Mauser Grips
 

Hi, new member here. I have just gotten started in collecting by purchasing my first luger. A 1940 42 655 stamp Mauser ser#3881a all matching numbers with one matching mag. I just recently fired it, and upon stripping it down for cleaning found all numbers do match with one exception. The grips, which are wooden, have no numbers stamped on them. I have read where they will have either the last 2 numbers, as everthing else does,, or the 655 stamp. I have also heard that some have no markings on them at all. The only thing i see is what looks like a "W" or possibly an "M' on one of them. Is it true some are not stamped at all??? They appear to be as old as the gun and look just like all the other grips I have looked at on the guns i was looing at before I purchased this one. Any help, thoughts or ideas would greatly be appreciated. Thanks,,, Mike

Hi Mike, Welcome to the forum! Grip numbering at Mauser was erratic, some years they did, some years they didn't, and some years they did both. You find original grips with large numbers, small numbers, no numbers and inspection marks like SE/655. If the condition of the grips on your 1940 42 is consistent with the rest of the gun, they're probably original. Regards, Norm

Thanks Norm. Puts my mind at ease now. Thanks, Mike

Also the E/655 or E/135 can be VERY small. I thought I had unmarked grips until I got out a 10X glass.

FN

mine has a K with a sun stamped on the both insides

Mike, Welcome. While most of the late 1939 Military Mausers didn't have numbered grips, I believe that grip numbering began again in 1940. I think that your Luger left the plant with numbered grips.

I don't know, Frank. Here's a near mint 1940 42 (with matching mag) that has unnumbered grips marked SE/655. I have no reason to believe that they are replacements. Regards, Norm

Norm, nice Luger. It's very difficult to know for sure. There are many instances of replacement grips on Lugers. Who knows for sure where and when any grips were replaced and by whom.

There are groups of Lugers that had MOSTLY numbered grips and the rest had MOSTLY unnumbered grips. That is from the present data.

Most, if not all, 1940 Lugers had numbered grips when they left the factory IMHO

Regards, Frank

The ones on my 1940 S42 are not numbered either:

http://home.comcast.net/~usgi1911/Im...ed/Luger10.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~usgi1911/Im...ed/Luger11.jpg

dsk, thanks for the pictures! Your grips have Waffenamt Marks (E/655). This means they are most likely armorer replacement grips. These are quite common.

Hi Frank, I don't follow your reasoning. My 1940 42 has SE/655 Waffenamt marks as does Mike's, does this mean that they are armorer's replacement guns? My gun has seen little if an use, it appears to be unfired, why would the grips have to be replaced? I stand by what I wrote in post #2. Regards, Norm

I'm not a Luger expert by any means so I have no bones in this fight, but an experienced collector told me he's seen way too many otherwise original Mausers with grips like these to believe that they were all armorer replacements. I guess the debate continues.....

Okay Norm, It appears we are just going to agree to disagree!!

Hi Frank, The topic of grip numbering has interested me for a while, but on Imperial Navy Lugers, and I included it in the Navy List survey (which now has 1,200 guns listed). I have found that almost exactly 50% had unnumbered grips over all. However, only 32% of the 1906 and 1908 models, that were made before the war, had unnumbered grips while the figure for 1916 and 1917 dated guns is 84%. This leads me to conclude that grip numbering was not a priority at DWM and became even less so once hostilities started. Perhaps it was the same at Mauser? While I have not formally surveyed Erfurts (where numbering was a priority), I have examined a number of them over the years, and almost all of them had numbered grips. This leads me to believe that instances of armorers actually having to replace grips were quite rare.
Best regards, Norm

Norme
" This leads me to believe that instances of armorers actually having to replace grips were quite rare."
Well stated!
Jan