Military - Commercial Mauser Banner 41

[Vlim]

This pistol was introduced by a Dutch sports shooter on Jan Still's forum a few years ago. I recently found it for sale a a local dealer and purchased it.

The pistol is an interesting enigma. Numbers match, apart from some old repairs that were done to get it shooting safely again (holdopen and safety).

The main pistol is basically a military spec P.08 from 1941, the toggle train is all matching, but commercially proofed with a Mauser Banner (7-line) toggle. All parts fit perfectly and are numbered in the military style. Several others have been reported, and judging from the background of these guns they were manufactured this way. The general idea is that these were made after 1942 from available parts in order to fulfill sales to non-military organizations or individuals who were entitled to carry them.

There has been a lot of speculation about the combination, and many suggested that these were put together from parts by dealers at a later stage. Of course, this is always a possibility, but it was never a really important side business in Europe, where this pistol has remained.

One of the photos shows the pistol, combined with a box of ammunition that is also not supposed to exist: A military box of 9mm ammunition, produced by DWM, with normal faa-marked headstamps (steel cased mE). The label, however, is in the 'commercial' style, no encoding whatsoever. The producer is clearly marked and it even has a warning message for use in the P08 pistol.

So it neatly combines with a 'Military/Commercial P08'