New joiner here, first post. I have a 9mm 1917/1920 DWM and have been photographically recording markings and looking them up.
The majority of Commercial Lugers were 30 Luger with a 4in bbl. They are referred to as Alphabet Lugers due to the 4 digit serial numbers and the letter suffix. They were produced in the 1920s. I am assuming that you have not broken the Luger down to check all of the numbered parts.
All numbers match, including internal small parts, except for a WWII magazine, and grips. The four-digit serial number is 10XX with no suffix letter. The right receiver has the normal German military receiver proofs of 1914-1918. It appears to be left to right crown over T, crown over S, crown of S etcetera. The left-most stamp (crown over T) is overstamped with an eagle of horizontal wing depiction, no pendant, under which is HZaJt3 which I have now learned was a Berlin depot responsible for storage, issue and repair. To the extreme right is what looks like a Simson-style eagle (no pendant) under which is Za(illegible)t.another depot marking.
Left receiver bears only the last two digits of the serial number. Front strap of grip is unmarked.
I would describe condition of gun and grips at least very good, but also would mention any straw-colored parts are not bright nor of any depth. A friend who has a Luger remarked how much tighter it is than his. The four-inch (carefully measured from muzzle to bolt face) 8.82 gauged barrel has a 42 stamped just forward of the witness (witnesses sharply appear single strike, perfectly aligned). To the left of the 42 is what could be a 4 with the vertical leg missing.
It is far enough to the left of the 42 as to look unrelated. The font appears slightly smaller than the 42, but could be attributed to a lighter strike. Farther forward of the barrel serial number is an eagle-like stamp with horizontal wing representation devoid of pendant. There is an capitol script M on the front of the receiver below the barrel and receiver serial number.
I should add that the barrel is a finer finish than the rest of the gun.metal more finely polished and the bluing is blue, as opposed to the rest of the pistol being a duller, more blackish bluing and surfaces more coarse. It appears that this is not unusual judging from many viewed photos. There is no sear safety, and no magazine safety interlock. Toggle bolt remains open on an empty mag. I am surmising the initial receiver stamps are proper, and the overstamping and what appears be additional stamping is by the Weimar Republic added at the time of the 1920 receiver top stamp.
I am wondering if the pistol was again proofed by Mauser in 4/42 or the barrel has a Mauser issuedconnection. I don't think it was refurbed/reissued to WWII military as I can find no Third Reich eagle/swastikas. Thanks for any information.:-) ETA: The top of the frame has a flat notch approximately 3/32' X 7/16' across it, leaving that portion of the barrel shoulder flange exposed. Haven't located anything about that yet.
![Number Number](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125439822/860806652.jpg)
Last edited by Donnerwetter; at 09:10 PM. The horizontal wing eagle overstrike is of the early nazi era I believe. The 1920 stamp has nothing to do with a date of rework, it is a mark applied as part of the German 'Disarming the Peoples Act' whack was intended to intice/threaten people to turn in the millions of WW1 weapons that were in circulation with civilians and para military groups in the early post WW1 era. Weapons already in the governments hands or those that were turned in were marked with the 1920 stamp to indicate government property, at least that was the plan. The pistol was probably rebarreled while at the depot, and therefore depot marked.
Not having a third reich eagle is not proof that a pistol, or rifle for that manner was not used in WWll. Imperial era weapons that were inspected and determined not to need any repairs were not necessarily restamped.
Luger pistol, in this instance a regulation Wehrmacht model. Cutaway drawing of the Luger pistol from Georg Luger's 1908 9mm.
The Luger has a toggle-lock action which uses a jointed arm to lock, as opposed to the slide actions of many other semi-automatic pistols. After a round is fired, the barrel and toggle assembly travel roughly 13 mm (0.5 in) rearward due to recoil, both locked together at this point. The toggle strikes a cam built into the frame, causing the knee joint to hinge and the toggle and breech assembly to unlock. The barrel strikes the frame and stops its rearward movement, but the toggle assembly continues moving, bending the knee joint, extracting the spent casing from the chamber, and ejecting it. The toggle and breech assembly then travel forward under spring tension and the next round is loaded from the magazine into the chamber. The entire sequence occurs in a fraction of a second.
This mechanism works well for higher-pressure cartridges, but cartridges loaded to a lower pressure can cause the pistol to malfunction because they do not generate enough recoil to work the action fully. This results in the breech block either not clearing the top cartridge of the magazine or becoming jammed open on the cartridge's base. This malfunction with under-powered cartridges does occur with Browning-type and other pistol designs as well, but the Luger is sensitive to cartridges other than the brass-cased ammunition which it was designed to use.
Submachine guns were found to be effective in trench warfare during World War I, and experiments were conducted to convert various types of pistols to fully automatic machine pistols, including the P08. The Luger proved to have an excessive rate of fire in full-automatic mode, however, as did the.
Luger Model 1900 pistol carbine Luger pistols were manufactured in Germany and Switzerland to very close tolerances and exacting standards using the highest quality materials of the day, and original pistols were known for having a long service life. The design requires hand fitting of certain parts for proper operation. Assembling the gun using a sideplate from another pistol, for example, may prevent the sear from working, making the pistol inoperable.
The Luger barrel, which was rigidly fixed to the barrel extension and carried the front sight, provided excellent accuracy. Praised the Luger's 145° (55° for Americans) grip angle and duplicated it in his.
