New guy here with a 1939 mauser 42 luger

[boyd]

Hello!
New guy from Sweden here, I recently bought this luger.

I'd like your opinions on it, also wonder why the serial on the frame seem to be stamped and then changed

Gun is all matching, (except the magazine), seems to be in great condition, the bore is almost perfect I think, looks like it has not been shot that much,

I think this is a collectors item, however in sweden we are required to shoot our guns (if they are not on a collectors license) and that's hard to get, It shoots like a dream, trigger is absolutley wonderful,

The yellowish color is hard to see in the "gesichert" saftey area but its very yellow,

It came with a holster from 1938, no tool unfortunatley,
I paid the equivalent of $600

Thank you for ANY input and please forgive any spelling errors and bad english!

Please click on the pictures for larger image

[Doubs]

Welcome to the forum. That's a very nice Luger and one you can be proud to own. It appears to be in excellent condition.

The over stamp on the frame serial number may be simply to correct a mistake. The font looks to be correct and of the proper size. But, at this late date that's only a guess.

The "yellow" in the safety marking was originally white and has simply aged into a yellow tint.

The $600 you paid would be considered theft in the States. It would bring three times that here with the holster. Congratulations on a truly great purchase.

[boyd]

Originally Posted by Doubs

Welcome to the forum. That's a very nice Luger and one you can be proud to own. It appears to be in excellent condition.

The over stamp on the frame serial number may be simply to correct a mistake. The font looks to be correct and of the proper size. But, at this late date that's only a guess.

The "yellow" in the safety marking was originally white and has simply aged into a yellow tint.

The $600 you paid would be considered theft in the States. It would bring three times that here with the holster. Congratulations on a truly great purchase.

Thank you very much for your answer and the warm welcome, I am indeed super proud,

I guess most people here would consider it sacrilege to shoot a collector grade luger, but it has absolutley outstanding accuracy.

I am a competition shooter and I have no trouble at all shooting 8 cm groups one handed @ 25 meters, trigger pull is better than most of my competition pistols.

A few questions, why are there 2 different numbers stamped inside the side plate?
And why are there a number on the front sight, and a + sign, I have not seen that on other peoples luger pictures I think

Is it possible to know exactly what month it was manufactured?

Again thank for any input and info regarding my luger.

[Curly1]

Nice example and great p[rice!

[Doubs]

The numbers inside the side plate were likely put there by factory inspectors.

When the pistols were initially sighted in, the front sight height could be changed to achieve zero at the desired distance. Thus they were made in different heights and marked accordingly.

The change from S/42 to just 42 came in 1939. S/42 production in 1939 was approximately 38,500. The production of 42 Lugers began about serial number 200r and your serial number suffix letter is a W. There were approximately 85,500 Lugers marked 42 produced in 1939. If I had to guess - and that's what I'm doing - I'd say your Luger was made in September, 1939. It could have been late August or even early October but IMO the best guess is September.

[tharpo]

It is possible the front of the frame serial number and the inside of the sideplate were restamped at the factory to correct mistakes. The #31 on the sideplate is the correct one. It is the first two numbers of the serial number plus 1. The fonts on everything look original.

Tom

[boyd]

Originally Posted by Doubs

The numbers inside the side plate were likely put there by factory inspectors.

When the pistols were initially sighted in, the front sight height could be changed to achieve zero at the desired distance. Thus they were made in different heights and marked accordingly.

The change from S/42 to just 42 came in 1939. S/42 production in 1939 was approximately 38,500. The production of 42 Lugers began about serial number 200r and your serial number suffix letter is a W. There were approximately 85,500 Lugers marked 42 produced in 1939. If I had to guess - and that's what I'm doing - I'd say your Luger was made in September, 1939. It could have been late August or even early October but IMO the best guess is September.

Originally Posted by tharpo

It is possible the front of the frame serial number and the inside of the sideplate were restamped at the factory to correct mistakes. The #31 on the sideplate is the correct one. It is the first two numbers of the serial number plus 1. The fonts on everything look original.

Tom

Thank you very much for your replies, much appreciated.

What about the magazines? Are they from the right period? They have different stamps, and colors, attatching pictures of them.

One magazine sometimes lock up the toggle link when there is a round still left, but the other one works perfect.

Thanks again

[Doubs]

The nickle plated magazine, made of folded metal, probably had a wood base when made. The metal base - aluminum - was later added. It likely dates from the WW1 era or shortly after during the Weimar period.

The blue magazine is closer to being correct for your Luger in terms of the period in which it was made.

The "+" sign on both indicate that they were originally the second or spare magazine when issued with their original pistol. They are military mags. Police mags were marked 1 & 2 with the 2 being the spare mag.

[tharpo]

6705a would be for a 1935 G date Luger.
2264m would be for a 1938 S/42.
This can be determined by the acceptance stamp and letter suffix.

