Quote:
Originally Posted by Yukon Jack
ok, let's try this again. I think, hope, I have the pictures attached this time.
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Jack,
Nice looking P.08.
The serial number is 3877s, indicating that it was probably made in May of 1941 but that is only an approximation.
The vast majority of the s-block guns were allocated to the Army. Some went to the Airforce and a much lesser number to the Navy.
It probably left the factory with wood grip panels marked with an Eagle 655 stamp rather than the last two digits of the serial number. It was most likely equipped with two extruded blued body and a serialized aluminum based magazines with the spare magazine marked with a +.
Note that I have used the word probably a lot. The reason is that in the year 1941 several changes were made to the delivery spec.
In mid-year there were transitions to the Type 6 black plastic bottom magazine replacing type 4 and 5 magazines.
Also around mid-year, sporadically black plastic grip panels started to appear, replacing the walnut grip panels
Any combination of two or three different types of magazine and two types of grip panels are theoretically possible in this time frame.
You may also want to carefully examine the P.08 stamp on the right side of the frame. Is the punctuation mark between the P and the 08 square or round? This was another transition as the new marking standards came into play. The Heereswaffenamt wanted to make sure that personnel were clearly informed that this was a P.08 and not the new P.38.
Hope this helps.
John