1941 BYF question

Hello to all. my wife, knowing I was interested in picking up a Luger went a bit overboard Christmas. She gave me a 1941 BYF ser#12xx which appears to be in 90% condition with all matching numbers except for the magazine. After reading all I can both here and elsewhere I am still not sure about a few items. Perhaps I can get some help.


How can I tell if the gun has ever been refinished. I read here about a white color inside the gun. Well it looks blued (more like black) both inside and out. The proof marks look good but are slightly blurred and in some cases have hard to read numbers.


In the book "The Luger Handbook" it states that the grips are plastic but a few are walnut. The grips on my gun are a blond colored wood with no numbers. In addition, the book states that the ejector, magazine catch,takedown lever, thumb safety and trigger are all straw color. My gun is entirely blue with no straw color anywhere except for the word Gesichert by the safety.


The Luger Handbook gives a value of $1575 for very good condition and $2250 for excellent. my wife paid $1225 which seems a bit low for this gun.


My big concern again is how to tell if the gun has been refinished. My big problem is both the lack of straw color on parts listed in the handbook and the grips.


Thanks in advance,


Eric

[Lonnie Zimmerman]

Eric; your BYF 41 was blued inside as well as outside with no strawed parts. So far, so good. Is the safety painted white? (where it says gesichert)


Lonnie

[Thor]

Eric, that book is flat wrong, your Luger would correct with plastic grips (black and original type) OR wood grips and the entire gun SHOULD be blued in a black hue INCLUDING the small parts, there were no strawed parts on byf 41s except a few commercial models. ~Thor~

Oh thank goodness!


I read, "all blued on the inside" and thought, oh no, this guy has a refinish!


This sounds like a pretty gun! (they all are in my eyes )


pictures, pictures...


Ed

Thanks for the infomation guy's. I was feeling great until I read that stuff in the book. I am trying to post a couple of photos.


BTW the saftey is painted not in white but gold.


Eric




http://home.earthlink.net/~flyer/_uimages/rightside.jpg

Sorry the photo came out so large. Here is the left side of the gun.


Eric




http://home.earthlink.net/~flyer/_uimages/leftside.jpg

[Lonnie Zimmerman]

Erich; I THINK your safety is white; just dirty or faded after 61 years. Your proof marks on the right side look proper to me. Have you tore it down and checked out the firing pin to see if it is matching? Looks like a NICE 41byf to me.


Lonnie

Eric,


It sure looks like a WINNER to me! I think you must have a great wife to buy this for a Christmas present. This pistol is a superb collectible piece and deserves to be cherished.


As to the paint in the safe stamp, Lonnie is correct, as it ages, the white paint seems to turn to goldish color which I think is very pretty. Congratulation on getting this fantastic condition pistol.


Marvin

[G.T.]

Hi Eric! The acceptance marks look to be Eagle over 135....this would make it a little more desirable byf 41, as there are far less with these marks, then the ones with 655...Bill m could probably give you an idea as to the numbers made! till...later...G.T.

Here is a photo of the proof marks. It's not a great photo but the three marks on the frame and the one on the barrel are visible. The one on the barrel is the same as the right one on the frame.


The first stamp is 135 and the second appears to be 136 but is very hard to read. The second one may be 135 also but I think it's 136.


it looks like the gun was stamped before it was blued. That is part of what led me to believe it might have been refinished.


However, the holster wear, what there is of it is limited to either side of the muzzle and the forward edge of the frame just below the proof marks.


There is also some wear and minor pitting on both the back strap and the front strap. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from getting worse?


Eric




http://home.earthlink.net/~flyer/_ui...proofmarks.jpg

[capkid]

Sorry to "butt" in (I wish mine looked as good);

I have a 41 byf, but it has 655 under the eagle.

Does this mean anything?

What are the price ranges f/ a 41 byf (by condition)?

Sorry, maybe I should buy a book?!

Thanks

capkid


-I really do wish mine was as fine

[Hugh]

Eric,


Beautiful gun, certainly looks great to me! One of the best ways to keep rust at bay is to wipe the gun with a cloth treated with Clenzoil after handling it. The grips look to be the proper ones for this model, and are in excellent condition. However, I believe the magazine is not of the correct type, but should be an extruded mag with an aluminum base that has the pin thru the middle of the round finger piece.

[Lonnie Zimmerman]

capkid; the 655 just means (Mauser) it was made earlier in 1941.


Lonnie

[bill m]

Hi,

The Eagle 655 and Eagle 135 stamp are the army acceptance stamp. In the byf 41 model there are 3 combinations that one can see. First the production suffix's that the byf 41 are found in are: N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,no suffix,A, and B. The first variation is the E/655 E/655, and this is by far the most common and goes from the start of the byf production up to about the last 20,000 made roughly, from N into the no suffix. The second variation is the E/655 E/135 and is the least found of the three, and is usually just found in the no suffix block. The third variation is the E/135 E/135 and is found roughly from the mid no suffix block into the early B suffix block. If you look at the letter blocks, and use 9999 Lugers for each block, you can get a vague idea of how many of each variation were produced.

Bill,


I got a bit confused. When you talk about the suffix block, are you referring to the suffix letter after the serial number on the front of the receiver? If so, mine has the letter "B".


There are three stamps on the frame, can you tell me the significance of them on my gun? It looks like the first number is 135 and the second is 136.


I took another photo of the stamps that is more clear.


Eric




http://home.earthlink.net/~flyer/_uimages/proofmark.jpg

[bill m]

Hi Eric,

Yes, the suffix letter that is found below the serial number on the frame. This is actually a part of the correct serial number and when speaking of the serial number of a Luger this letter suffix should always be included.


The first two marks on your gun are the Army acceptance marks, showing that the army inspected these parts and accepted them. The third mark, going from left to right, is the army test proof, showing that the army tested this Luger. The marks on your gun are Eagle 135 and Eagle 135, as there was no E/136 used on these.


The complete serial number is very important when trying to determine and tell someone what they have. As you can see from my ealier post, there is both a no suffix, and B suffix block in this model. Since your Luger is in the B block, it is one of the very last byf 41's made. Only the very early B block Lugers are the byf 41's and then they are all byf 42's. Hope this helps you some and clears things up a bit.