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1937 s/42 luger & VIS Radom help!

2K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  valbehaved 
#1 ·
My grandfather brought back both of these pistols from his tour in France in WWII. One is an all matching serial number 1937 s/42 Luger. I HAD the matching serial number magazine but it became lost during a move out of state. I am hoping to find it in a box at some point. The other one is a VIS Radom.

I wanted an approximate value of the two handguns without their magazines. I do not plan on selling them but have always been interested in their value. I mainly would like some help with identifying where and when they were made based on serial number and what all the stamps mean on them. I know the Radom was Polish and when the Nazis invaded they started using it for themselves but I'm not sure if mine is pre or post Nazi invasion. Any information would be greatly appreciated!
 

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#2 ·
There are three versions of the VIS.



Originally they had these three controls, plus a slot in the back of the grip where you could attach a shoulder stock.

One of the first things to go away was the shoulder-stock slot.

Next they did away with the control I have labeled 2. This is the take-down lever. You would pull the slide to the rear, and the teat (see the red line between the teat and the notch?) would be pushed up into the rear notch on the slide, holding the slide to the rear, to assist in disassembly.

If you have all three controls, your gun is older than if you only have control 1 (the hammer drop) and control 3 (the slide stop).

Unfortunately you don't show a pic of the entire gun, so you can't tell which of the three it is.

Serial numbers - A0001 through A9999, then they went to B0001, etc. Up through Z9999, which gave 'em 260,000 guns, almost. Then they started over again at A0001. I don't believe they made it through the alphabet twice, but don't recall where they quit. So your H6495 could either be 86,000 into the run, or 346,000 into the run.
 
#4 ·
No I don't. I've got a book on them, around here somewhere, but cannot locate it just now.

However, mine has control #2. It is serial number Mxxxx, so if you don't have 2, yours is the second batch of Hs - 350,000, not 80 thousand. I dated mine to 1943.
 
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