byf42

[Steve]

I was taking a few pics this morning and thought that I would post my byf 42 with the Krieghoff grips. I bought this about 10 years ago from the grandson of a vet. It had been in a safe deposit box in a bank on the East Coast.


Steve




http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/1byf42.jpg

[Marvin]

Steve,


This is a really nice looking Luger! Were the Kreighoff grips on it when you purchased it? Do you knwo anyb history behind it?


marvin

[Steve]

Marvin,


This pistol had the grips on it when I got it. The man that I bought it from told me he had just taken it from the safe deposit box a few months before he brought it to the gun show. I didn't think the grips were original Luger grips at first but after comparing with the detailed pics and text in Gibsons book on Krieghoff Lugers I came to the conclusion that they were correct for the Krieghoff Luger.

There were several thousand byf 42's that went to the Luftwaffe that weren't specifically marked as such, just standard Army Lugers. I have seen one more that was in this same configuration.


Steve

[Frank]

Steve, Looks like a sweet byf. You indeed are fortunate to have this piece.

[bill m]

Steve,-- You have a very nice looking Luger. It is possible that these brown grips are the original ones issued with this byf 42, but most likely they have been replaced, as Krieghoff's had black plastic grips starting in early 1940 and beyond. Brown grips would be very late actually, but some are found on 1940 code 42's, so who knows?

[Russ]

steve


you have a very nice luger. i have one that is a 41 byf with the brown plastic grips that i got from the vet. so who knows.

[Marvin]

Steve,


I thought they may have been original to the pistol also. Why would the veteran change the grips from a nice set of black or wood to the brown grips. I would definetly leave the pistol as-is and not change them. I agree with the other posters that they are probably original to the pistol. You just never know, but keep on there. Great find on this pistol.


marvin

[Steve]

Marvin,


You bet I'll leave 'em as is. There is no reason to change them out. As you probably read the other post by Russ, he has a byf 41 with the same type grips.


I see no reason to discount them as not being original to the gun.


Steve

[bill m]

Steve,

Krieghoff used brown plastic grips from 1936 through the 1938 Krieghoff production run and possibly a very few 1940 Krieghoff's also. They are know to be found on a few 1940 code 42 Mauser Lugers. Your gun is awfully late to have brown plastic grips, as Krieghoff used them up on their Krieghoffs in 1938 or early 1940. Anything later than 1940 is possible, but will raise questions, as Krieghoff went to the black plastic grips at this time. It would make a lot more sense for them to have the black plastic grips. My guess would be that they are some kind of a replacement, either arsenal or field replacement, but I do not think they were original issue. I come to this opinion because I think these byf 41 and 42's would have left Mauser with either black plastic or wood grips.

[John Sabato]

and a find example of a byf too. Wish it were in MY safe!

Steve, Your KH grips appear to be the fine checkered Ritzmann type, only used by KH in 1936. If so they should be marked HRS & 8964 on the reverse of each side. I agree that they were probably field replacements from LW spares. I once purchased a 1916 Erfurt just for the brown KH grips on it.

[John D.]

Based on the the width of the none checkered grip edges and the color hue, I don't think they are the Ritzmann grips. Those grips are slightly different then the photo in these two areas specifically (wider boarder and are slightly darker).... Yep - I had to do a "double take" on the photo as well...


Absolutely agree with you that these are probably field replacements as well - or a couple of soldiers could have even traded grips for unknown reasons - but we'll never know for sure.. In the meantime - outstanding photo and byf..!!


Best to you Tom..


JD

[Steve]

Tom,


Actually, they are the later coarse checkered type. It took me a while to figure this out myself but after studying Gibsons book I came to the conclusion that they were late type. No identifying marks on the back side. The Ritzmanns

are more finely checkered.


Steve