Help to ID NSDAP markings on Luger

[rhinemann]

I don't like the lettering at all. It doesn't appear to look pantograph to me at all under higher magnification. The ends of the letters look rounded like being done on a milling machine. Shouldn't pantograph letters be squared off at their ends? Look's like little swirling marks thru the length of the letters caused from a milling bit.

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by rhinemann

I don't like the lettering at all. It doesn't appear to look pantograph to me at all under higher magnification. The ends of the letters look rounded like being done on a milling machine. Shouldn't pantograph letters be squared off at their ends? Look's like little swirling marks thru the length of the letters caused from a milling bit.

Rounded ends and little swirling marks are signs of pantograph use as opposed to stamping. So the markings look just like many hundreds of other 1920-30 timeframe German unit markings.

A pantograph is just a duplicating device, it can have several options for actually marking, from a pen or pencil, to a stylus, the Germans appear to have used something similar to a spinning dremel tool bit(think of the old style dentist drill)- which of course is why it looks like milling. I guess you could think of it as a tiny milling machine.