What kind of grips are these?

[Olle]

Originally Posted by luger.parabellum

I noticed, but it can't explain much, maybe it was some previous owner? Who knows.


Sergio

It was pretty common that GI's marked their trophies with name, date, unit, home address etc. so they could ID them if they happened to get lost in transit or "acquired" by another trophy hunter. Some even scratched it into the bluing to make sure nobody would take it. Many of them did it on the back of the grips just like this, so the date implies that the grips are from a bring back gun. The odd thing is that it's inscribed in the varnish, which means that the varnish must have been applied very early. This makes me think that they could be either an odd variation that was varnished from the factory, or simply a makeshift field replacement/refurb type.

Edit: I see that Tom confirmed the field replacement theory just one minute before I hit the button.