Why coded parts

[Wulf]

Why are Carbine parts coded? I mean during wartime why would it even matter who made what part?

Information

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[Johnny Peppers]

So they would know who made them and where they went in case of a problem. During WWII Springfield Armory made replacement barrels for the 1911/1911A1 pistol. Most of them had to be returned to Springfield as they were not machined to specification.

[Wulf]

Good point. For some reason that did not cross my mind. Thanks.

[Tired Retired]

I also understand from my WWII studies that it was help combat sabotage. For example, if a bunch of sears were found to have been cut so they would break during use, 1) all those sears could quickly be identified and removed from service, and 2) the investigators would have trail to start looking at where they came from and who had handled them, etc.

[BrianQ]

Carbine parts were coded so any problems could be traced back to the source, as well as the obvious legal and financial reasons. With ten different manufacturers and hundreds of subcontractors the codes were necessary.

[mar53]

Well I suspect the main reason was some traceability. A lot of the makers had issues early on, with stuff breaking , improper heat treating etc. IBM for example had a lot of problems with AOB bolts breaking due to faulty manufacture (made by Auto Ordnance). With marked parts you could always trace back to where it came from, if you wanted to pull a whole batch for any reason due to some problems. That is just my guess though.