[Foo909]

So my g/f asked me the other day what all the markings on the side of my pistol meant and for once even I had no answer...

Can anyone tell me what exactly the gold markings mean? The letters DE, AI. The owl looking figure with the letter "N" under it on the slide and barrel. The deer antler with cross?

I had seen these in another members for sale thread on an HK USP Compact and it also got me wondering...something specific to German designed pistols?

 

[deadeye72]

My P2000 and USP .40 have similar markings. I'm not sure about the DE, but the AI is the date code. It signifies what year your pistol was manufactured. The stag horns from what I just looked up with google, is the region the factory is in and the other is the actual factory it came from. The date code I am pretty sure of, but the other two not so sure.

 

[gimpy]

The stag horns from what I just looked up with google, is the region the factory is in and the other is the actual factory it came from.

In this case the stag horn signifies that the gun was manufactured in Ulm, Germany.

 

[MattInFla]

The marking on the barrel is a proof house marking. In this case, this is the proof mark from the German proof house Ulm.

A bit about proof testing: Proof test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matt

 

[archer51]

No idea on most of the letters and symbols, but I believe the DE is for country of origin Deutschland.

 

[MattInFla]

The "AI" is a date code, which corresponds to 2008

Matt

 

[Foo909]

Thanks guys...there's a wealth of knowledge on here and that's for sure.