Military - Commercial Mauser Banner 41
 

This pistol was introduced by a Dutch sports shooter on Jan Still's forum a few years ago. I recently found it for sale a a local dealer and purchased it.

The pistol is an interesting enigma. Numbers match, apart from some old repairs that were done to get it shooting safely again (holdopen and safety).

The main pistol is basically a military spec P.08 from 1941, the toggle train is all matching, but commercially proofed with a Mauser Banner (7-line) toggle. All parts fit perfectly and are numbered in the military style. Several others have been reported, and judging from the background of these guns they were manufactured this way. The general idea is that these were made after 1942 from available parts in order to fulfill sales to non-military organizations or individuals who were entitled to carry them.

There has been a lot of speculation about the combination, and many suggested that these were put together from parts by dealers at a later stage. Of course, this is always a possibility, but it was never a really important side business in Europe, where this pistol has remained.

One of the photos shows the pistol, combined with a box of ammunition that is also not supposed to exist: A military box of 9mm ammunition, produced by DWM, with normal faa-marked headstamps (steel cased mE). The label, however, is in the 'commercial' style, no encoding whatsoever. The producer is clearly marked and it even has a warning message for use in the P08 pistol.

So it neatly combines with a 'Military/Commercial P08' :)

Vlim,

9949 no suffix? Where does it fit in production of the 41/42 or BYF41's? Or does it?

Thanks

Steve, its an s suffix.

Vlim
Interesting 41 Banner Army sn 9949s. Another 41 Banner Army is listed on page 140 of Third Reich Lugers. Its serial number is 6683q.

A link to other Forum discussion:
http://luger.gunboards.com/showthrea...user+Banner+41

Jan

Jan, thanks for the reference.

I included a better photo of the DWM label. It is the only one reported so far, it would be interesting to see if there are others like it (military 16-round box, 'commercial label') in other collections.

Similar to my "42" date Banner Luger s/n 715g. It's been discussed here before...

and Here...

It is interesting to find another in Europe - implying that these were not just made for GIs returning to the US.

The broken trigger plate pin on mine makes me question if mine was really military inspected and passed. The overall re-blue on mine could have been an effort to quickly make the entire pistol look uniform.

I need to get a replacement trigger plate pin and see if what's inside the trigger transfer bar is blue or in the white...

Marc

Vlim, very nice


Ed

Vlim,

Thanks for the suffix letter.

I was looking at the top view pic and was wondering if the vertical pin through the toggle is blued or in the white.

Thanks

Steve. Good eye, its blued. As is the S-link and the recoil lever.

Same things blued on my Mauser Luger.

Marc

Mauser Banner 42 #8300Y pure commercial, late war production, has blued trigger lever, blued "S" Link and blued toggle pin. By the way, most or all salt blued Lugers have blued toggle pins as well .