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New Collector - What do I have?

3832 Views 23 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  BJD SASS 2548LTG, 
B
I recently aquired 3 P.08 pistols over the last 6 months & need info on them. - Details as follows on the 1st. one:

Serial No; 1236 t
All parts marked: 36
Chamber dated: 1939
Toggle marked: 42
Left side of toggle in front of joint: Nazi Eagle?
Left side of chamber in front of side plate: 1236 V
Right side of chamber: Imperial Eagles? over 63 twice - then Nazi Eagle?
Magazine: No markings or number with Aluminum? base, In rought shape as the lips & body are banged up in spots.

This pistol has a "straw" finish, which looks almost like a color case hardening finish. It's blond/brown. The pistol came with a really bad set of blond wood target grips- homemade - left grip has a thumb rest. I ordered a set of plastic 'Black Widow' grips from Numrich/Gun Parts, along with the Locking Bolt Spring which is missing. I got the grips, but not the spring as Numrich is out of stock.

Can you folks tell me what I've got?
Where can I get a Locking Bolt Spring?

Would appreciate your help.

I'll post details about the other 2 pistols shortly.

Thanks
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D
Walter, locking bolt springs should be obtainable from the best source I know of: [email protected]
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B
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Ed
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B
Thanks drbuster, I'll contact them today. I posted these pictures and they are my very first attempt to use my digital camera in this format. Pease let me know what I can do to improve them. Any & all suggestions welcomed:)

I set it for 640 x 480 pixels recorded. Approx. 130 KB.
The next seeting records at approx. 320 KB, which I assume is too large for this forum.

I have a Fuji 2650 Digital Camera
2.0 Megapixels
3x Optical Zoom

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Frank
The markings on the left side of the receiver "1236 X" indicates that it is a Russian Capture Weapon. Your pistol was completed in about June 1939. Data indicates that about 86,000 code 42 Mauser Military Lugers were produced in 1939.
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Frank
The markings on the left side of the receiver "1236 X" indicates that it is a Russian Capture Weapon. Your pistol was completed in about June 1939. Data indicates that about 86,000 code 42 Mauser Military Lugers were produced in 1939.
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Edward Tinker
Walter, usually you can tell if it has been reblued, or there should be import markings on it, maybe under the grips?

Nice shooter no matter what.

Ed
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Edward Tinker
Walter, usually you can tell if it has been reblued, or there should be import markings on it, maybe under the grips?

Nice shooter no matter what.

Ed
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B
Thanks for your comment. I'm attaching additional photos in respose to them:

Frank: The V on the frame is stamped just like the serial no. The lines that make it look like an X are crudely scratched, shallow & crooked. Would the Russians have stamped a V & then changed it to a X in this manner?



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Thanks for your comment. I'm attaching additional photos in respose to them:

Frank: The V on the frame is stamped just like the serial no. The lines that make it look like an X are crudely scratched, shallow & crooked. Would the Russians have stamped a V & then changed it to a X in this manner?



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Ed

This pistol has never been blued or reblued. I'm told the straw/blond finish was used & is listed in some Luger books. I'm attaching additional photos to try & show the color more clearly. Also attached is a photo of a blued 42/byf I have, for comparison. More on that pistol later. There are no additional marks on the frame under the grips.

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Ed

This pistol has never been blued or reblued. I'm told the straw/blond finish was used & is listed in some Luger books. I'm attaching additional photos to try & show the color more clearly. Also attached is a photo of a blued 42/byf I have, for comparison. More on that pistol later. There are no additional marks on the frame under the grips.

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Frank
Walter, the serial number on the left side of Military Mausers did NOT contain the letter suffix. It's an "X"!!!

The 1939 Code 42 Lugers did not have strawed parts. The ejector and some receivers were "Plum" colored.

If I had to guess, and mind you it's only a guess, I would say the pistol has been dip blued!!
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B
Frank;

You can call it an 'X', but it still looks like a a 'V' with scratches under it to me. I find it hard to believe the Russians would take 2 steps to mark an 'X' on a pistol. Let's leave at that!

Please advise what you mean by 'dip blued'

Thanks
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Edward Tinker
Walter, a lot of pistols came to america the last 10-15 years and others had an "X" in the same position.

But, suffixes were not normally stamped on the left (I say not normally, I don't remember it ever happening, but with lugers, I never say never).

Dip blued is where the russians very quickly blued the guns, it is believed they were "dipped" to give them a quick protection. I am unsure if the reblue was before or after the gun was stored.

Looking very carefully you would be able to see marks under the blue, or on top of the blue. This is one way to tell if it has been reblued. Also, blueing inside of the mag wells, and other places that orginally were not blued.

Ed
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Ron Smith
Walt, The X was probably struck with a broken die. Bottom half of the X probably chipped off. They just finished the lower half by hand. Kind of a make-do situation. All Russian Lugers are X stamped. It's their acceptance stamp. Frank is as up to speed on Reichs lugers as anyone on the forum. And more so than most.

Ron
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B
Ed- The problem is that this Pistol in now a straw/brown finish all over, including magazine well & frame. I have no idea where this may have happened, but it is the farthest thing from a blue finish that I've ever seen. The top of the toggle looks like it has almost a color case hardening finish. When I first got it I thought it was rusted out, but this is not the case, as it cleaned up real nice & still stayed straw/brown. Is this still considered a type of blueing?

Ron - Thanks for your clarification on the'X'- I can accept that. Does it make the pistol any more valuable? I wouldn't think so, considering the number the Russians must have captured in WWII.

Anyway, the important thing right now, is that I can get the spring I need, so I can safrly shoot it & I'm right happy about that!
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jeff mullins
This might not be the place for this but. Something that I've been trying to sort out in my own mind. I've seen some of the really mint P38's that are now coming out of Russia that aren't dip blued or marked in any manner. But, they have been cleaned. Somehow. As the white in "S" and the red in "F" is gone. Other than that you can't tell that they are Russian guns. Also there aren't any importers marks on these pistols. I bought one of these pistols about a year ago and traded it a couple of months later. It had 98% original finish, no import marks, but no paint in the "s" of "F". Harold Anderson looked at this pistol and said that it was in fact a Russian capture pistol. Why wouldn't it's value be the same as an American or Brit captured gun in the condition mentioned??

jeff mullins
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