[Herb]

Bill, how about a guess?? Martens and de Vries, on page 163 gives this exception--- "According to Army regulations, all Indies Lugers had to bear this (sic) year in which the barrel entered service. Yet, pistols without these dates are known. The most likely explanation for this is that the pistol belonged to the material reserve and never officially entered service. The earliest barrel date observed is 1914, the latest is 1941, which is quite logical since the East Indies army capitulated to the Japanese in March 1942"
My guess is that some of the pistols in the material service did in fact enter service at various times and at that time they stamped the date on the barrel. Makes sense since both of our barrels have the original British proofs and also the date that they entered service. They are not the unmarked replacement barrels.