Another 41 byf
 

Seems to be a lot of 41 byf threads lately and here's another!

I've posted about this Luger before (it's in the databases, including the black grips database) but never had quality pictures. Now I have a good camera and thought now's the time to show off the old girl. She's in pretty good shape and hasn't been fired much over the years. Not much wear on the bluing either but some pitting here and there. I've owned it 12 years and never fired it.

Now to see if I can get pictures from my album to display here.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1798

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1799

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1800

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1801

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1802

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1803

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1804

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1805

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1806

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1807

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1808

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1809

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1810

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1811

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1813

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1812

very nice!

Beautiful looking gun, Quentin. Thanks for posting. Regards, Norm

Good looking Luger! I have a 41 byf produced maybe a day or two before yours, Sn 7138w. It too, has black plastic grips and magazines.

Tom

I believe mine is a little older than yours tharpo - its SN is 7345u. The suffix looks a little like a w but I'm pretty sure it's a u. Please double check just in case...



Thanks for the nice comments guys! It really is a beautiful Luger, the nicest I'll ever have. My other Luger is a mixed numbers 1913 DWM that I do shoot! :D

Quentin,
Here is my "w" block 41 byf and a 1941 fxo "u" block magazine for comparison.

Tom

Quentin, Nice 41 byf "W" Block Luger!! Tom was correct, it's a w, NOT a u.

Wow. Great looking Luger.

Hey thanks a lot for straightening me out, Tom and Frank! And all these years I've thought it was a 'u'. :o I'd better correct my records then.

That's pretty amazing we have such closely manufactured byfs, Tom - 7138 and 7345 in the W block.

I guess they both were made around September 1941? And just had their seventieth birthdays ...



ETA:
Whoops, I need to update it in the forum databases too! :o :o :o

Very nice Luger!
Can't verify the production date for you.. I'm away from my book "Still's Third Reich Lugers" where I think this can be found.

Quentin, both 7138 and 7345 in the W block 41 byf Lugers were completed about August 1941. :)

Thanks again Frank! My wife's birthday is August 3rd so that works... and she told me Martha Stewart was born 8/3/1941 :p

Tom, by chance do you have a thread with pictures of your 41 byf 7138w? I'd love to see more of it! I did some searches and found a cropped picture of it where you were explaining in a thread how you take pictures.

Thanks again for the help guys!

Quentin,
Here is the link to my pictures on Jan Stills forum. You have seen it before :).
I like the fact that both guns have the same type black grips with the serial numbers so close.
http://luger.gunboards.com/showthrea...-Nice-1941-byf
Tom

Thanks, Tom, what a beautiful byf! And you're right I did post in that thread two years ago...

Amazing how good yours looks after 70 years and mine is pretty close. I also love seeing two nice examples made so close to each other. It would be pretty darn hard to find another near as good in our little group of 207 byfs manufactured over a period of days at the Mauser factory.

I do have pictures of my grips inside and out, I'll dig up the link and post it soon. They are Type 4 black bakelite grips like yours. Thanks again for all the help and getting me straight on my actual serial number.

ETA: pictures of grips inside and out added to original post.

Out of curiosity, searching through the 1940/1941 DATES MILITARY CODES 42 and byf DATA thread then quickly cleaning and sorting the data in Excel, 186 '41 byfs are included with 13 in the W block. (There's one even closer to yours, Tom - 70?? w)


41 byf sn 429 w E/655 E/655.
41 byf sn 1358 w, E/655 E/655 LTP
41 byf sn 16?? w
41 byf sn 24?? w,
41 byf sn 2902 w, E/655, E/655 LTP, black plastic grips
41 byf sn 3446 w, E655, E/655 LTP
41 byf sn 4027 w, black plastic grips
41 byf sn 70?? w,
41 byf sn 7138 w, E/655 E/655 LTP, black grips, fxo mags
41 byf sn 7345 w, E/655 E/655 LTP, P08, black plastic grips, black plastic bottom E/37 fxo mags.
41 byf sn 83?? w, E/655 E/655 LTP
41 byf sn 90?? w
41 byf sn 9828 w, E/655 E/655 LTP, P08

Sweet Luger! Love the grips.

