[Guest]

I have purchased a very clean byf '41 "Black Widow" that was priced very nicely in part because the seller suspects the gun may be refinished. The only real thing that clearly points to that conclusion is that two of the proof markings appear somewhat faint and shallow. That said, the finish has a factory appearance consistent with other byf's he had, and the interior is not blued as would likley be the case. The gun also has normal holster wear consistent with wartime use, and there are no other tell-tale indications of a reblue or refinish. The seller and I are both a bit stummped, but he paid a price commensurate with a refinish as did I.

Is it possible that the proofs were simply not very well stamped at the factory?

 

[Pete E.]

Hi Malcolm,

By the time the '41 Mausers were made, the salt bluing process was a dip-process...so you gun's interior should be blued. If I recall..the switch from rust bluing to salt bluing occurred in the early 1930's. If your frame is "in-the-white" along its interior surfaces, the refinish may have been a chemical process that stripped all bluing, inside and outside, off the gun prior to the rework...

 

[garfield]

I believe, the rust blue finish process with strawed small parts as found on military P08s was gradually phased out in favor of an all hot blue salt finish in 1937 during the production of the r,s and t suffixes.

 

[taudelt]

Malcolm..Can you post some pictures of the proofs and the inside??? Might help solve the mystery........