Strange MG34 proofmarking??

[dwmmg08]

Ok, I was just looking at a barrel jacket for the MG34. I have this early 4-hole one, which had had most of the makers marks, year, etc ground off by the Yugo's, and restamped with a new #.

Fortunately, they didn't get all the waffenampts. Some are still there, including a little WaA 4, which indicates that the thing was made by BSW. On the breech end of the barrel jacket, though, is a little marking with a Nazi eagle, a little backwards looking SS rune, and the marking " ZaJt3" what is this????

anyone have any idea what this mark is, or means???

Thanks!

Glen rr

[TactAdv]

On the breech end of the barrel jacket, though, is a little marking with a Nazi eagle, a little backwards looking SS rune, and the marking " ZaJt3" what is this????

anyone have any idea what this mark is, or means???

Glen,
I have half an answer for you....the first half is easy. 'Za' is a std marking, it is a "Zeugamt" stampel, or a "Zeugamter". 'Za' is quite simply the std abbreviation for "Zeugamt" which literally translates to "Arsenal", or in context "Military Depot". More correctly, these are abbreviations for the official term "HeeresZeugAmt", and is often seen as marking of 'HZa'. So, a Zeugamt is a military, or military contract, repair depot.

In US militaria terms we say an item has been "arsenal overhauled" or "re-arsenal-ed" when it has been sent back to a repair depot to be fixed, etc. Same thing here. A German-service item showing a zeugamt stempel has been through a repair depot......somewhere. So there's your first part, the 'Za-" explained.

The second part of the code shows the actual facility, in code. I am believing the second part which you are reading as 'Jt3' -is- being read correctly. I have seen other references to this exact same 'Jt3' coding before, usually in relation to K98K rifle production though, but that it is actually a "3" on the end as opposed to another letter, etc, being hard to read. In these other references, the context of the ENTIRE marking, 'ZaJt3', is that it shows parts that arrived from somewhere else just as parts and were then assembled into the complete assembly or gun, at that facility/depot. Further, all other discussion of this marking seems to indicate this marking convention was most active before the War got really up and running full bore, so your 'BSW' marked gun would fit that distinction, too.

One more thing....in the old German style, the capital letter "I" was often seen marked as a capital letter "J", to avoid confusion. If so in context here, then a literal translation of the 'Jt3' marking is probably actually to be read as 'It3", which is likely then the well known HeeresZeugamt depot at Ingolstadt. So, Best guess on the whole context is that that particular gun was officially rebuilt at some time after original manufacture at Ingolstadt.

-TomH

[TactAdv]

One more thing....in the old German style, the capital letter "I" was often seen marked as a capital letter "J", to avoid confusion. If so in context here, then a literal translation of the 'Jt3' marking is probably actually to be read as 'It3", which is likely then the well known HeeresZeugamt depot at Ingolstadt. So, Best guess on the whole context is that that particular gun was officially rebuilt at some time after original manufacture at Ingolstadt.

-TomH

With a quick phone call to a contact in Wien, Austria this afternoon, I have an update on the actual location for the Depot location of that stamping. Despite what I thought above, the abbreviation 'Jt' actually stands for the Army garrison at the town of Jüterbog ("Jüterbock"), a longtime and very well known German military installation with a very long history.

So, Glen, there you go, a complete deciphering of your 'ZaJt3' mystery mark is that it identifies work preformed at the actual facility as one of the shops (#3, presumably) in the complex that made up the full HeeresZeugAmt repair depot in the city of Jüterbog. Your gun got run through the repair facility in Jüterbog. ;-)

-TomH

[dwmmg08]

Wow, Tom, that's fantastic!!!! Thanks so much for your work and your posts! So this gun was through an Army rebuild shop before the war really got going, that's cool! I called my gunsmith friend who I was discussing this mark with yesterday and let him know that, I've never seen that marking before on any of my MG34 parts, or even my MG08 and 08/15 parts. I love this board! This is really cool!

If I can ever master getting a picture of it, I'll post it! Thanks again!


Glen