Skarekrow88
New member
Went to a gun store I had never been to before that had a dozen or so Lugers of different types and conditions but one in particular caught my eye. The tag said “WWII Era P08 9mm $1999” I don’t know much about Lugers but upon inspecting it I saw “byf” on the top of the forward toggle link and a “42” on the top of the receiver which told me at the very least those parts appeared to be WWII era. I talked with the man behind the counter who said he believed it was a German Arsenal rebuild during the war. I asked what their bottom dollar on it was and another busy and occupied salesman across the room said $1500 OTD which I agreed to because I’ve always wanted a Luger and decided it was worth the risk. Once I got in the truck and looked at the bill of sale and receipt I saw they both read $1,050 so either he made a mistake or I misheard him. Either way I was fine with it.
The barrel, receiver, and frame are all marked “8596” so I knew those matched. The frame also has what looks to be a cursive “i” under the serial number, not sure what that means. The under side of the barrel is marked “CAI ST ALB VT” so I guess it’s a century import from a while back. The toggle link, forward toggle link, and breech block are all marked “13” so those match each other but not the rest of the gun obviously
Other mismatched parts include:
the locking bolt marked with an “86”
the trigger sideplate marked with a “01”
the trigger bar marked with a “19”
the extractor marked with a “14”
There looks like what used to be three proof marks on the right side of the receiver that appear to have been peened off or something. However, I found two faint waffenamts on the barrel, one of which appears to have a “135” under it and another more pronounced one on the breech block so that was encouraging.
It came with a “MAUSER” marked magazine with a black plastic floorplate which I assume to be later production. Luckily my grandfather gave me an original spare magazine with an aluminum floorplate clearly marked with serial number “+” and waffenamt from when he had a couple of Lugers.
After disassembly I found it was missing it’s extractor spring and hold open latch and spring but I ordered a reproduction replacement extractor spring. I decided to hold off on the latch until I got some advice on who to go to for that. I also did the “tuning fork” test on the receiver which gave the desired results so that was good. Beyond that I’m not sure what else I can discern from it without help from someone more knowledgeable on these things.
Can anyone tell me more about this pistol? How did I do? Don’t sugarcoat it, I know I took a gamble so if it’s just a shooter as I suspect then that’s fine with me.
The barrel, receiver, and frame are all marked “8596” so I knew those matched. The frame also has what looks to be a cursive “i” under the serial number, not sure what that means. The under side of the barrel is marked “CAI ST ALB VT” so I guess it’s a century import from a while back. The toggle link, forward toggle link, and breech block are all marked “13” so those match each other but not the rest of the gun obviously
Other mismatched parts include:
the locking bolt marked with an “86”
the trigger sideplate marked with a “01”
the trigger bar marked with a “19”
the extractor marked with a “14”
There looks like what used to be three proof marks on the right side of the receiver that appear to have been peened off or something. However, I found two faint waffenamts on the barrel, one of which appears to have a “135” under it and another more pronounced one on the breech block so that was encouraging.
It came with a “MAUSER” marked magazine with a black plastic floorplate which I assume to be later production. Luckily my grandfather gave me an original spare magazine with an aluminum floorplate clearly marked with serial number “+” and waffenamt from when he had a couple of Lugers.
After disassembly I found it was missing it’s extractor spring and hold open latch and spring but I ordered a reproduction replacement extractor spring. I decided to hold off on the latch until I got some advice on who to go to for that. I also did the “tuning fork” test on the receiver which gave the desired results so that was good. Beyond that I’m not sure what else I can discern from it without help from someone more knowledgeable on these things.
Can anyone tell me more about this pistol? How did I do? Don’t sugarcoat it, I know I took a gamble so if it’s just a shooter as I suspect then that’s fine with me.
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