The last known MP44 to bear Steyr's customary wartime code, “bnz.”, is serial number 8786c/44.
The next known weapon carries no code, but only the Waffenamt code “623”, which was used throughout the war by the inspector stationed at Steyr.
After that, the Steyr code becomes “swj”, part of the third series of codes at the end of the war, beginning with the letter “p”.
Full details of these codes have yet to be revealed, as a printed list of this series has unfortunately never been found.
In the absence of such a list, the best researchers can do is draw up a table of the late codes that appear, tantalizingly, on such late-war products as Mauser/Oberndorf K98k and P38 pistols (code “svw”), K43s manufactured by BerlinerLübecker Maschinenfabrik of Lübeck (BLM), whose normal wartime code, “duv”, was replaced in 1945 by “qve” in the middle of the “k” block of BLM K43 serial numbers.
The code “swj”, for late-war MP44s produced by Steyr, is part of this list.
Steyr was also the only MP44 manufacturer to use the alphabetical capital letters “XE”, “XF” to indicate production in 1945.
Traduction française libre du Document Original page 398 :
Sturmgewehr de Hans-Dieter Handrich produit et édité par R Blake Stevens
Publication Collector Grade 2004