The famous handgun author and revolver enthusiast observed that it was partly due to poor experiences with Lugers constructed from salvaged parts that the design had been unfairly criticized by gun writers over the years as unreliable. Keith noted that the Luger was a 'natural pointer', one of the most accurate of all autoloading pistols—particularly at long ranges—and reminded critics that the Luger was the choice of more nations as their military sidearm than any other contemporary pistol or revolver. 'Artillery Luger' Lange Pistole 08 with 32-round Trommel-Magazin 08 and removable stock. Model 1900 and Swiss Luger A number of countries purchased the Model 1900 Parabellum in (.30 Luger) caliber and issued the pistol on a limited basis to officers and mounted troops, including Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. The Model 1900 or Pistole Modell 1900 was issued to German officers and likely first saw combat in China during a bloody intervention by German troops in the aftermath of the of 1900. On April 16, 1901, following a successful preliminary test of the Model 1900 at Springfield Armory, the U.S.
Board of Ordnance purchased 1,000 Model 1900 Parabellum pistols with 4.75-inch barrels, marked with standard U.S. Ordnance bomb proofs and 'American Eagle' stamps over the chambers, and issued them to each troop of mounted cavalry of the U.S. Army for field testing, with the remainder to the light artillery and officers at West Point.
In 1902, U.S. Army officials purchased another 50 Model 1902 Parabellum pistols with 4-inch barrels, again in 7.65mm Parabellum caliber, for further testing and evaluation. This was followed by a third test of 50 so-called 'cartridge counter' Parabellum pistols in 9 mm caliber by Springfield Armory in 1904.
Other nations either tested the Model 1900 or purchased small numbers for limited field service, including Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Holland, Luxembourg, Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Portugal. Commercial models of the Model 1900 were exported in quantity as well. In the U.S., Model 1900 pistols in 7.65 Parabellum caliber (aka.30 Luger in the U.S.) were first imported by Georg Luger, then by a DWM sales agent, Hans Tauscher, until World War I. Referred to at the time as the 'Borchardt-Luger' by U.S. Authorities, Tauscher consistently referred to the pistol in his marketing and advertising materials as the 'Luger', after its inventor.
Model 1900 pistols shipped to the U.S. Were typically stamped with an American Eagle atop the barrel extensions. 'American Eagle' 7.65 Model 1900 pistols were used by variety of buyers, including American lawmen such as Stringer Fenton, outlaws, and Texas Rangers. Swiss Luger After testing, the adopted the Model 1900 on April 4, 1901 in 7.65x21mm caliber as its standard side arm, designated Pistole 1900.
![Luger Luger](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125439822/671261726.jpg)
This model uses a 120 mm (4.7 in) barrel and incorporates a grip safety and leaf-type mainspring. A later Swiss military contract with DWM resulted in the latter supplying improved Model 1900/06 pattern pistols designated the Model 1906 or Pistole 1900/06.
Commencing in 1918, these Model 1906 Parabellum pistols were manufactured and assembled in Bern, Switzerland. In 1929, Swiss authorities adopted an improved version of the Modell 1900 designated the Modell 06/29 with improved sights, trigger and a stronger toggle link. Manufactured entirely at Bern, Switzerland, the 06/29 pistol served the Swiss Army until well after the adoption of a new service pistol in 1948, and was still in limited service in the late 1960s. Model 1902 In 1902 DWM introduced a slightly improved version of the Model 1900 Parabellum as the Model 1902.
The Model 1902, with its shortened 4-inch barrel, was the first Parabellum pistol to be offered in 9x19mm Parabellum caliber, along with a change from four-groove to six-groove rifling. Navy model The Luger pistol was accepted by the in 1904 in 9mm Parabellum as the Pistole 04 (P04). The navy model had a 150 mm (5.9 in) barrel and a two-position ( 100 meters (110 yd) or 200 meters (220 yd) ) rear sight. This version was also referred to as the 'Marine Modell 1904' or, more colloquially in the US as the 'navy Luger'. The Pistole 04 was later updated with a coil mainspring to Model 1906 pattern as Luger continued to refine and improve his design.
Model 1906 (Neues Modell) Georg Luger introduced a new version of the Parabellum pistol in 1906 which would become known as the Model 1906 or New Model ( Neues Modell). This latest version of the Parabellum replaced the old flat laminated main spring with a new, more reliable coil design. As all models of the Luger built after 1906 have the coil mainspring, they are known as New Models. Older Parabellum pistols in German service were usually upgraded to the New Model specification.
Luger 04 Pistol of the.: Armed forces used Lugers after 1945, supplied from the French controlled Mauser factory.: Mainly issued to officers.: Used Luger pistols in a semi-official capacity taken from disarmed.: The French occupied and operated the Mauser factory 1945–46, then seized remaining Mauser parts stocks to assemble approximately 4,000 Luger pistols for French forces.: Used by the and agents.: Dutch arms factories made Lugers in 1912 for use by the. Other contracts were completed for the Dutch Navy commencing in 1923, and the Dutch Air Force in 1928.: Almost 14,000 Dutch KNIL M.11 Lugers were in Indonesia before the.
As such, the Luger was widely used during the. General is known to have personally carried an M.11.: Captured Lugers issued to RNZAF ADS officers 1942-45.: In use from 1945 and phased out in 1987.: Used by Chang Tso-lin's warlord army.Used captured.: The Swiss Army was the first to adopt the Luger. 1900-1950. The U.S.
Ordnance Board purchased 1,000 Model 1900 7.65mm pistols under an official military contract order and issued them to active duty cavalry troops for field testing. Non-state entities.
See also. References Citations.