Tom

[DonVoigt]

"The extruded (blue) magazine "

This type magazine is NOT extruded; it is made from a machined flat blank that is folded and welded up the spine, then machined on the outside. The feed lips are machined into the "inside" of the flat before it is folded, there is no way to form them otherwise.
There are step-wise pictures of the process in a couple different luger books.

One can often see the welded seam if you look inside the magazine, and often there is a slight discoloration in the finish on the outside.

The luger collector community should/would/need to stop promulgating the myth of "extruded" magazines!

Please.

[Doubs]

Originally Posted by DonVoigt

"The extruded (blue) magazine "

This type magazine is NOT extruded. The luger collector community should/would/need to stop promulgating the myth of "extruded" magazines!

Please.

Fixed it for ya.

[RichSr]

I believe the mag identified by Tom (2264m would be for a 1938 S/42) is manufactured in the same manner as the one for the G date. The mag type mentioned by Don is easily identified by the pin located in the center of the dished out aluminum base

[mrerick]

I also have a Luger with a factory over stamped serial number.

We discussed that ;pistol here:

http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthre...ht=overstamped

The trigger plate looks like it may have been factory installed with both sets of digits stamped with the same die font. I've never seen one double stamped like that.

It's very possible that the serialization error was discovered in a final inspection (possibly duplicating another pistol) and sent back for rework to correct the serial and do other work. Unfortunately, there is not likely any documentation of this.

[boyd]

Originally Posted by mrerick

I also have a Luger with a factory over stamped serial number.

We discussed that ;pistol here:

http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthre...ht=overstamped

The trigger plate looks like it may have been factory installed with both sets of digits stamped with the same die font. I've never seen one double stamped like that.

It's very possible that the serialization error was discovered in a final inspection (possibly duplicating another pistol) and sent back for rework to correct the serial and do other work. Unfortunately, there is not likely any documentation of this.

Thank you for your input, and for the link to your thread, (you have a beautiful 1936 )

This is very interesting, maybe the sideplate at first belonged to another luger with the serial number 75xx at the factory? Because it's stamped 92 on the other side maybe it was originally intended for luger with serial number 7592, or maybe someone just stamped the wrong digits.

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by DonVoigt

"The extruded (blue) magazine "

This type magazine is NOT extruded; it is made from a machined flat blank that is folded and welded up the spine, then machined on the outside. The feed lips are machined into the "inside" of the flat before it is folded, there is no way to form them otherwise.
There are step-wise pictures of the process in a couple different luger books.

One can often see the welded seam if you look inside the magazine, and often there is a slight discoloration in the finish on the outside.

The luger collector community should/would/need to stop promulgating the myth of "extruded" magazines!

Please.

Don, you're describing the construction of the typical FXO mags that don't have a folded rib/seam on each side, right? The blued mag body in the pics seems to have ribs, plus a crimp (follower stop).. The externally machined mag bodies mistakenly called "extruded" are also cut square on the bottom and have no visible holes for retaining pins.

[mrerick]

Originally Posted by boyd

Thank you for your input, and for the link to your thread, (you have a beautiful 1936 )

This is very interesting, maybe the sideplate at first belonged to another luger with the serial number 75xx at the factory? Because it's stamped 92 on the other side maybe it was originally intended for luger with serial number 7592, or maybe someone just stamped the wrong digits.

The final over stamped serial number on the front of the frame is a "2". it's doubtful that the gun left the factory with the last digit a "1" since you'd expect the rest of the numbers on the gun to be "91" not "92. That points to the over stamping being done somewhere in the production process when a worker noticed the wrong digit on the frame.

Anything we imagine is just speculation. I've never seen a side plate with two pairs of numbers stamped inside. Obviously, seeing yours, they do exist.

Why this exists? It would be hard to say. There are several possibilities. The fact that the numeric digits and size of the dies used to stamp them is consistent with the factory dies is interesting.

All the side plates had to be hand fit. I don't believe that they were numbered (inside and out) until that hand fitting was completed. You wouldn't number it on the outside and then hand fit it later because any error would make you do both things again.

Lugers were manufactured in batches, and so were the parts. It's conceivable that a worker got the job to repeatedly internally number several plates for a series then the batch was distributed to individual gunsmiths for hand fitting. If your pistol was corrected and after a delay was finally completed and fit, it's possible that the side plate waiting for fitting had been batch stamped inside already, and that had to be corrected.

It's equally likely that at some point in it's life, the side plate was lost (as often happened when soldiers were captured), or a new one had to be fitted. If someone had a box of spare parts with lots of side plates, they might have found one externally marked "92" and added the numbers inside when they fitted the plate. In that case, someone outside the factory had the same 2mm sans-serif font dies as the factory used...

They were doing wartime production by 1939, and it's the German nature to waste nothing. The expedient often prevailed.