Welcome. You have found a good Luger at a reasonable price Denny.
It is a great shooter because Mauser never made any junk. The fact that somebody has prettied it up for you makes the price that much more attractive.
42, S/42, and byf, were all used by Mauser as war-time production codes and any of them are correct. I don't have specific knowledge that the codes really meant anything, and perhaps someone else has some documentation to show what they might mean, but I think they were just random codes to hide the origin/location of where weapons were being produced during the war to keep the bombers away.
I know for certain that your's is fine because it is just like the one that a vet I know brought home and it has never been modified (he is still with us and still has it -- and it is kept loaded by his bed too). I usually clean it for him when I visit...
Just as a little insurance, I would buy yourself some spare parts if you plan on extensive shooting. These are the parts that would be most likely to break and require replacement. You might also consider a new mainspring to help protect those parts from undue pounding.
Firing pin, firing pin retainer/spring guide, extractor, ejector and a good set of range grips and put the originals away for a rainy day. The wood on the grips that old would probably shoot loose after a while. An inexpensive set of grips can be had -- look for the plastic ones with the bullseye on the side - these were issued to east german police and are plentiful. I think they are around $30 or so. Check with Tom Heller in links and resources to the left...
Even though your shooter was refinished, it is still all matching parts and you can keep it that way even though you intend to shoot it.
Welcome to the forum, please open a user profile to lock your user ID, and visit often...
regards,
John Sabato
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