Hi Frank, The topic of grip numbering has interested me for a while, but on Imperial Navy Lugers, and I included it in the Navy List survey (which now has 1,200 guns listed). I have found that almost exactly 50% had unnumbered grips over all. However, only 32% of the 1906 and 1908 models, that were made before the war, had unnumbered grips while the figure for 1916 and 1917 dated guns is 84%. This leads me to conclude that grip numbering was not a priority at DWM and became even less so once hostilities started. Perhaps it was the same at Mauser? While I have not formally surveyed Erfurts (where numbering was a priority), I have examined a number of them over the years, and almost all of them had numbered grips. This leads me to believe that instances of armorers actually having to replace grips were quite rare.
Best regards, Norm
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