Mystery Gun

[Ron Wood]

Don
Did your "Mystery Luger" look something like the photo below? I have only seen or heard about few Lugers with the toggle marked with the Swiss cross, but I am sure there are more out there. Thor posted a picture of one not too long ago. If so marked, my guess the Luger that you observed might be referred to loosely as a "1920 Swiss Commercial". There are so darned many talented Swiss gunsmiths that in the '20s refurbishing/reworking Lugers was almost a cottage industry (may still be so today!). Some, such as Fluckiger, had enough pride in their product (or as a marketing device) to use an identifying "trademark" on the pieces they produced. Evidently at least one chose to mark the toggles with the Swiss cross.
The example I have started out life as a 1908 model. It was modified by welding up the lower frame web to add a grip safety and spring, with a corresponding thumb safety. The anomaly is that while this frame is also "Gesichert" marked, it is still marked in the upper position and is actually "off safe" when this marking is exposed! When the thumb safety was swapped out for one that worked with the grip safety, the gunsmith did not go the extra step to remark the frame. Other than that, it is nicely done and quite a conversation piece. [img]smile.gif[/img] Oh, by the way, it is not "Germany" marked.