Used Luger magazine

[Bennyhill]

Thanks for info. What does the W stand for. Serial number matches my dads bring back but his has letter e. Is it possible to have same serial number on different year guns?

[guns3545]

Originally Posted by Bennyhill

Thanks for info. What does the W stand for. Serial number matches my dads bring back but his has letter e. Is it possible to have same serial number on different year guns?

Felice,

The "w" is part of the serial number. Mauser produced P.08s in blocks of 10,000. In 1934, they started with 1-10,000 with no suffix, and then went to suffix a, b, c, etc. to z and then started all over again.

Thus the serial number of your P.08 is really the number on the front of the frame PLUS the "e" suffix below it.

With respect to your precise question, the answer is yes. If you think about it, once Mauser had been through the alphabet once, they repeated the sequence. Thus a later year date, as indicated on the top of the chamber could have, and did have, the same serial number of a previously made P.08. I guess this did not make such a difference in the age of pen and paper but in today's computer age, the true, distinct serial number of a gun that is truly unique would be: The number on the front of the frame plus suffix plus the number (year) on the top of the chamber.

Now, try to explain that to a government official.

Hope this helps.

John