1938 Mauser S/42 Luger P08 - Page 2

Jim Mac · 12-31-2019, 08:45 PM

just tossing my 2 cents on stolen lugers. Say someone has pops old 1918 erfurt sn1234c luger stolen and reports it to the police. police and owner records it as erfurt 9mm sn1234 (nobody knows that the c is part of the serial number. He's it's not a Glock19) so now every erfurt sn1234 is considered a stolen gun because uninformed owner or police put the wrong information into the database. They didnt know the numbers and letters were recycled every year.
And if you have a
Or am I thinking this all wrong? jim

Doubs · 01-01-2020, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Mac

just tossing my 2 cents on stolen lugers. Say someone has pops old 1918 erfurt sn1234c luger stolen and reports it to the police. police and owner records it as erfurt 9mm sn1234 (nobody knows that the c is part of the serial number. He's it's not a Glock19) so now every erfurt sn1234 is considered a stolen gun because uninformed owner or police put the wrong information into the database. They didnt know the numbers and letters were recycled every year.
And if you have a
Or am I thinking this all wrong? jim

Take it even farther. Suppose they reported it as "Luger, serial number 1234" as stolen.

Then every Luger ever made by DWM, Erfurt, Mauser etc. with a serial number 1234 would be considered stolen.

DonVoigt · 01-01-2020, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doubs

Take it even farther. Suppose they reported it as "Luger, serial number 1234" as stolen.

Then every Luger ever made by DWM, Erfurt, Mauser etc. with a serial number 1234 would be considered stolen.

I mentioned this situation in post #14.
It can and does happen, as I said above- it did to me.

No amount of "explaining" will make it go away if one is caught in the "do loop" of explaining luger serial numbering/models/years/manufacturer to the uninitiated- as in law enforcement or non-collector "civilians".

Bill_in_VA · 01-01-2020, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doubs

Take it even farther. Suppose they reported it as "Luger, serial number 1234" as stolen.

Then every Luger ever made by DWM, Erfurt, Mauser etc. with a serial number 1234 would be considered stolen.

This is why you guys shouldn’t collect Lugers. Be safe, stay away from them and stay out of trouble. Because I’m a nice guy I’ll save you all and take the risk on everyone’s behalf. 😁

meadowlark · 01-10-2020, 11:01 AM

Looks like you won a great P08. IMHO I would take the risk and contact the vet to learn as much as possible about the history of the pistol. You said you bought it at an auction sale so I would think it's probable safe to assume it's not a stolen item.
I also have a 1938 P08 like yours without a matching mag. Could you let me know what the numbers are?

cyanghost · 01-11-2020, 12:16 AM

Believe me when I say I'd love to. Call me a glass half empty kind of person, but here are some possible negative consequences that I considered happening:

1) It might trigger some PTSD symptoms.
2) He might want it back. For all I know, it might have been stolen in the 1940s, and he never reported it to the police. Or he would rather give it to a family member.*
3) He might have given the pistol away (I think he likely gave it to his brother) in hopes of never hearing or seeing of it again.
4) He may simply not want to talk about it.
5) In an attempt to get a hold of him, I may end up reaching someone else in the family who wants it for their own personal gain, without any respect for the piece itself.

On the other hand, I am fully aware that he may be willing to discuss it all day long and I would love that. But it's my opinion that the potential negative consequences outweigh the positive ones. If the seller didn't hear back from the previous owner, I think it's safe to assume that's all there is to it.

Of course, I am always open to opposing viewpoints and other ideas. Maybe I'm wrong and more often than not that's the case

.

*I don't consider this to be a negative case scenario, although I'd be out $1200. If this were the case, I would respect his wishes and would ship it back to him because he did more to earn it than I did. And it would feel good to know that I helped reunite him with it.

meadowlark · 01-11-2020, 09:55 PM

You are probably making the right decision based on your concerns. However, I didn't make myself clear when I asked about S/N's. What I'm interested in is the S/N's of the mags only. You mentioned they did not match the pistol so I don't think that would be a problem showing them as this is done from time to time on this forum and I for one am always looking for a match for my P08.

cyanghost · 01-12-2020, 02:35 AM

Oops, sorry! I forgot to respond to that part of your message.

I have an all steel mag with S/N 7241. And I have a mag with a wooden bottom and I believe the S/N 7163, but I can't tell for sure what the third digit is. I only believe it's 63 because that's the number on my loading tool as well and it vaguely looks like a "6", or an "8" or possibly a "3".

