Witness Mark and Barrel Questions

[G.T.]

Hi to all! This is pretty interesting! I decided that I had some pretty good examples right in the old gun safe....so, off to the safe I went, and the results are interesting... with my trusty little magnifying glass... I determined that out of three original untouched Mauser examples, two 39's and one 37, one of the witness marks could be considered right on, one was ever soooo slightly misaligned, and one, a vet purchase, known history pistol... was close, but obiviously missaligned!! What does this tell me... along with the reference pictures above, my conclusion is that the barrels and receivers were indexed, or marked, and then disassembled at some later point in there manufacture, only to be reassembled back to their original reference point.... for what reason I don't know?? But from a machinist point of view, I'd bet a lot on it!
I would also think that the torque applied to the assemblies was well within there design parameters and could be repeated several times with out any substancial fatigue... By the looks of the alignment, I would guess they had rather large and strong fixtures, and could apply the correct leverages with complete ease and impunity to any resistance... you got to get past the mental image of a gun shop type barrel wrench, they may have been assembled in huge fixtures with almost unlimited leverage.... they were making them by the thousands, not just one or two a day... they probably messed with each assembly for a few seconds, certainly not more then a minute... can't think like a collector here, got to think like a machinist, assembly line worker, or some type of employee that probably thought he would puke if he saw another luger that day! I'm thinking Mr Simpson has seen a lot of Lugers, and he knows more then we think he does.... I believe that he is correct in his statement that they were removed and reinstalled, for whatever reason....I still don't have a theory for that! Thats all for now! till...later...GT