Is this a fair description of the GEW numbering system? For the South American Mausers the numbering started at 1 (no leading zeros).

The first 10000 started with 1000a and ended with 9999a, then the next sequence started at 1000b to 9999b, etc.' I do not know where they started but I believe that they started with 1000. During WWI the Germans with their 98 used a 4 digit system. Some countries did not want anyone to calculate how many rifles they had. I provided the following info: ' Perhaps the serial number sequence started at 1000. The Gew 98 proved to be a reliable weapon but it was long and heavy. The Gew 98 action was the final product of several years of development and earlier Mauser designs such as the Model 1889, 1893, and 1896 rifles. It seems as if there were only ~3000 built but the serial numbers go higher than 3000. There was a discussion on the M1903/ A3 page about serial numbers of the Remington M1934 built for Honduras.