Safety Mark
 

To all,
I notice that on Quentin byf, it doesn't seem to have white paint in the 'GESICHERT' word. I have a byf 41 that has this white paint in the word.
Just wondering whether some had the paint and others didn't.

I believe that all left the factory with paint in the 'GESICHERT' word.

Marc

Bar44: Good spot.
Now the question is why it has no paint in that lettering.
dju

Lack of white paint
 

Not one to throw a wrench in the works, but I also checked a BYF 42, and it also has the white paint, both of my BYFs are definitely(to the best of my knowledge) original finish. I do have a 41-42 that unfortunately has been refinished, not a great job, it doesn't have the white paint.
Thanks Marc and Dave for your inputs, I hate to be all alone in these discussions. I really am not saying that Quentin's pistol has been redone, for all I know some may have been blued and for whatever reason the white paint ran out or something.
I was just curious as to why some may have the paint and some not, I thought that most all of the lugers had the white paint, except for a few of the earliest ones.
barr

Any number of reasons why the paint is gone from an original pistol. Cleaning, wiping down with a thinner or other solvent. Excesive pressure when cleaning, etc.

All military Lugers came from the factory with the Gesichert marking filled with white enamel. It's likely that Quentin's gun was cleaned with a solvent (like Hoppe's #9) that removed the enamel. Regards, Norm

Missing paint.
 

Norme & alan, that sounds like a good possibility. I wasn't aware that Hoppes would take off paint. That's good info to know, I use Hoppes primarily for cleaning the bore, but it does tend to get on the gun itself at times.
Thanks for the tip.
barr

It is interesting that some have the white paint and mine doesn't. However, this Luger definitely has not been refinished and I've hardly cleaned it over the 12 years I've had it, just wiped it occasionally with an oily rag. And it didn't have the white paint when I bought it.

I can provide more pictures of areas in question if anyone is interested.

Ask yourself how many hands it has been through since leaving the factory. Any number of people could have cleaned that gun with whatever was handy, including any number of solvents. Some previous owner may have even decided he did not like the white paint in the lettering and removed it purposely.

Thanks For Posting. Great Looking P.08
Mike Z.

I have a "V" block 41 BYF - Mine also is missing the paint under the safety. Also would the correct magazine be the FXO Black plastic or an aluminum based mag? Serial #2829 v

Wayne

As you say, anyone could have done it and hopefully it has little impact on the value of this byf.

I've always wondered how many owners this Luger has passed through. Not many, I don't think.

The story told to me by the previous owner (a friend) was that it was brought into the USA in the early 1950s by a German doctor who kept it until his death in the '80s when it was sold to to a fellow who eventually sold it to my friend. I bought it in 1999, which of course is the only thing I can be sure of but I suspect the story is true as it doesn't add any glory or value to the gun.

Assuming that most Lugers were not brought into the US by Germans - I will say I'm curious if the German doctor may have kept his issue gun at the end of the war somehow then brought it to the US later. No way to know of course. Anyway, the important thing to me, no one along the way actually fired this Luger much!

Wayne,
As I believe that Mauser stopped numbering magazines right around the serial number of your gun I would say that a black plastic fxo or an unnumbered aluminum bottom fxo magazine would be correct.

Tom

If they made unnumbered fxo aluminum bottom mags i imagine most were mysteriously matched to similarly correct guns long ago would you think?

Well when I purchased the pistol it had a mismatched aluminum bottom mag, I have since purchased a plastic FXO mag for it I just want to make sure I am accurate with what I have in it.

W

Sounds like you made a smart move for your V block, W, very likely what it originally had especially if it has black grips - while I think the wooden grips often came with the unnumbered aluminum bottom. No iron clad rule to that, though.

My W block pictured above came with one fxo with the black bottom and I later bought a second for it.

mine does have walnut grips.

Mags
 

My 41 "u" block has matching walnut grips and for whatever reason unmumbered "42" tiny letters mag. I understand these are armorers replacement.

5753u

Bob