Hi,
Some of the last byf 42's produced were sold to Portugal in 1943. Known serial range 685m-5263m for a total of 4578. Portugueses designation is Model 943.
A large quantity of these were imported to Canada from Portugal in the early 1980's. More than half of these were parkerized. Most came with a Portuguese holster. These lugers are full German army accepted 42 byf P08's.
The preceeding two paragraphs of information came from "Third Reich Lugers" by Jan Still, p247.
Also from TRL's; 5600 42byfs were sold to Bulgaria in the m to n serial range.
"Black Widow" is a dealer/collector term refering to 41 and 42 byf's mostly, that had the bakelite type black plastic grips.
Craig
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