Quote:
Originally Posted by alanint
My guess would be to differentiate the pistol from the P38 to the uninitiated. The P38 was then coming online and may have caused some confusion at supply depots.
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Doug,
Absolutely correct!
During 1940, the Bureaus of Heereswaffenamt issued several orders which changed markings in anticipation of the P.38 coming on line.
1. All date codes went from 4 digits to 2 digits, e.g. no more 1941, just 41.
2. All numeric manufacturer codes changed from numeric to three letters, e.g. Mauser went from 42 to byf.
3. To avoid confusion, all P.08 and P.38 related equipment had to be so stamped. This included pistols, magazines and holsters. Pistols on the left frame ahead of the safety. Holsters on the upper right of the back and magazines on the lower body opposite the acceptance stamps. But first ones were upside down until someone noticed and corrected it. Magazine vendor also changed in this period. Latest effective was to be 1/1/1941.
Just FYI, I've seen some 1940 holsters ink stamped P.08 so apparently some suppliers put the order into effect as soon as they received it. Or, field depots/units hand stamped them after the fact. Mauser on the other hand always dragged its feet and used up existing stock before complying. So just as they did with the magazine changeover in 1940, they used up all existing frames. So we see a couple of thousand frames
without the P.08 in 1941. The marking continued to end of production in 1942 and extended into 1943/4 as Mauser cleaned out its stocks of existing parts to support the war effort. From observation of these late out of cycle guns they did not go back and stamp P.08 on frames made before 1941.
Krieghoff on the other hand was supervised by the Luftwaffeamt (LWaA). They did not issue a P.08 marking order to HK. Additionally HK's production for the LW was 11,000 or so pistols, over what?? 9 years. Peanuts in the overall scheme of things.
Nothing is ever simple.
John