Is This Swiss A Good One?

[Pete Ebbink]

Ron,

I would never call myself an expert of Swiss Lugers...just a Swiss "nut".

Here is the G-B link to the Luger in question :

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...?Item=80216381

I liked the overall look to this gun...lots of glare in the photos to say if original finish or not or possibly a Bern re-do.

BUT...the bigger issue I have with this piece can be seen in this photo :



Hard to tell for sure...but the photo seems to show a barrel serial number of 527x and a front frame SN of 2262.

SN 527x places the Ordnance (military) gun in the correct range of M1906 cross/sunburst pistols.

SN of the frame of 2262 is another matter altogether. One cannot be sure where that bottom half of the Luger cam from...but not from the original top-half of the pistol. It could be the bottom of a M1900 Swiss or another commercial piece.

Ad says "all matching"...NOT...

Another photo of the rear of the frame/toggle shows the number "203" on the tang of the rear toggle. This means another gun with its SN ending in x203 donated parts to this gun. So we have evidence of at least 3 guns giving up parts for this "assemblage".



The price is too high for a "parts gun" no matter how nicely finished. It has no collector-value IMHO...

MS State is a known source for bogus guns...including many "Swiss" Lugers. This G-B seller may not be the "mechanic" out of MN, but he may just be an unfortunate who happened to get snagged by this fellows wares and is now "dumping" it...

BTW...link to the FGS web site. Doug Smith and Ken Clark are very trustworthy Luger sellers. Some of the other big dealer names are not...

http://www.fgsinc.8m.com/