You can also determine the age of your rifle or pistol yourself and thus obtain the information you require free of charge. To do this, please read through the following information:

The effort to determine the year of manufacture of a rifle based on its serial number is enormous for us. Therefore, we can only pass on such information to authorities or for a fee. However, every rifle owner can draw his own conclusions about the approximate age of his rifle based on the government proof mark on the barrel. The years listed below are approximations and reflect the common practice that was primarily used during the period in question. However, exceptions to this are possible. For example, it is quite possible that even after 1968 only the year is applied, but not a letter code.

Listing of the various proof marks (year numbers approximated).

• Until about 1958, only the proof mark and the caliber were stamped on the barrel.
• From about 1958 to about 1968, the last two digits of the year were stamped on in addition to the proof mark.
• Since about 1968, the year has been coded. The code for age determination is as follows:
  0=A; 1=B; 2=C; 3=D, 4=E; 5=F; 6=G; 7=H; 8=I/J; 9=K
  When determining the year of firing, only the last two digits of a year are given, i.e. a rifle with the letters AF was fired by the state in 2005 (05).
• Since 2014, the "federal eagle" has been replaced by the letters "CIP".