Hi Russ and Doc..!
Russ my thanks!!! Also - Doc - pull up a chair - my reply turned out slightly longer then I expected.!!!
Doc, whether you know it or not â?? you are asking a terrific question â?? but I suspect you know thatâ?¦!!
First â?? the magazine release (right side) were fire blued, as you probably know â?? rather then â??bluedâ? using a rust/chemical process. For that, youâ??ll notice a range of color and hue on the right side of the release. However, your question is more general in nature â?? dealing specifically with what is â??correctâ? for certain years and Krieghoff variations â?? which brings up â??whenâ? the P Code commercials were manufactured.
In short â?? there is no conclusive evidence that the magazine releases were cut over from straw to blue, either by year or by serial number range. In fact, during the early production â?? both strawed and fire-blued my be presumed to be correct. For example â?? one of my Early â??Sâ?, my Mid-Series â??Sâ?and one of my "1937"s in fact have fire-blued releases, while another of my Early â??Sâ?, Late â??Sâ?, â??36â? and â??1936â? are strawed. My other 1937 (another then noted above) and 1938 are fire blued â?? so, specifically, the â??1937â? could be proper with either as pieces exist with both type of mag releases (see above on "1937" - however, there isnâ??t enough data on the â??1938â? production to determine if one type is exclusive).
Using Mr. Gibsonâ??s book and my own notes as references, letâ??s take a look at just the Early P code Series Commercial â?? and see if we can associated a magazine release type to a specific year of production (While I donâ??t have my notes or Mr. Gibsonâ??s book at hand (Iâ??m at the office), I reserve the right to edit this post later
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The serial number of this piece is â??P 183â? as noted, and therefore â?? would put it near the beginning of the run of this variation (Gibson notes up to serial # "P 960" are inclusive of the Early variation). Using the date inscription of â??P 305â? as a landmark â?? that was side inscribed on or before May of 1938 (reference photo archive and Gibson) as a presentation Commercial. Therefore, itâ??s reasonable to presume that â??P 183â? was manufactured before that date â?? in 1937 or in the first months of 1938, with overall production of the Early P-Series perhaps beginning even sooner (depending on the markings noted). That being the case, and as noted â?? both my 1937 and 1938 have the same magazine release type (fire blued) as this Early P Code example (P 183) - so can an anology be made to production dates? Let's see.....
What we do know is that both the Early and Mid Series P Code commercials have a different commercial proof structure then the â??Late P Code commercialsâ? as defined by Gibson. The Late â??Pâ? variation do, in fact, conform to the Proof Laws which were passed in 1939 and became effective in the first half of 1940 (I believe Mr. Gibson notes the date by month â?? but I canâ??t recall if he notes March, April or May â?? and I donâ??t have his book handy â?? Iâ??ll edit this later?). In any event, it would appear that the Late â??Pâ? series were marked to conform to that Proof Law, thereby dating this specific variation as the earliest production in the late 1939 or 1940.
What all this data says, given the span of manufacturing dates for the â??Earlyâ? (side frame inscribed) and â??Midâ? (no side frame inscription) P code commercials â?? is that during that same period for Military production, both magazine releases were employed â?? but again, that time reference minimally spans at least a 2.5 year period (and probably more, if one accepts the 1937 date for Early P Codes). That is based on the dates we are aware of (P 305) and cut over to Late â??Pâ? Code beginning at Serial # â??P 1060â?.
Wow â?? sorry for the windy replyâ?¦ In short, yes â?? either are correct and Early P codes and within this variation, examples have been noted with â??bothâ? types of magazine releases. Further, no conclusive evidence states that there was a specific year or assigned production serial number that a change over occured for the type of magazine release installed. Since that seems to be the case, in a larger sense, it also leads to the statement next paragraph.
It also raises many questions about the Krieghoff manufacturing and production process - i.e. what was actually installed and when; and where the raw parts were produced and "matched" to the various years produced. But, that's for another day.. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />