During the Interwar Period military expansion in Germany was forbidden under the Versailles Treaty. The newly established Nazi government, however, had other ideas. In order to hide or at least obscure the pace of rearmament the military assigned simple alphabetical or numerical codes to manufacturers. There are codes for nearly every subcontractor and the list can be very long. Instead of covering all of these, here is a table breaking down the sorts of German rifle manufacturing codes you’re likely to find on the receiver of your gun.

Dual code variations do exist and are considered collectable.  An example would be “bcd/ar.”  Just combine the individual manufacturers’ codes.

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