determined.
PrayingMantis
Senior Member
Very nice! Can you post the bolt, too? It should have a number and letter code matching the bottom on the receiver.
PrayingMantis
Senior Member
Cololab
Senior Member
So, according to the alpha code in a previous post both our rifles (or at least the receivers) were produced in November 1916. Did I miss the significance of the numbers preceeding the letter; a I on my rifle and a 2 on your rifle?
PrayingMantis
Senior Member
From what I understand the first number is simply the lot in which it was made, which rolled over each month. (But I could be wrong on when it rolled over.)
Thanks W! Almost forgot this project, but I added it to the trends, - have you more details on the acceptance and the BC?
