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John Sabato · 05-05-2008, 03:40 PM

HI and welcome to the forum. You take excellent photos...and these are excellent examples of Mauser wartime production...

Both guns were produced by Mauser Waffenfabrik, at their plant in Oberndorf, Germany. The manufacturing code for the Mauser plant in early 1939 was S/42... later it changed to 42, hence the difference. It wasn't a secret code, but it kept the name of the factory off of their military production... following the 42 designation, the code changed one last time to byf in 1940 until the end of Mauser production.

With the absence of Kriegsmarine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Police issue markings or modifications, or commercial markings (Mauser Logo), these are most likely Army issue pistols...

The "odd" marks you mentioned are inspection and proof stamps that were put there during the manufacturing and inspection/acceptance processes.

There should be a small alphabetic character in script under the serial number on the front of the frames just above the trigger guard and in front of the takedown levers. This character is an integral part of the serial number and identifies the particular manufacturing "run" during which the pistol was produced. Number sequences started with 0001 through 9999, and started over... the second run being suffixed with the letter "a" and so forth... generally until the production year was over.

That is about all we can tell from your photos... there are no known records of which unit were issued particular weapons, so unless the captor of these particular weapons is still alive and can tell you from whom they were captured... you (and we) will likely never know who used them.

Value... that's a toughie question that changes almost monthly... but I wouldn't take less than $1500 each for them... and if there are more accessories, like the original holsters, or a second matching magazine, the value continues to rise... keep them in your safe, and don't shoot them...unless you just can't stand it! You wouldn't want to break a part on one of these gems...

May we ask from which dealer were they acquired? or were they a private sale?

05-05-2008, 03:40 PM	#10
John Sabato Lifer Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: The Capital of the Free World Posts: 10,155 Thanks: 3,003 Thanked 2,308 Times in 1,098 Posts	HI and welcome to the forum. You take excellent photos...and these are excellent examples of Mauser wartime production... Both guns were produced by Mauser Waffenfabrik, at their plant in Oberndorf, Germany. The manufacturing code for the Mauser plant in early 1939 was S/42... later it changed to 42, hence the difference. It wasn't a secret code, but it kept the name of the factory off of their military production... following the 42 designation, the code changed one last time to byf in 1940 until the end of Mauser production. With the absence of Kriegsmarine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Police issue markings or modifications, or commercial markings (Mauser Logo), these are most likely Army issue pistols... The "odd" marks you mentioned are inspection and proof stamps that were put there during the manufacturing and inspection/acceptance processes. There should be a small alphabetic character in script under the serial number on the front of the frames just above the trigger guard and in front of the takedown levers. This character is an integral part of the serial number and identifies the particular manufacturing "run" during which the pistol was produced. Number sequences started with 0001 through 9999, and started over... the second run being suffixed with the letter "a" and so forth... generally until the production year was over. That is about all we can tell from your photos... there are no known records of which unit were issued particular weapons, so unless the captor of these particular weapons is still alive and can tell you from whom they were captured... you (and we) will likely never know who used them. Value... that's a toughie question that changes almost monthly... but I wouldn't take less than $1500 each for them... and if there are more accessories, like the original holsters, or a second matching magazine, the value continues to rise... keep them in your safe, and don't shoot them...unless you just can't stand it! You wouldn't want to break a part on one of these gems... May we ask from which dealer were they acquired? or were they a private sale? __________________ regards, -John S "...We hold these truths to be self-evident that ALL men are created EQUAL *and are endowed by their Creator* with certain UNALIENABLE* rights, and among these are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness..."*