[renaissance7697]

I donâ??t know what I got â?¦â?¦ but Iâ??m excited ! ! !

This is â??Renaissanceâ?
I am back again
Itâ??s been years since Iâ??ve been on this board.
Someone might remember:
The Bloody Beast
Or
The Flap over the Black Widow grips â?? the lesbian Nazi hero â?? Her Gortz pulling oneâ??s leg with a hilariously preposterous story etc
Re: search â??Black Grips againâ? thread.

Found what I think is a mysterious â??Jewelâ? at my local Gun Shop.
Couldnâ??t pick it up (buy) it fast enough.
A 1940 â??42â? Mauser

Beautiful Blue Job â?? Deep Rich Blue â?? reblue of course - rust I think
(I KNOW the collector Value was ruined, but it sure is pretty)
Closer examination revealed it to appear to be â??all matchingâ? (everything I could see at least) â?? { not the Magazine of course } ).
It appears to be in excellent mechanical condition.
All the edges of the internal parts are sharp and clear â?? no wear ( or even â??useâ?)
Rifling is strong and sharp ( maybe a little frosted â?? canâ??t be sure â?? Iâ??m no expert)
Lots of â??Waffen Stampsâ? ( the eagles etc )

The polish job before bluing was excellent EXCEPT for the side plate, which was over-polished ( with a dermel it looks like ) . The Side plate matching number was almost removed.

All other numbers matching and sharp and clear .

WHAT were they thinking ??

I took it out to see how it would shoot.
It did pretty OK.
The slide (Excuse me â?? â??toggleâ? â?? Iâ??ve been away a while) would lock back once in a while on a not yet empty magazine, but a quick â??tugâ? on the Knuckle would set it straight again.

(What might be the problem here ??)

Now the "exciting part" ( aside from the nice piece itself).

It came with a very nice looking set of WOOD grips. Close checkering â?? no chips â?? nice light natural color.
( The wood seems a little dry â?? I am eager for any suggestions as to how to â??preserveâ? them â?? I am reluctant to use oil for fear of destroying the nice â??naturalâ? color - - (Any Suggestions ?)

I took off the grips to see if there was any rust underneath

The grip panels were > Inscribed < .....inside..... - in INK !
They BOTH were marked in â??scriptâ? handwriting
Calligraphic actually like the kind of script you might see on a weddinjg invitation.

T. (O/V?). Driller
Kewell
April 4th 1923 << This in script on BOTH Panels

FT to TP
H.C.R.K.
25 â?? 63 << This in another more crude lettering on one panel

>> Can anyone suggest the meaning of all that ??? <<

Question:
If the inscription was by a â??Germanâ? writer â?? would it say â??Aprilâ? ??
*****************************
Now: Gun 1940
Grips > inscribed 1923
??????????????????????????

One of the grip panels had been â??Inletted / relievedâ? perhaps for the magazine stud.
I guessed the grips might have been originally for a Luger that did not have a hold open latch â?? thus â?? no Magazine stud to activate it)

{{ On further thought - the inletting (wood removed was on the wrong panel side - The Magazine stud is on the other side }}

Could the removed wood have been to remove some other writing?
You can see that the inletting was done after the writing because a tiny bit of the script was removed.

Would a 1940 42 have originally had wooden grip panels??

My thinking is that the grips were originaly from a different luger ( one more close to the 1923 date) and transfered to the 1940 42 ??
For sentimental reasons ??

Any ideas ?- anyone ?

I have "Googled" everything in the inscription (names - date - Initials - came up with nothing that seems to fit.

I have pictures
I will try to post them