1940 P.08 found in a box

[Gebirg]

This pistol has an incredible story since 1945.
I just wonder, a 1940 code 42 with bakelit grips (type 2) serial is 5103 m.

This pistol was found in a barn, in a metall box - stored there since 1945. It was a payment for a job, this Luger came directly from the Germans to the farmer who put it there. When his sons should expand the barn in 2003 they found the box...

[Arizona Slim]

Thank you for sharing the story and photos Gebrig, we all loving hearing stories like yours and of course wish that something similar to that would happen to them. By the way, great looking Luger.

Lon

[guns3545]

Originally Posted by Gebirg

This pistol has an incredible story since 1945.
I just wonder, a 1940 code 42 with bakelit grips (type 2) serial is 5103 m.

This pistol was found in a barn, in a metall box - stored there since 1945. It was a payment for a job, this Luger came directly from the Germans to the farmer who put it there. When his sons should expand the barn in 2003 they found the box...

Asle,

What a great find!

But you're right to worry about the black grips. And, you may have noticed the Type 6 magazine as well.

The m-block was late in the year so it may have had Walnut grips or perhaps the Brown Bakelite grips that Mauser got from HK.

The magazine would have been a Haenel 122 coded with Eagle 37 proofs and an aluminum base.

But, grips crack and are replaced and magazines get lost.

A great looking gun and an even greater story.

Thanks for sharing.

John

[Eugen]

Now thats what i call a "barn find". The box must have been sealed very well, since not a bit of dusted or rust. Amazing, given a non-climate controlled evironment. No damage from humidity.

Great story! Thank you for sharing the story and the nice pics. I am sure you will enjoy it.

[Gebirg]

Originally Posted by guns3545

Asle,

What a great find!

But you're right to worry about the black grips. And, you may have noticed the Type 6 magazine as well.

The m-block was late in the year so it may have had Walnut grips or perhaps the Brown Bakelite grips that Mauser got from HK.

The magazine would have been a Haenel 122 coded with Eagle 37 proofs and an aluminum base.

But, grips crack and are replaced and magazines get lost.

A great looking gun and an even greater story.

Thanks for sharing.

John

However this is a late production and i think that this pistol has leaved the factory with this grips? The pistol is not much used, why should they change the grips?

[guns3545]

Originally Posted by Gebirg

However this is a late production and i think that this pistol has leaved the factory with this grips? The pistol is not much used, why should they change the grips?

Asle,

Yes, but late production 1940. In 1940, there were some P.08s delivered with surplus HK grip panels they bought in 1939. But these were Brown, not black.

The first black Bakelite panels delivered by Mauser was mid-1941.

You can ask the same question about the magazine in the gun. It is a Type 6, again not delivered by Mauser until mid-1941.

But there are a hundred reasons why grip panels and magazines get replaced. That's why all matching guns are so rare.

Its a nice gun with a nice story and we should leave it at that because no one knows everything that happened to this gun between late 1940 and 1945 when it was put into this box.

John

John

[CAP Black]

It is unbelievable that moisture didn't get to it.
Jack

[Edward Tinker]

This is a great story - maybe I missed it, but it was wrapped in oily rags? Or you'd think it would be rough on one side by moisture like my friend said above. I had a LP marked luger (wish I had never sold it) that was rougher on one side (Likely the side facing upward)?

Also sent you a PM - I am about 40 pages from having enough Veteran Bring Back storys, would like this one.

Ed

[Gebirg]

Originally Posted by CAP Black

It is unbelievable that moisture didn't get to it.
Jack

The clima here is dry, also in the barn - airy and dry!

[guns3545]

There is a teachable moment occurring here and I would like to take advantage of it.

In the interest of full disclosure, I peripherally worked with Don and Joop on the Mauser Parabellum and did participate in Dave Molchen's study on black grip panels.

There is great speculation as to when Black grip panels started to appear at Mauser. As of the writing of the Mauser Parabellum in 2009, a lot of data was collected and it indicated that Black panels started occurring at Mauser in mid-1941 although some HK Brown panels which had been purchased by Mauser were seen on 1940 production.

I and a lot of other collectors have cursed dealers over the year because they wrecked righteous guns to make Black Widows and therefore all guns that did not fit into "accepted dates" were bogus.

But now thanks to the work of Dave Molchen, we now know that additional transactions between HK and Mauser took place and Mauser did use some Black Bakelite grip panels in 1940. A strong pattern has developed and we cannot deny its existence. The statistical data is too strong.

I am sure that future editions of the reference books will include this data.

So what is the teachable moment??

Simply this. Reference books are exactly that. A compendium of knowledge frozen at a point in time. On the other hand, empirically driven knowledge is occurring every day.

We capture that knowledge every day in this and other Forums like it. People like Dave and others seek "truth" and rely on collectors around the world to determine what "truth" is.

Therefore, I will continue to contribute data and offer information and ask that other collectors who may be quiet bystanders to get into the game. The more knowledge we share the better our hobby/avocation will become.

And, again, thanks to Sturgess and Goertz, Don and Joop, Dave Molchen, Ron Wood, Jan Still, etc. and all the other active collectors, authors and investigators who strive for a greater knowledge of Lugers.

We must NEVER forget that books are a reference, not a Bible. They represent a point in time. Forums like this and others are the real fountains of knowledge whose flow is continuous and ever changing.

John

[John Sabato]

[kpf]

Hi
I have this one in the same block whith the same grips, but this one got new barrel by the Norwegian Army.


Regards

Kai

Norway