What do the three-letter designators on the right side of the Steyr pistols mean? For example, my M9-A1 (#035728) has "IOR" as those letters, and my S9 (#021268) has "EOW" as those letters. This is immediately to the right of the "NPv" proofmark.
That's an excellent question. Maybe CGuns can ask when he next speaks to Austria. My M40A1 slide is marked B0M My M40 slide is marked N0R The center seems to be the number zero rather than the letter " O " Possibly a date code for the slide :?:
I spoke with Steyr-Arms today about a few issues. I asked the above question and received an answer. It is the initials of the person who test fired/Proofed the handgun. Combined with the proof mark, serial number and initials it can be possible to figure out the day/date that the gun was tested.
No I didn't. I didn't really think of that. I do find it an interesting tid bit concerning the firearm.
This does not make sence on mine I am looking at 2 M40's they both have NOO. Serial #77XX shows a date stamp 2.5/00, serial #102XX shows date stamp 2/00. 2500 difference in serial # 2 weeks difference in date stamp and something in reverse order.
the date stamp is when the frame was molded. Since I'd imagine they do these in batches it may not nescacarily correspond with final production. final assembly and test firing may have been done a good bit from casting date, just happened to be the same person test firing both guns. also there is no definite proof on wether serial numbers are completely sequential or assigned in blocks (i.e. 1-100 are M9's and 101-200 are M40's) and since we're making the M9's this week we just grab a frame from those castings and start making #1. Next week start on M40's and #101, but has a frame from the same batch. All supposition, and no way of knowing without steyr spelling out their process. The above just seems logical to my mind.
lunde, The middle character is an "O". All Austrian new-borns destined to become barrel testers in the Vienna proof house are given the middle name of Ojeah. Ojeah, roughly translated into English means, "O-Yeah! Do I have a great job or what? And I get to stamp my initials into a piece of mechanical art that's known around the world!" Sure beats Olaf for a middle name. Cheers, -tF
I just found out how to decode the three-letter codes that are on the Steyr slides. The first letter corresponds to the month: January = E February = L March = N April = B May = S June = Z July = G August = P September = I October = C November = V December = A The second and third letters correspond to the last two digits of the year: 0 = O 1 = W 2 = K 3 = R 4 = F 5 = M 6 = H 7 = Y 8 = T 9 = D Thus, my "EOW" S9 was made in January of 2001, and my "IOR" M9-A1 was made in September of 2003. This explains why the middle letter is almost always a "O."
Thanks a lot for posting this We should have a sticky thread on how to tell when your steyr was made :idea: BTW initials on my M9A1 are LOH meaning Feb. 2006 Looks like I've got the newest gun around here \/ :mrgreen:
BTW, I found the information on how to decode these three-letter datecodes on page 114 of Dieter H. Marschall's "Walther Pistols, A Historical Overview: Models 1 Through P99, Factory Variations and Copies."
Bravo lunde I wonder if this info will help to chronicle data for some of the FTE's or maybe other issues common to the M or M-A1 Series. For instance, my M357-A1 is BOF = April of 04. I haven't any FTE issues to date. <shrug> But, other members may have a common problem having their M Series manufactured chronologically close. I was on another forum for roadbikes and found that the manufacturing date for my bike linked several others to a problem with an oiler gear. Hmmm...that was an April '00, as I recall. 8-O Oh well. Maybe someone should start a new thread trying to link FTE probs to manufacturing dates. Just a thought. :roll: Wulf
(This does not make sence on mine I am looking at 2 M40's they both have NOO. Serial #77XX shows a date stamp 2.5/00, serial #102XX shows date stamp 2/00. 2500 difference in serial # 2 weeks difference in date stamp and something in reverse order.) Now this does make sence frames were made in Feb 2000 and weapon was proofed Mar 2000. Gray_Wolf Inside the dust cover there is a circle with 1-12 and and an arrow in the middle pointing to month it was molded on each side of the arrow is two digits indicating the year
