MYOB BYF and other acronymns
 

Greetings all,

I had a question, and was wondering if people could explain more. The "byf" in the Mauser p-08, was just code, but what is the story behind it. It can't be they just needed a code? Who were the people involved in the decision to use "byf", how did it help the Reich. How was the government involved? Thought there might be a good story in it someplace. But, perhaps not. Thanks.

-M Felzien
(Sucked into :bowdown:Mausers' Marketing ploy of "BYF" but still wondering)

Additionally, anyone have a good the conversions on pressure in TON to pounds per square inch. Thank you.

Michael,

In 1933, prior to Hitler's abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles in 1935, he wanted to start re-arming Germany but did not want the IWAA, and later the Allies to know when and where weapons were being made.

So they devised a date code with K,G and S representing 1934, 35 and 36. They did not go further because once 1935 came along, everyone knew Hitler was rearming.

By the same token, they did not want people to know who was making things, so they assigned codes to all defense contractors. They periodically changed codes to confuse the enemy.

So Mauser in 1934 was assigned: S/42. Changed to 42 in mid-1939. Changed to byf in 1941. Then the war ended in 1945

Hope this helps.

BTW, multiply Ton by 2000 and you get pounds. Or if they are Metric Tons by 2200.

John

not just Lugers, they had these 3 letter codes for all kinds of military equipment, which usually identified the factory where it was made. Germans are notorious for keeping detailed records and serial numbers, which helps figure out when and where they were made.

This is one reason German military weapons are so fascinating and collectible !

Mac Cat,

Yes; and that is precisely why I said that "all defense contractors" were assigned a code.

And, FYI, the three letter (alpha) codes were only introduced in 1941. Prior to that, they used alphanumeric and/or numeric codes. Very complicated.

Herr Speer wanted to simplify things.

I used Mauser as my example because the OP had inquired specifically about Mauser's Luger production.

John

I agree they are fascinating, not all of them are collectible, Mauser made about 90 million K98K so I suppose they will probably start to become collectible in a century or so.

John,

Thank you,

I also found this resource which helped further.

Mike
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/...S/GUNBLST.html