Bayonet stamped in blade letters?

[WEISNER]

I have noticed my combat bayonets have a letter stamped on the bladenormally found under the serial number for example a j on a 1944 crs made piece.
is this a month indicator for example j being the 10 letter of the alphabet standing for October? Then again I have seen double letter stamps like ii, if I am wrong what do these letters stand for?

Thanks for any help!

Kevin

[WEISNER]

Ok so my theory was just shot down... I checked my last Bayo, a 41 asw and it has a z? So what are the letters, a batch letter?

Kev

[John Allen]

numbers

The letters each represent 9,999 pieces during a production run. The first 9,999 bayonets for example made by ASW in 1941 would be numbered 1-9999 and had no letter underneath the number. The letter "a" represents the second block of 1-9999 bayonets made. The letter "b" would represent the third block of 1-9999 bayonets made,etc,etc until the production run was finished for the year. In 1943, for example ASW reached the zz block which would have been about 539,946 [if my figures are correct] bayonets manufactured if the production ran through the entire zz block. I hope that I have helped out a little. Someone else may add some additional information.

[John Allen]

bayonet

I just realized that I made an error in the total number of bayonets theoretically produced by ASW in 1943. Instead of 539,946 it should read 529,947 because the lettering would have gone from the "z" block to the "aa" without a gap.

[Richie B]

The letters each represent 9,999 pieces during a production run. The first 9,999 bayonets for example made by ASW in 1941 would be numbered 1-9999 and had no letter underneath the number. The letter "a" represents the second block of 1-9999 bayonets made. The letter "b" would represent the third block of 1-9999 bayonets made,etc,etc until the production run was finished for the year. In 1943, for example ASW reached the zz block which would have been about 539,946 [if my figures are correct] bayonets manufactured if the production ran through the entire zz block. I hope that I have helped out a little. Someone else may add some additional information.

Kevin

Nothing to add to that.

If you have look here you can see various examples of different manufacturers and serial numbers.

http://k98.free.fr/

[WEISNER]

John, thank you very much for the explanation, it is all very clear now!
Richie, thank you for the link, that is one hell of a site I am sure to reference often!

Thank you both very much for your time!

Kevin