Quote:
Originally Posted by justsomeguy
Thanks for the info. What is the squiggle mark on the bottom of the mag? It looks sort of like a B.
Does the serial number give a month indication on it's manufacture date?
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What you see on the Luger mag base is a suffix letter to the serial number and it does appear that it's a b. The magazine is not matched to your Luger which is not at all unusual and will not detract from it's value.
Note on the frame under the serial number that there is also a letter. That appears to be an "x". That is actually a part of the complete serial number. Example: 1234x.
Lugers were manufactured in blocks of 10,000. The first block will be 1 ~ 10000 without a suffix letter. The next block will be 1 ~ 10000a followed by b, c etc. The letter j was never used as it is used interchangeably with the letter i in the written German language. Mauser, the maker of your Luger, went through the alphabet about three times. Unlike DWM and Erfurt production during WW1 when each year began production with 1 ~ 10000 and no suffix, Mauser continued production through the alphabet without interruption when the year changed. DWM and Erfurt would begin each year with 1 ~ 10000 no suffix and go as far into the alphabet as possible until year's end. At the beginning of the new year, they began all over at 1 ~10000 no suffix letter. Mauser simply changed the year and continued with whatever suffix letter they were on at the time.
While the serial number will not tell you what month it was made, the date, toggle stamp, serial number and suffix letter will provide a reasonable clue as to month of manufacture. Based upon the Mauser manufacturing time line chart in Still's book "Third Reich Lugers", I estimate that your Luger 8217x, 1939/42 was made in about Oct/Nov of 1939.