Milsurp serial numbers

Robobogner

Robobogner

CGN Regular
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Toronto
Hey all,

Just curious, aside from being able to track a factory, time, date from a serial number; what other information can be obtained? Were weapons such as Enfields serialized to a specific soldier at one point? Is there a method of tracking its usage from its origin date onward?

I know my No 4's have a lot of history behind, I just wish I could find out more; if only they could talk!
 
"...serialized to a specific soldier at one point?..." Kind of. A troopie would sign for his initial issue(and subsequent ones) but only at the unit level. Those records were not kept. Even records of what unit got which serial numbers have long ago been disposed of one way or another.
 
Hmmm I wonder if some on the unit records made it through the years, would be very interesting to track down an owner, or at least a unit, to our Enfields!
 
ive tried to find the owner of a M95 mauser (or at least his name). All I know is that he was Irish, and fought in the Boer War and in the Irish War of independence. Ive emailed several museums who may have records, but to no avail :(
 
If you own a K31, take the butt off and check for a soldier's tag.

Here's what I found under a 1949 Swiss K31 Short Rifle, that I bought from another CGN member a while ago ............ :dancingbanana:

(Click PIC to Enlarge)

I haven't been able to trace him yet .......

Regards,
Badger
 
haha, an italian swiss. cant get much more italian thant giuseppe! he may still be around and kicking, not that hed have many tales of war to tell :D
 
BadgerDog said:
If you own a K31, take the butt off and check for a soldier's tag.

Here's what I found under a 1949 Swiss K31 Short Rifle, that I bought from another CGN member a while ago ............ :dancingbanana:

b]

I haven't been able to trace him yet .......

Regards,
Badger
Click to expand...

Thats an awesome find! Good luck tracking him down, I'm sure sooner or later you'll find him.

I'm going to see if I can press some of my UK contacts and track down some info, I have my Grandfathers service records and such, I know as a Sgt. he was issued a Sten and later a Thompson (ahh if only 12-6)!
 
As mentioned above, unfortunately the Commonwealth nations were really poor at maintaining records of what rifle went where... Espcecially considering that in the case of some Lee Enfields, production was so massive, and serials so short (x1234, for example), that some factories were spitting out three or four series of complete serials per year!

It would be fantastic to be able to trace more detailed issue history, but... alas...

Cheers,

Neal
 
diopter said:
Doug
Have you tried

Rossi, Giuseppe
Hilfsmaler
Schwendistutz 2, 3172 Niederwangen b. Bern/BE
031 981 09 64
Click to expand...

Yes, thanks partner..... :)

Stefan (Swissdagger) tried that source for me and it went nowhere.....

Regards,
Doug
 
I have a Japanese "Special Navy Rifle" which has characters "Naka Mura" written in pencil in the barrel channel. I assume that Nakamura-san was the assembler. The rifle dates from the spring or summer of 1945, 61 years ago. If this worker at Nagoya survived the war, he would be very elderly if still alive. I doubt that there were very many young, healthy men working in arsenals at that stage of the war.
 
"...unit records..." Highly unlikely. Regimental units have been moved around a great deal in the 61 years since 1945. Especially militia units. Armouries have been torn down, Regiments moved elsewhere, etc, etc. Ancient paper records were not kept or moved.
 
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