7/12/22 - This is an excellent example of a rare BYF 42 Mauser Luger that was part of the Portuguese military contract. The following information is from the Mauser Parabellum by Joop van de Kant and Don Hallock.: "It is believed that the German Army was the seller of the last batch of 42 byf Luger pistols to the Portuguese Military. The pistols are Military accepted (E/135) and Eagle test proofed; they were produced by Mauser in August - September 1942, just before the mass production was halted in favor of the succeeding P.38. The pistols of all earlier foreign contracts have commercial proofs; it seems obvious that Mauser was not informed about the destination of this lot until the Waffenamt indicated that they had to go to Portugal. We know that the delivery took place in January 1943. Of the nine pistols that I could examine personally, four had a phosphate finish." So, it is believed that of the 5,000 or so that went to Portugal, only about half were phosphate. That would mean there is a total of about 2,500 of this rare variation! This gun is all phosphate finish. Hallock goes on to say the pistols look to have been sand blasted before applying the phosphate coating, which gives them that matted look. "We must not forget that Portugal used (part of) these pistols during the guerilla wars in its former colonies, Angola and Mozambique. I have no proof for my theory that (only) the pistols that went to these hot and humid countries received the phosphate finish for extra protection." This one is nearly all matching and has retained about 96-97% of its finish. Only the rear toggle link is mismatched. There is very minor wear on the side plate, side rails, and around the muzzle. Some brown patina on the grip straps. Comes with an excellent set of wood grips and a period-correct blank-bottom magazine. The grips are waffen-proofed and numbered. The second number on both grips is "7", but the first numbers are scratched away, so we cannot say for sure if they're matching. Mint bore.
