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Help confirming lunchbox special P08

2K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  mouser 
#1 ·
Hello! I have a pretty cool luger here today, to my knowledge it's a 9mm 1941 mauser plant p08 luger "lunchbox special".
Gun has zero serial numbers or proof markings, aside from 42 mauser code in a few places. Looks like its in great shape. Barrel says s/42, again mayser code, one interesting thing is the J.F.G initialed on the rear of the grip, later i removed the wood panel and found more, "J.F.Goodrich" on the frame, not sure who that is, I looked it up extensively and got nothing, found a few initial matches but none that made sense. Maybe a worker at the plant who stole parts to make a gun? Or possibly a Gi that had a p08 made for him after the mauser factory was taken over?
So I think that covers everything I know about it so far, any thoughts?
Automotive tire Bicycle part Gesture Finger Gadget
Hand Revolver Tartan Textile Guitar accessory

Tartan Textile Sleeve Grey Wood

Tartan Eyewear Sleeve Dress shirt Finger

Sleeve Gesture Finger Material property Personal protective equipment

Automotive tire Bicycle tire Hood Motor vehicle Bicycle part

Bicycle tire Bicycle part Automotive design Carbon Bumper

Hand Bicycle part Finger Household hardware Composite material

Air gun Trigger Shotgun Machine gun Gun barrel

Wood Musical instrument accessory Bumper Tool Auto part

Automotive design Rim Bumper Bicycle part Automotive exterior

I do know it's fun as hell to shoot, though!
 
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#2 ·
Not a "lunchbox" gun. It's assembled post war from armorer's spare parts taken from armorer's kits and depots. Tons of spare parts were left over in 1945, so these parts guns are not that rare and show up from time to time.

JF Goodrich is either the GI who put it together, or a later owner. No way to ever know.
 
#3 ·
I agree, this one is built from armorer's spare parts.

Mauser, as part of the P08 contracts, supplied millions of spare parts to the army.
 
#4 ·
The Mauser factory at Oberndorf was under French military control on may 8, 1945.
On august 1945, production was ordered for the assembly of P 08, p 38 and Hsc pistols, 98k rifles and .22 lr Mauser 45 training carbines from the existing stockpiles.
Production stopped on may 1946 in compliance with the Allied directives concerning weapons production in post war Germany. On november 5, 1947 the french military government general administrator ordered the disbandment of the machinery, and the building were destroyed. The spare parts stockpile and machinery was transferred in France notably for the assembly of .22 lr MAS 45 carbines from spare parts, then manufacture from new parts by the Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Etienne.
The P 38 spare parts were transferred to the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault for maintainance of existing pistols and are finally at the origin of the assembly of the elusive 500 series L examples in 1950 for the French police.
 
#12 ·
That is well known, but irrelevant to the pistol that is shown here. It's neither a Mauser, nor a French assembly.

This pistol was built with officially delivered German army spares.
Along with the '' official '' Mauser manufacture from the the available parts inventory controlled by the French, these was an off the records assembly of short or long barrelled P 08s that ressourceful GIs could acquire from their French counterparts controlling the factory as souvenir guns. This is well described in the october 1997 issue of the french Gazette des Armes (n° 281).
By the way I notice the frame has a Mauser bump.
 
#14 ·
Yes. But those guns were all proofed and numbered.

As I will repeat again: the pistol shown is made from Mauser made spare parts that Mauser delivered to the German army. So, yes, it is quite obvious that it has a Mauser hump, because the frame was made by Mauser. As a spare part.
 
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#9 ·
Mixmaster, Frankenluger, and 'spares gun' are the terms I hear most often at shows. Lugers have so often been cobbled together in one way or another that unless it was for a specific reason/group that then marked them (police Lugers are a perfect example here; some imports post-68 can be as well) I don't think there's a 'correct' name for them - the experts here please correct me if I'm wrong. :)

What interests me most is that whether it was Goodrich himself who first assembled the gun from the spare parts, cosmetically at least it looks like they did a competent job and took decent care of it; have you had a chance to check out the mechanics of the piece? Springs, fit of parts, etc - it could be a very presentable shooter.

On the cautious side, if by any chance it was slapped together by someone without much skill who just wanted a souvenir it may not be safe to shoot, so depending on your own skillset you may want to seek out a local smithy who specializes in vintage to give it a full exam - keeping in mind like many firearm designs, a 'Bubba' gunsmith can often put one together enough to make it work a few rounds...which in my experience has usually been just enough rounds to either break something internally or cause undue wear. I haven't encountered this with any Luger personally as I've only recently begun to collect them myself, but have had to completely rebuild at least three Colts and one Walther (the Walther was itself a mixmaster) in order for them to function and function properly. Heck, one of the Colt's was fully MISSING the firing pin - still have no idea why it was removed to begin with unless broken, as after replacement and careful cleaning it shot very well.

The actual details of the assembly of your example itself is one of those 'mini-mysteries' that, beyond what has been said above, there may never be more detail revealed about.
 
#10 ·
OP states it shoots well. But It's an anomaly, and no way to prove origin in any way other than as others have stated as it is assembled from armorers parts.

It's value as-is is subjective. The blank parts could fetch a premium for buyers looking to force match miss-matched parts to boost miss-matched guns. Anything with S/42 or 42 on it could replace a miss-matched part on another luger as "an armorers replacement" and boost value as well.

The engraved frame de-values it as a part but it could still force a complete upper into a matching (but defaced) example.

If I were guessing Goodrich was an owner in the US that engraved it so that if stolen it could be identified. This would explain the hidden name in addition to the visible initials.
 
#13 ·
Yeah I'll likely go to the Smith I know to take a look, I put 100 through it yesterday. What do you think the value is at the moment?
I know it's a subjective thing right now since all details are not certain.
But yeah it's definitely a pretty pistol for what it is, bluing matches pretty nicely, no rust or anything gross.
 
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