Side Plate Stamped on Inside
 

Greetings,
Can anyone shed any light on why a side plate would be stamped on the inside. Or maybe I should ask, what variation of Luger would one expect to find a side plate with the number stamped on the inside? I am sure you are thinking, well obviously it came off of a Luger; must be that Luger. Story is, this side plate is on a shooter I (and Hugh) built it from parts. The frame is serial number 11 with no suffix. Most of the parts on the receiver were also stamped with the number 11. Here is a picture of the underside of the side plate.

Mike

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/long_barrel5.jpg

Hi Mike.
Most mauser pistols have a number stamped inside the sideplate but not like your example. Is there a number also stamped on the outside in either the military or commercial format? The number stamps you have shown look to me something a unit armorer might do. The stamps look like they are old to me. Maybe someone else might have more info about this type of marking.

Greetings John,
No, that is the only number on the side plate. However, I must admit, it has been refinished and buffed rather aggressively. I would think the outer number could have been buffed away, but WOW, they would have to do some might stout buffing.
I had a Krieghoff that was numbered in this fashion, but this is only part that is numbered this way. There are no other signs that the frame is a HK (such as a star).
Mike

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I have a DWM police rework with 02 stamped on the outside and 14 stamped inside the SP extention, like yours. TH