I recently added this to my collection, a late war swp 45 98k...a bolt mismatch, but nonetheless a hard one to find...
The gun was produced at Brunn I, the Bruno Czech plant, which used the dot code, until 1945. In January 1945 a directive went out to change the manufacturer code for many arms producers. So Mauser Oberndorf went from byf 45 to svw 45, Steyer went from bnz to swj 45(never used on 98k production), and Brunn I went from dot to swp 45. In March they changed it yet again they switched...svw 45 to svwMB, swj 45 to swjXE (the absolute rarest code, only 8-10 are known at this point). Brunn I never instituted a second change.
So Brunn I started 1945 production using leftover dot 44 receivers, so you can have 1945 produced guns marked dot 44...there is also a small block which used rejected 1943 receivers, so you can have a 1945 Brunn I rifle marked dot 43. You need to go by serial numbers to determine what is what, it gets confusing.
It is figured somewhere around s/n 46000 a is where the switch from dot 44 to swp 45 started, there is always some overlap as the last of the dot 44 receivers were used up. At about 65000 a Brunn I switched from the standard rear sight to a greatly simplified sheet metal rear sight. By production numbers regular rear sight swp's are scarcer than the sheet metal sights. Brunn was the only factory to use the sheet metal rear sight.
Also, by this time, almost nothing save the bolts were serialed on Brunn's. Also you will notice the stock, pretty much all semblance of final finishing was gone...the stock on this is un-numbered, unstained, un-sanded, and rough like a corn cob, it is also in semi-kriegs configuration, eliminating the bayonet lug, and band spring. Bands were just attached with screws.
The bolt is from a Brunn I gun, also an "a" block, but you can't tell how close, as they only used the last 4 digits of the serial, but it is a 45 bolt...You can tell its Brunn I by the E/63 WaA under the bolt root which was the inspector for Brunn I. Also, the bolt is phosphate, while the extractor is blued, but as is common this part didn't take the blue well, so it appears plum in color. So there is a pleasing mix of greenish phosphate, plum extractor, and blued receiver...very Technicolor...
I was super happy to get this, it is my first swp...
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