Hi Tom,
About the 'defacing marks'. Weren't these just crossed out old serial numbers?
My VoPo has some small parts that were defaced that way. I've seen a number of spare parts from butchered guns that had their numbers crossed out in the same fashion.
The receiver of the VoPo has been renumbered to match the serial number of the frame, the old receiver serial can just be made out. Another interesting observation on that VoPo is that the ORIGINAL serial number of some small parts has been restruck (probably after cleaning).
I did some comparison between the style of the original digits, the restruck DDR digits of the VoPo and the digits found on the S/42. I found that the S/42's digits were consistent with those used by Mauser, that slightly differ from the East-German restruck digits.
Another important bit of information is the presence or absence of contemporary proof marks.
Germany, Russian Federation and Hungary are part of the CIP, (international firearms proofing commission). This commission has an interesting guideline, dating from 1969 onwards. This guideline means that members of the CIP accept proof marks of other CIP members, taking away the need for reproofing of guns that are transported from one CIP member country to another.
Here is the fun bit. The VoPo was proofed in Western Germany (Koln), in 1989, indicating that it was transferred from Eastern-Germany (officially still in existance, those days, also not a CIP member in those days) to Western Germany.
The S/42 has the original German 1937 proofs as well as the DDR crown/N barrel proof. As since 1990 Eastern-Germany ceased to exist and became part of the German Republic again, they automatically joined the CIP and the former East-German 'crown/N' became CIP accepted proof. Russia joined the CIP in 1994.
Basically, this confirms that the S/42 was imported into Germany after 1991 and I strongly lean towards the post-1994 era.
|