1937 Mauser S/42 Luger straw part question

[mikearc99]

Here is a 1937 Luger s/42 in serial 7661X .The only straw part is the Ejector and the safety bar is somewhat blued with some white still showing and also the trigger bar assembly does not have a last 2 numbers of the serial. Any info about this Luger if why only the straw part is the ejector but not the trigger, takedown level. Is the serial number range supposed to when Mauser switched to bluing the small parts

[tomaustin]

last year for the "full" straw was 1936.....

[Norme]

Hi Mike, here are a couple of photos of a 1937 Mauser P08 close in serial numbers to yours, #3394x. I know of no P08's that had blued sear bars so it looks like yours had at least some localized touch-up.
Norm
P.S. Yes, although hidden in the photo, the sear should be stamped with the last 2 digits of the serial number.

[sdmark777]

tomaustin, I believe you are mistaken. Early 1937 S/42's did have straw small parts. Later 1937 S/42's had blued small parts. I don't know at what serial number it changed. mikearc99 your serial 7661x sounds to me like it should have blued small parts.

My 1937 S/42 has serial # 4466 and as you can see has all straw small parts. It is original finish and all matching.

[tharpo]

The strawing of the small parts of Military Lugers ended in the early 1937. 1937 S/42 Lugers in the p-q-r-s- and some t suffixes will have the strawing. Bluing of all the parts would be correct in the "x" suffix. Your ejector may not be original to the gun.

[sdmark777]

Mikearc99, you will also notice the the S on yours is taller than the 42 font. On mine the S and the 42 are the same height. I do not know if this change correlates in any way with the change from straw to blue small parts. I bet norme's has a tall S like yours. Maybe someone here has info on the S/42 font change?

[tomaustin]

my apologies to the board...I had forgotten about the carryover into the early 1937.....i have several 1936's and they sure are pretty...!

[sdmark777]

I asked if someone had info on the font changes to the S/42. Today MRERICK posted this under SIte Announcements: to be added to the FAQ's. So this pretty much answers my question on the font changes. Thanks MRERICK.

S/42 font formats on toggles 1934-1939



I believe there were 4 different S/42 stamp variations during the period from 1934 (K date) to 1939. Feel free to add corrections and comments.
Photo 1- K dates with the scriptic "S". It appears there was a transition to the gothic "S" around serial number 8000.
Photo 2- Used from around K date sn 8000 to 1936 i/k suffix. Closed "4"
Photo 3- From around 1936 k suffix to 1938 b suffix. Open "4".
Photo 4- From around 1938 b suffix to 1939 p suffix.
Photo 5. This is from my 1939 S/42 sn 958q which was the very end of S/42 production. Were they just making use of extra spare toggles like in photo #3?

I did not include the pictures in this post. My 1937 S/42 falls under #3 - open "4". Unfortunately this does not specifically address the height of the S. It might be all #3 type have the S with the same size font as the 42.

[mrerick]

Member "tharpo" deserves credit for that thread and the excellent photos. I marked it a sticky and will incorporate it into the next FAQ update. MArc

[mikearc99]

I seen photos online that the my S/42 font is on K and G date Lugers. I am wondering if it a replacement or they ran out of S/42 same font height and decided to put a G,K date S/42 stamp on.

Mike

[tharpo]

Norme, what style is your S/42 stamp on your 1937 3394x? Is it the same as mikearc99's?

[4 Scale]

Originally Posted by tharpo

Norme, what style is your S/42 stamp on your 1937 3394x? Is it the same as mikearc99's?

Per a recent inspection of that example it is the 'type 3' stamp per the lexicon at post #8 above (different than mikearc99's pistol).