New member trying to figure out date of manufacture on my P08

[RichSr]

Hi Kerry, Welcome to the forum. I'll let the experts verify, but as Norme stated the extractor marking appears be in Bulgarian. This would be in keeping with the rest of the pistol as most Bulgarians are found mismatched and with the markings removed. The definitive clue is the lack of a lanyard ring(bar/staple...whatever) above where the web of your hand would rest. If you carefully remove one of the grips (the right one is always preferable) you should find a hole low on the rear of the backstrap where a lanyard ring particular to the 1908 Bulgarian model.
Hope this helps some

[kapnkd]

Hi there RichSr!

Thanks for the tip and YES!! ...there is a hole directly across from the screw holes in the back strap.

Little by little the clues are falling in place!

Many thanks to all three of you who have responded!

By the way, I notice you are from "West Texas". I was stationed in Big Spring, Texas at Webb AFB from 1966 thru 1969. In spite of the dry weather, dust storms and realizing that even the (oversized) jack rabbits carried roadmaps and canteens - I really enjoyed it out there! The townspeople were the best folks one could ever hope to meet and treated us military guys like family.

-kerry

[kapnkd]

I'm just now doing a little research on "Bulgarian"Lugers and came across this quote on the NRA's history/info site:

"In addition to German military and commercial production, P08s were produced for Bulgaria, Russia, Turkey, Persia, Venezuela, Abyssinia, Roumania, and Switzerland prior to the outbreak of war in 1914."

My question is - Does this mean Bulagria only purchased P08 Lugers from 1908 (first productions thru the start of WWI?? If so, this really helps narrow down the date of my Luger.

Sorry to be so naive (dumb) on Lugers but do you have any thoughts/knowledge you can share???

-kerry