1941-2 Luger Black Widow Grips

[kurusu]

Originally Posted by johnb55

Hi to all .... I was not able to make up my mind on the Black Widow I have been looking at. THe gun shop owner assured me that grips were real. He did mention that real grips clank when hit against something. I mentioned the hot needle and he said he had not heard about test. I am not sure which grip had 2 threaded holes and the other had one. This added more questions about the gun. He also mentioned that only black widow lugers had P08 stamped on the side of the gun. To me that seemed false. I am kinda new to Lugers been into p38's. I was wondering what the board feels about proof marks and what condition is acceptable for a collector grade gun. I see many really nice guns (been kept in a desk drawer during the war) with faint proofs markings. Is that a sign that work has been done on a gun? Lately a lot of guns turning up, the hunt continues.

Well, for starters, there's no such thing as "black widows". All byf 41 and byf 42 have P.08 stamped on them. Regardless of the type of grip panels used.

[johnb55]

Thanks Jerry for your very simple test. I ended up passing on the pistol. If I remember correctly, I did see some bubbles on the back of the grips. Grips could have been real but they were also a little beat up so I passed. I am going to start taking pics in future. Thanks to everyone else who had input. The hunt continues