Production serial numbers ?
 

I have read in the past, but have not been able to confirm the if the following applied in both WWI and WWII production for P.08's

It was stated that production numbers were intended to reach 14,000 for each suffix letter utilized. Whether the upper limit of 14,000 was ever achieved before moving on to the next suffix was ever adheared to or not I cannot say.

Is anyone able to expand my knowledge on this subject or point me to some reading material on the matter.

Best Regards;

Robert,
#'s started at #1 w/no suffix, through 9999. Then 1a through 9999a and so on... 10,000 each block. There are ultra rare examples of #10,000 with a suffix, but not higher than that.

To MFC
 

MFC;

Thanks for your reply to my post. It's appreciated.


When you speak of 1a...through 9999a (Blocks of 10,000), would this apply to both Imperial and Reich production?

Can I assume that the master plan was for 10,000 to the block, but that in some instances of production the numbers fell short of the actual 10,000?

Regards;

Robert a few exceptions to the 1-9999 rule, i.e. commericial guns, then during the weimar period, there were military style and commericial; plus contract guns did not always follow the "norm".

but in essence, the 1-9999 is what you see on military lugers.


Ed

One further related question
 

Can the suffix be an indication as to the month of production?

As an example, my byf 42 is serial 6168 suffix "f".
Would almost all suffix "f" fall into a given month of production?

Is there a rule of thumb formula here?

Best Regards;

No, folks guess, but there is no rule that they made x number each month. I am sure they had quota's and you can guesstamate, but that is about it.


And to answer a previous question; pre-WW1 was different, WW1 was this way,
Weimar era was and was not, WW2 mostly done this way, commericials and some contracts not done that way, and some were.

Overall, military was done this way.


Ed