BYF With Phosphate Finish
 

Hello Everybody:

Almost 40 years ago, the husband of one of my Mon's best friends showed my Dad and I a BYF 42 Luger that had a green phosphate finish. He claimed that his brothers had given him both a Luger and a P-38 as souvenirs after the war (he was too young to serve).

Was this pistol originally finished in phosphate, or was it an after market job?

Sieger

Sieger, toward the end of production some Mauser Lugers were given a phosphate (parkerized) finish and some of the byf 42 Lugers sold to Portugal were so finished. While the Portugese byf 42 Lugers are the only ones I've heard of being parkerized, it's also possible that some parkerized Lugers were issued to the German Army. Perhaps someone else has more positive information about that.

Sieger,

Bob Adams has such a phosphate finish Portuguese Luger for sale on his website... Since I didn't have time to request permission to use his photo here, I have provided the just the link to Bob's photo...

http://www.adamsguns.com/925.jpg

BTW, Bob's asking price for this gun is $1295...

Perhaps one of the Mauser Luger experts will venture an opinion on the question posed by Doubs about parkerized Lugers possibly being issued to the German Army...

John, I'm with Doubs. The only "parkerized" Lugers I know are some of the Portuguese (and maybe some Bulgarian) Contract Pistols.

FWIW, I bought an all matching Portuguese from Adams and it turned out the hold open lever was not matched. He did refund my bucks, but for the first business deal with him I was disappointed.

Finnish Lugers come phosphate finished (Parkerization is a trademarked process) as well.

--Dwight

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Dwight Gruber:
<strong>Finnish Lugers come phosphate finished (Parkerization is a trademarked process) as well.
--Dwight</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">While Finnish Lugers may be found with a phosphate finish, is there any evidence that they were originally made that way? The Portugese byf 42 Lugers with phosphate finish left the factory that way while Finnish Lugers were acquired at a time when rust blue was the standard. I'd be very surprised to learn that any Finnish Luger with a phosphate finish wasn't refinished. (Too many "finishes" in this one!)
:rolleyes:

Finnish Lugers underwent frequent arsenal rework, much as did Dutch Lugers. I am under the impression that the phosphate finish on Finnish Lugers is a rework characteristic.

As far as a "standard" finish is concerned, a WAG might be that salt blue remained "standard", and the phosphate finish was specified by the Portuguese in the purchase contract.

--Dwight

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Dwight Gruber:
<strong>As far as a "standard" finish is concerned, a WAG might be that salt blue remained "standard", and the phosphate finish was specified by the Portuguese in the purchase contract. --Dwight</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">No argument from me on the salt blue "standard" at the time when the Portugese byf 42 Lugers were made. Indeed, Portugese byf Lugers are found with both types of finish (salt blue and phosphate) but "standard" in 1923 when the Finnish contract was being filled by DWM was rust blue. Perhaps my first post wasn't clear to that effect but that's what I meant to say.

Go to ALL P-08 Commerical Lugers: date 7-9-2003 Parkerized/1942/Portugal. Good answer from Lugerdoc-I purchased one of these with holster and tools for 1350 from a fellow who bought it from a dealer in Canada 25 years ago. You just don't see much information on these-I thought it was unique and for the price couldn't pass it up. It is rather an ugly duckling! But still a Luger!

How about some nice photos of your ugly duckling Dr. Frank?

We would all appreciate seeing it.