[ithacaartist]

Thanks, Don, for the most interesting info so far, and the reminder about the rear toggle pics. Here we go. I took these inside... It was a choice between taking them outside, or using the last bit of pre-sunset light to shoot a couple of mags. So...

The first pic also shows that the rear toggle axle is correctly numbered. The rear link definitely appears to have had some work done to it. My hypothesis is that some weld was built up in the area, and worked down into a typical P.08 rear sight notch. And it would also appear that creating a nice, flat surface was not much of a priority--judging from the obvious file marks. The retaining pin for the joint has been re-installed, to include a lick with a file to make it flush (also leaving a file mark on the top of the knob). This was all finished over in rust blue.

Now, my question is whether this is the second replacement barrel? Its salt blue finish attests to its post-1937/8 treatment. But the font on the barrel is not what impresses me as typically Mauser, since it is not the more squared style one sees on the WWII pistols, but the tops to its "5"s are even curvier than the ones on the rest of the gun. I know that font variation occurs "naturally" to some extent, and nothing definitive can necessarily be concluded, based on them. Don's call about the depot-level rework is a likely explanation... that the facility was using older or non-standard number dies. Perhaps they spiffed up/processed a barrel in this manner/order if it was supplied in the white?

In addition, the surface of the barrel is telling me that it was smoothed off in a lathe after the s.n., bore measurement, and the eagles were stamped, and then blued. There is no displacement of the metal around any of them, and there's significant "fade" to all the impressions.

The other thing I'm puzzled about is that pistols for the government weren't allowed with the 8" length such as those of LP.08s. If it was property marked in the Weimar days, wouldn't the barrel have been changed out then, as well? Since the rear toggle is rust blued, I'm thinking its conversion was done in the 20's, when it was property stamped?