Newbie With First Luger:

[gvf]

Originally Posted by luger.parabellum

Jerry

Sorry but today I didn't manage to answer any earlier.
If I'm not wrong according one of my "Luger Bibles J C Still WEIMAR AND EARLY NAZI LUGERS, those guns were called BKIW-MAUSER TRANSITIONAL DWM LUGERS (Abbreviated 29DWM although many of the Lugers we call 29 DWM were manufactured long before 1929) most were made by BKIW and involved also surplus parts. Lugers in the s, t and u suffix serial range have characteristics and markings that distinguish them from earlier BKIW (DWM) production.
The majority of guns reported in the t and u suffix have an unmarked toggle, and have long been termed 1933 MAUSER Sneak, but in real terms these are "transitional" between the last of BIKW production and early MAUSER production. The blank toggles are almost exclusively found on Lugers in the t block and lower half of the u block and this suggests us that perhaps about 15,000 of them were produced.
Probably the so called Riff Contract pistol production started in the late s suffix serial number range which would suggest that at least some of this range was manufactured as early as 1927, but apparently we still don't know for sure how many of them were actually manufactured. Since these were not delivered, they may have stayed in BKIW's unsold inventory until 1929 and appears that additional blank-toggle Lugers were manufactured to fullfill Prussian police orders for pistols for the Landjägerei, Schupo and Police Schools, perhaps for uniformity to match those from the Riff Contract.

Sergio

Thanks again so much for this wealth of highly specific info.
So is it certain exactly why the "T" and "U" Lugers were Blanks?

From this statement of yours: "[It] appears that additional blank-toggle Lugers were manufactured to fullfill Prussian police orders.." that there was intentionality in "Blankness", i.e. Sneaks to avoid WWI Allies knowledge. That wasn't the ultimate purpose, the purpose was to make guns for the police, to sell to others (Riff Contract for example) or whatever. But they were made as anonymous, they was their "style".


The other more prosaic explanation I've heard is the Blanks were those guns randomly thrown together from unmarked parts. But that doesn't really explain why they were Blank. Colt 1911s were said to have been thrown together from a pile of parts and then used for soldiers in training camps. But they still were stamped COLT.

So, is it certain Blanks were made to be Sneaks?

Thanks.

Jerry
"gvf"