In this post, we're going to look at the frame. We'll start with general left and right side views and then zoom in on a few details.
Right side:
Left side:
Generally speaking, the frame is nearly devoid of markings. If I detail stripped the thing I might find a couple but, unless I had another in hand to also strip down for comparison, I see no need to do that. So, let's just see what we can see while leaving it intact.
Front half of the right side:
Again, we see the rough machining. For some reason, I usually prefer this over a finely finished product as it speaks of a sense of urgency and purpose. But I'm going out into left field here; time to reel it back in. Notice the little hump that projects downwards underneath the trigger pin. There are variations of this during Third Reich production from very pronounced to totally nonexistent. This particularly subtle profile is only seen on the DDR production run.
Right rear:
Notice that a couple of the pins are in the white and the sear is blued.
Bottom right side of grip with some commie cosmoline present:
I'm only doing broad brush strokes here because, for the most part, the frame is nearly identical to earlier production.
Left rear of the frame:
Notice the peculiarly shaped slide release. It's a stamped component, and the shape of it is exclusive to East German production.
Another angle of it:
And one more of the slide release lever from an above angle:
Ant the left front of the frame are the only readily noticeable markings:
The takedown lever is numbered with the last two digits of the serial number. Above the serial number we have two stamps. The rearward one is a Crown/U inspection stamp and, front of it, we see a state eagle flipped on its side with the head towards the front. To the rear of the serial number, there used to be a VOPO sunburst surrounding a two digit number denoting the district the pistol was assigned to. That was obliterated by the Easties before sending it out into the world to begin a new life on the international market. Incidentally, this pistol bears no import mark. That means it was either imported into this country before the 1968 Gun Control Act, smuggled in afterwards, or, it was simply missed when they were import stamping other pistols being imported, take your pick. In front of the serial number is what collectors call the "AB9" stamp. Some say this stamp denoted the part as East German made. Others say that, yes, it is an East German stamp, but it's not outright saying that the part it's on is Eastie. I don't know exactly what it means but I do know it was placed there by the East Germans. With regards to these stamps, sometimes you see NONE of them defaced. Sometimes, you see ALL of them defaced. USUALLY, you'll see at least one of them destroyed as we see on this example.
The last thing we need to look at on the frame are the tops of the rails. On this example, both rails, from front to back, have been polished at a minimum and ground down and polished at a maximum. They are NOT simply shiny from use wearing the bluing away. Remember when we saw the grinding on the inside of the slide earlier; presumably during hand fitting during assembly? Well, that's what was done here; the bluing was removed during hand fitting of the slide to the frame:
That's it for this post. We'll finish up in the next one with the barrel and locking piece.