MG 08/15 serial number

[battle of loos]

Good evening,

 

it is possible to know through the serial number of an MG 08/15 :

 

- its builder
- its date of manufacture
- his assignment

 

for my part here is the number that interests me (carcass of MG 08/15):

 

 

 

thank you in advance for your help.

 

Michel

[Michael Haselgrove]

Michel,

Interesting question.  The answer is probably no, I'm afraid. 

There were seven firms manufacturing the MG08/15 producing, between them, about 130,000 guns.  It appears each manufacturer started with number 1 and continued the numerical sequence, without known gaps, during the period they were manufacturing.  Thus, in theory, there were eight MG08/15s with the number 1699.

If you refer to the table below taken from page 169 of "The Devil's Paintbrush - Sir Hiram Maxim's Gun" by Dolf L. Goldsmith you will see a gun numbered 1699 could have been made by Spandau in 1916 or by one of the other manufacturers except DWM in 1917, or by DWM in 1918. 

It might be that the different manufacturers used a size or style of numeral in numbering their guns and that are identifiable to that particular manufacturer or that there are marks on the (remains of) the gun you have that might help if the numerals/marks can be compared with a gun made by each of the manufacturers but this would probably not be possible?

Sorry not to be more helpful.  I can say that the book I mention above is truly excellent and it is well worth obtaining a copy. 

Regards,

Michael.

[battle of loos]

good morning,

Thank you for those clarifications.
I'm going to check to find this book.
Kind regards
Michel