If I may make a suggestion, you may wish to post your magazine serial numbers here in hopes of a search engine indexing them. Then, maybe someone later on with matching mags will search those numbers and will find your post.

meadowlark · 01-12-2020, 11:08 AM

Thanks cyanghost for responding to my request. Unfortunately, your mag numbers do not match what I'm looking for. I did in fact post a request some time back that I was looking for a mag with the S/N of 3738 and did get a response for one that was close to it. However, the mag I already have is also close to it. Someday maybe....

12-31-2019, 08:45 PM	#21
Jim Mac User Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 261 Thanks: 2 Thanked 67 Times in 35 Posts	just tossing my 2 cents on stolen lugers. Say someone has pops old 1918 erfurt sn1234c luger stolen and reports it to the police. police and owner records it as erfurt 9mm sn1234 (nobody knows that the c is part of the serial number. He's it's not a Glock19) so now every erfurt sn1234 is considered a stolen gun because uninformed owner or police put the wrong information into the database. They didnt know the numbers and letters were recycled every year. And if you have a Or am I thinking this all wrong? jim

01-10-2020, 11:01 AM	#25
meadowlark User Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Florida Posts: 53 Thanks: 33 Thanked 26 Times in 13 Posts	Looks like you won a great P08. IMHO I would take the risk and contact the vet to learn as much as possible about the history of the pistol. You said you bought it at an auction sale so I would think it's probable safe to assume it's not a stolen item. I also have a 1938 P08 like yours without a matching mag. Could you let me know what the numbers are?

01-11-2020, 12:16 AM	#26
cyanghost User Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 20 Thanks: 17 Thanked 37 Times in 9 Posts	Believe me when I say I'd love to. Call me a glass half empty kind of person, but here are some possible negative consequences that I considered happening: 1) It might trigger some PTSD symptoms. 2) He might want it back. For all I know, it might have been stolen in the 1940s, and he never reported it to the police. Or he would rather give it to a family member.* 3) He might have given the pistol away (I think he likely gave it to his brother) in hopes of never hearing or seeing of it again. 4) He may simply not want to talk about it. 5) In an attempt to get a hold of him, I may end up reaching someone else in the family who wants it for their own personal gain, without any respect for the piece itself. On the other hand, I am fully aware that he may be willing to discuss it all day long and I would love that. But it's my opinion that the potential negative consequences outweigh the positive ones. If the seller didn't hear back from the previous owner, I think it's safe to assume that's all there is to it. Of course, I am always open to opposing viewpoints and other ideas. Maybe I'm wrong and more often than not that's the case . *I don't consider this to be a negative case scenario, although I'd be out $1200. If this were the case, I would respect his wishes and would ship it back to him because he did more to earn it than I did. And it would feel good to know that I helped reunite him with it.

01-11-2020, 09:55 PM	#27
meadowlark User Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Florida Posts: 53 Thanks: 33 Thanked 26 Times in 13 Posts	You are probably making the right decision based on your concerns. However, I didn't make myself clear when I asked about S/N's. What I'm interested in is the S/N's of the mags only. You mentioned they did not match the pistol so I don't think that would be a problem showing them as this is done from time to time on this forum and I for one am always looking for a match for my P08.

01-12-2020, 02:35 AM	#28
cyanghost User Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 20 Thanks: 17 Thanked 37 Times in 9 Posts	Oops, sorry! I forgot to respond to that part of your message. I have an all steel mag with S/N 7241. And I have a mag with a wooden bottom and I believe the S/N 7163, but I can't tell for sure what the third digit is. I only believe it's 63 because that's the number on my loading tool as well and it vaguely looks like a "6", or an "8" or possibly a "3". If I may make a suggestion, you may wish to post your magazine serial numbers here in hopes of a search engine indexing them. Then, maybe someone later on with matching mags will search those numbers and will find your post.

01-12-2020, 11:08 AM	#29
meadowlark User Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Florida Posts: 53 Thanks: 33 Thanked 26 Times in 13 Posts	Thanks cyanghost for responding to my request. Unfortunately, your mag numbers do not match what I'm looking for. I did in fact post a request some time back that I was looking for a mag with the S/N of 3738 and did get a response for one that was close to it. However, the mag I already have is also close to it. Someday maybe....