I’m a long time Borderlands 2 & Pre Sequel Player and got my hands one Borderlands a long time ago. Played through it once and then continued with BL2. Now I came back to Borderlands and wanted to get the best gear. But i realized, that I don’t have a clue what all the number in the weapon prefixes mean. For example the A300XX Masher and the AX-10B Masher. What’s the difference? I’m kinda confused. Also it seems that legendarys dont get past a certain level. I’ve never seen a lvl. 69 weapon drop. Is it just bad luck or is the level cap for weapons lower than the actual level cap?
Thanks in advance 
I wish I could find you the old forum’s gear description thread, but old forums are messed up.
Never mind, found a link I didn’t know I have.
Ok, the holy grail for parts from the old forums.
http://oldforums.gearboxsoftware.com/oldforums/20150308083938/http://oldforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=110429
Let me introduce you to the Beginner’s Guide to Borderlands’ Weapon Generation System.
This amazing tome of info includes descriptions of how and what Borderlands has to offer, and more importantly, descriptions to the parts that make up the items in the game. What you’re looking for, what determines the gun ID number, is here too.
The thread has the long answer, but the short(ish) answer is this:
The first few letters are the body ID, and then stock and magazine numbers follow. Depending on manufacturer, a material indicator will show up. From what you gave up above, I can tell you’re talking about a Jakobs revolver with body5(AX for revolvers), best stock(indicated by the 3), has either mag4 or mag5(they show up as “00” if I’m not wrong), and mat3(the “XX” is the Jakobs damage material).
I would add the Part Spotters Guide, but all the images are gone, which actually really sucks.
Level 69 weapons don’t exist outside of vendor Item of the Day sales, or guns dropped by the Loot Midgets. So yeah, normally 68 is the legit maximum level for items dropped.
Here’s the gearcalculator. http://gearcalc.50webs.com/
This is handy for playing around with and seeing what parts do what and how they affect the weapon ID.
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Thanks a lot!