Home / Proof Marks / Waffenamt eagle over a number (WaA)

Waffenamt eagle over a number (WaA)

German proof marks · 1933-1945.
What it looks like
A small eagle with a number beneath or beside it — WaA 63, WaA 655 and so on.
Where it is on the gun
Frame, receiver, barrel, and on every separately accepted part.
Date range
1933-1945.

What it tells you

What this mark authorises you to say

The part was inspected and accepted for German military production. The number is the inspection group, not a factory code and not a date, though which group covered which factory is documented and narrows things considerably: WaA 63 is associated with Mauser at Oberndorf, for example. The system is large — the acceptance organisation (the Abnahme, a subsidiary of the Heereswaffenamt) had grown to some 25,000 personnel in five departments across sixteen inspection areas by 1940, working to detailed Technische Lieferbedingungen specifications.

What it does not tell you

What this mark does NOT say

It does not date the gun and it does not mean the part is original to it. On a rebuilt or captured rifle the eagle often appears on mismatched parts, and the same marks were applied to bayonets, daggers and equipment — an eagle over a number on a non-firearm is not a proof mark at all. Nor does it certify the firearm as safe to shoot; it was an acceptance stamp, not a pressure test.

Where the sources are uncertain

The WaA number-to-factory lists in circulation are compilations from collector research, not official publications, and they disagree with each other in places. Treat a specific number-to-factory match as strong evidence, not proof.

Sources for this page

Every claim above is attributed. The class of source is shown with each one, because a national proof house and an anonymous forum table are not the same evidence — and on proof marks the difference matters.

Related on this site

Where this maker's factory records are held:

Reading marks to identify and date a gun

Proof marks name the test and the era. The serial number, where a maker published a browsable chart, can name the year. The lookup cites the threshold behind every result.

Open the serial number lookup

Other german proof marks

Mark descriptions observed and verified 2026-10-14. Proof marks are stamped by hand on guns up to a century old; a photographed stamp and a description in a book are not the same evidence. If a mark on your gun does not match anything here, that is a real answer — see the notes on unidentified marks.