1917 Erfurt Firing pin
 

Should the firing pin on a 1917 Erfurt be numbered or not? And how would a unit mark affect the value on it?

Wayne,

The firing pin in my 1918 Erfurt has the last two digits of the serial number, so I would expect a 1917 to have the same. There is also a crowned B on mine.

A unit mark makes the gun more interesting and therefore more valuable in my opinion.

Balder

Hi Wayne, As Balder says, Erfurt firing pins should be both numbered and inspection marked. The firing pin retainers were also inspection marked, but were un-numbered. Unit marks add greatly to a gun's appeal, in my opinion. Regards, Norm

If a pin was not numbered due to being replaced etc.. How much will the collectability suffer?

How much the value and collectibility suffers depends on the individual. To some, it adds to the character and history of the gun. To others, it is now a mismatched shooter.

Doug

I am not happy if a firing pin is unmarked, but it does not put the otherwise correct gun into the shooter category to me.

5-10% at the most? Depends on how nice the gun is?


ed

I was considering swapping a pair of p.38s for the erfurt but with the mismatched pin I now have some concerns.

Don't sell those P38's short on value, depending on what you have, of course. Nice, matching examples are pushing $1,000 these days.