Thanks again Frank, that clears things up a lot! I've seen the letter suffix in pictures of DWM barrels so assumed Mauser did the same. I'm still trying to get a grasp on military numbering. Wish I could take a look at Jan Still's Third Reich Lugers, but it's out of print with a used hardback going at Amazon for $600+! Also wish I had my 41 byf handy as I could learn more about Mauser from it as it's a matching parts Luger not a mix&match like the one pictured above.
You cleared up Mauser P.08 numbering for me, too. I had assumed that each calendar year the numbering started again at 1. But I knew something didn't make sense because my 41 byf SN# 7345u would be around the 207,345th P08 of 1941 yet I'd read only about 160,000 actually were made. But what about 9999z (about 260,000 if I'm figuring right 26x10000), wouldn't Mauser have to go back to 1 since they made more than 260,000 P.08s during WWII? (I've read "j" was not used so 260,000 would be the maximum number, not 270,000.)
Also I guess in WWI, DWM didn't drop back to 1 at the beginning of each calander year? But then they made something like 850,000 P.08s so they would have run out of letter suffixes too!
Sorry to have so many questions, just trying to sort this all out and it's great to talk with guys who know their stuff!
Bob
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