M1906 Russian Luger - The Ending of its Identity

[Ron Wood]

Being a Model 1900, the two Russian Lugers with crossed rifles have no safety or extractor markings that would provide a tie to either Russia or Bulgaria. The only link to Russia that I am aware of are the Mosin-Nagant rifles on the chamber. I have personaly examined a fairly well worn example a number of years ago (don't think it was one of the two mentioned by Shattuck). It had a very odd marking on the left side of the receiver consisting of a small sans-serif upper case "W" over a larger "backward" upper case "Q" (the "tail" of the Q came out the left side). It also had a rather long (about 10 digits) number stamped or pantographed on the bottom of the barrel that looked like it might be a museum accession number. Unfortunately, I have lost both the serial number and the barrel number over the years.