Todays find BYF 42 rig

[Fritziii]

The Brown checkered bakelite grips are quite rare - I understand issued during 1940 to mauser prior to the black one's - you may wish to research the occurance on one of the luger boards. The checkering is between the coarse & fine Ritzmann type found on Krieghoff Lugers. A valuable pair in their own right.
Brendan

Thanks Brendan, I have heard of these brown bakelite grips before but have never seen them and yes they are quite rare as I have found. I had a very lucky day, talking to a friend of mine these are quite sought after.

Fritz

[Douglas Jr.]

Nice rig indeed! Congratulations!
I would love to see a picture of the top of the gun showing the maker's code and date. The gun looks in pristine condition.

Douglas

PS - It's "Luger", not "Lugar"

[Fritziii]

Here is a pic of the top showing the date and maker mark. Fritz

[Fritziii]

What are these running nowadays in this condition?

Fritz

[JasonA]

Hi Fritz,

I would have to disagree with some that while a nice pistol, it is not mint. If you're selling it with the holster, extra mag and takedown tool - assuming all detractions are visible in pictures alone - I would say you'd be fortunate to get the low 2's for it. Unfortunately that wear on the left side is a detraction from the value.

Please keep in mind that what you can get for any one item always is a factor of what somebody will pay. If you happen to find the right guy who likes this particular piece, he may pay more for it. If this were a 95% + gun, you could get a little more, I would think. Also if the holster were in better shape.

Hope that helps,

Jason

[Johnny Peppers]

Hi Fritz,

I would have to disagree with some that while a nice pistol, it is not mint.

Jason

That is also the way I see it. The left side of the frame appears to have had the bluing removed with something like Naval Jelly. Maybe just the lighting, but the magazine appears to have a spot of blue gone also.
I always thought the brown plastic grips showed up on the 1940 date pistols, before the black plastic was authorized.

[ValhallaMilitaria]

Not a bad day at all!!

I'll say,nice find!

[Wilhelm]

You did good, a great looking set up.
Wilhelm

[Pete-o MSU]

Nice finds again Fritz! Can't wait to see the PP!

Pete

[JasonA]

That is also the way I see it. The left side of the frame appears to have had the bluing removed with something like Naval Jelly. Maybe just the lighting, but the magazine appears to have a spot of blue gone also.
I always thought the brown plastic grips showed up on the 1940 date pistols, before the black plastic was authorized.

Hi Johnny,

I don't know what is going on with that particular part. Your guess is probably better than mine! But I'm perplexed why that is so clearly worn in comparison with the rest of the pistol.

You bring up an interesting point on the grips. I must have not looked at them closely enough, because I thought they were black. Taking a second look they are clearly brown!

To my knowledge, you are correct about the inclusion of some brown plastic grips in '40 (Krieghoff style). My understanding is that black plastic grips were introduced in '39, and 2% of the pistols in '40 had black plastic grips. Only a very few had brown plastic grips. So, I'm guessing less than 1%.

I don't think brown plastic grips are correct for a byf 42 pistol. Approximately 20% of them had black plastic grips, the rest had wood. So these grips are most likely incorrect as issued. Could be wartime replaced, could be post war replaced. There's no way that I know of to tell, either way.

One other thing...I also recall that a certain percentage of these byf 42 pistols were slated for German military issue, the rest went to foreign powers. So depending on the serial number range, this particular pistol may have been German military issue, or it may have not.

Thoughts?

Best regards,

Jason

[Johnny Peppers]

The missing blue does not look like wear, but rather some type of chemical blue removal.

I certainly have no proof of when the black plastic grips were first used, but after introduction they were also used a field replacements which may account for earlier pistols having the black grips. The date of introduction I have seen is mid 1941.

Something under 110,000 P.08's were manufactured by Mauser in 1942. Almost 100,000 went to the Army, Luftwaffe, and Police. Various numbers up to 5000 went to the Portuguese. Also, an unknown number were commercial variations, as I have a 1942 dated receiver in the w suffix block. Will try to get pictures posted later.

[Fritziii]

The grips are correct for an L block pistol, I had it looked at and confirmed, this is exactly as it came back, Kriegoff grips have been noted on BYF coded pistols. As for the wear, it's from resting in the holster and rubbing on the strap inside not takenoff with some chemical, not exactly sure why that is even a thought. I've been at this way too long for this kind of stuff, 30+ years and this isn't my first rodeo with Lugers. it's not mint but a VERY nice original.

Fritz

[Johnny Peppers]

Could you share with us where the information that brown grips are correct in the l block of 1942 production came from? Everything I have seen indicates they were installed on 1940 production in the g to k block. (The latest information is from "The Mauser Parabellum 1930-1946")

[Fritziii]

I'll get it and post it when I'm back fro SOS.

Fritz

[JasonA]

The grips are correct for an L block pistol, I had it looked at and confirmed, this is exactly as it came back, Kriegoff grips have been noted on BYF coded pistols. As for the wear, it's from resting in the holster and rubbing on the strap inside not takenoff with some chemical, not exactly sure why that is even a thought. I've been at this way too long for this kind of stuff, 30+ years and this isn't my first rodeo with Lugers. it's not mint but a VERY nice original.

Fritz

Hi Fritz,

The rubbing was a thought becase on Lugers, the hump on the sideplate is typically the first to go with holster wear. So it's odd to me that the part we're discussing has significantly more wear than the sideplate. And I agree with Johnny, I don't think it's wear...looks like something else may have happened there.

I wasn't trying to insinuate you didn't know your Lugers. It was just an observation on my part.

We all agree, it's a very nice pistol. Only brought that wear up to begin with to compare an excellent condition pistol to a mint condition pistol.

Best regards,

Jason