Handguard Color

[Marty T.]

The 6938 is inside the stock in the barrel channel towards the muzzle end of the barrel in front of TG, yes that is correct. The Na 6 40 is just a little further up the stock, still on the inside under the barrel, towards the muzzle end. Could it possibly be a manufacture date for the stock because the spacing is how it is in the channel of the stock? I have no idea and not knowledgable enough to even be guessing, but just a thought. Thanks.

[dave]

OK, I did not think of that because it is usually under the butt plate. I have a rifle stamped Ha 350 41. Ha is the sub contractor, 350 (3 50) is the machine/operator number, and 41 the year. In your case it would be 'Na (contracter) 6 (machine/operator) 40 (year). I have several others with such codes stamped under butt plate, all these are 1940 and later rifles, and none are walnut wood stocked. Barrels carried a similar code just forward of the reciever, most always under the wood line.

In your case the Na was the code for Uhrenfabrik Junghans, Schramberg, Black Forest. Sometimes these codes will use another number after the machine number such as 12, this means 12th week (of the year). Before an argument starts here I want to add that this is all theory, about what the numbers all mean, and even the company that used that code (Na). There is no documentation for this, just some research (not mine) and its been disputed by others due to conflicts with some known codes. All seem to agree with the last number being the year. The German records just did not survive or have not surfaced yet!
There were two stock disk sizes, the large one was introduced in 1940 which means your stock could have either size. I did not measure either one.

[Toulgas]

dave, I wanted to PM you about this, but your message box is full, and won't accept any more until space is cleared....

[dave]

Something is messed up with this system. I had only 6 messages in my inbox, all of which I have deleted before. I have 44 stored of 50 allowed and can not figure a way to delete them. send an e-mail, you should be able to, in my profile.

[Marty T.]

Well let me throw one wrench in the gears here. I have read that with the M1 rifle there was a big todo about the gas cylinder finish wearing off and not being able to hide because of the shiny finish. So I was wondering, if the German stocks left the factory with no coloring of any kind, wouldn't that light colored stock have been something that would be hard to tide? Or did they just naturally darken on their own? Just another curiosity question.

[dave]

Dirt, use and troops oiling them, as they were instructed to do with the older walnut stocks. Just like GI's were instucted to oil stocks on the 03, etc.