1940 P.08 found in a box

[guns3545]

Originally Posted by Gebirg

This pistol has an incredible story since 1945.
I just wonder, a 1940 code 42 with bakelit grips (type 2) serial is 5103 m.

This pistol was found in a barn, in a metall box - stored there since 1945. It was a payment for a job, this Luger came directly from the Germans to the farmer who put it there. When his sons should expand the barn in 2003 they found the box...

Asle,

What a great find!

But you're right to worry about the black grips. And, you may have noticed the Type 6 magazine as well.

The m-block was late in the year so it may have had Walnut grips or perhaps the Brown Bakelite grips that Mauser got from HK.

The magazine would have been a Haenel 122 coded with Eagle 37 proofs and an aluminum base.

But, grips crack and are replaced and magazines get lost.

A great looking gun and an even greater story.

Thanks for sharing.

John

[Eugen]

Now thats what i call a "barn find". The box must have been sealed very well, since not a bit of dusted or rust. Amazing, given a non-climate controlled evironment. No damage from humidity.

Great story! Thank you for sharing the story and the nice pics. I am sure you will enjoy it.

[Gebirg]

Originally Posted by guns3545

Asle,

What a great find!

But you're right to worry about the black grips. And, you may have noticed the Type 6 magazine as well.

The m-block was late in the year so it may have had Walnut grips or perhaps the Brown Bakelite grips that Mauser got from HK.

The magazine would have been a Haenel 122 coded with Eagle 37 proofs and an aluminum base.

But, grips crack and are replaced and magazines get lost.

A great looking gun and an even greater story.

Thanks for sharing.

John

However this is a late production and i think that this pistol has leaved the factory with this grips? The pistol is not much used, why should they change the grips?

[guns3545]

Originally Posted by Gebirg

However this is a late production and i think that this pistol has leaved the factory with this grips? The pistol is not much used, why should they change the grips?

Asle,

Yes, but late production 1940. In 1940, there were some P.08s delivered with surplus HK grip panels they bought in 1939. But these were Brown, not black.

The first black Bakelite panels delivered by Mauser was mid-1941.

You can ask the same question about the magazine in the gun. It is a Type 6, again not delivered by Mauser until mid-1941.

But there are a hundred reasons why grip panels and magazines get replaced. That's why all matching guns are so rare.

Its a nice gun with a nice story and we should leave it at that because no one knows everything that happened to this gun between late 1940 and 1945 when it was put into this box.

John

John