Hi Joe,
Welcome to the Forum..this is a great group.
Now to your questions:
I have a couple questions.
-should any parts be strawed on this P08?
Yes. The trigger, take-down lever and safety asembly should be strawed.
-should the grips be serialed to the pistol?
Yes, that was *generally* the practice; however, period replacement grips with no number are often encountered. The replacements may be checkered walnut or, for late war replacements, beech.
-would the finish be more of a salt blue than a rust blue?
These guns are rust blued; any other finish is a serious problem.
-there were no markings on the back of the holster, is this normal for a WW1 era holster? All stitching appears tight and correct.
Holster marking does not follow any particular pattern. I have found Imperial leather marked on the inside, under the bucket, on the closing strap and on the face of the holster. Suggest you dust the thing with talc or corn starch, give it a light dusting and see what shows up. A loupe and Ott light is handy here.
-And finally, the only obvious thing I see wrong is that when I pull back on the toggle with an empty magazine in place, the action does not hold open, so there is force against the magazine (which makes removing the mag difficult). Easy fix?
Not *really* my area of expertise; but there are loads of folks on this site who can diagnose functioning problems with dispatch.
Hope this helps!
Tom A
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