I found this Luger on the attic
 

Hi all members on Lugerforum,

I am a Swede who bought a summerplace at the Swedish and Norway border in Scandinavia some weeks ago. When my wife was cleaning out the attic she found a wooden box with a brown-black holster. In the holster there was a complete Luger. I do not now so much about pistols, but you recognize a Luger who you see in all the warmovies. What I would like to ask the forum members is to help me identify what type of Luger I have really found on the attic. I would really like to know so much I can about the Lugers history.
The Luger is in very good condition if you think about it being on a attic for maybe some 50 years.
I send some pictures on the pistole.
There are two magazine. One in the holster that have a buttknob i wood. The other without wood. There is a number 2415 on the barrel and on the body. The number 2415 is also on the knob to the magazine. On the handle there is a big brass plate (see photo) that have the Letters and numbers LAS6 / 1. I have been studying your section "Markings", and found the "DWM" insignia on the topp of the Luger.
On the barrel there is a marking that are very smal and look like the proof you can see on the "Proof 1" number 4. It is a crone with a "N".
On the barrel and the body of the pistole I have found "Luger Suffixes" looking like a L that could be "1918 LP-08".
My question now is if somebody could help me and tell me what type of Luger I have found?
Regards / Erik

"Sure look foward to these pictures"

Re: I found this Luger on the attic
 

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload...mplett_200.jpg http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload...ingplatta1.jpg http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload..._200_copy1.jpg http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload..._200_copy1.jpg
ADMIN: I made the pictures not show, since they were so large.

Erik,
You are so lucky! You need to buy your wife some flowers and a nice dinner. Pictures will help very much to identify your Luger. There is some information that would help until your pictures are posted.
1. How long is the barrel. This can be measured by putting a rod (a pencil will do fine) down the barrel until it stops and measuring the length. (Make sure the gun is unloaded!)
2. Is there a date on top of the Luger?
3. Do you know the caliber - 9mm or 7.65mm?

LIke "the gunman", I look forward to the pictures, particularly the "big brass plate"!
Best regards
Ron

Erik,
You were posting your pictures while I was writing my last response. You have found a very nice Finnish contract Luger in very nice condition. It is rare to find one with the brass plate still attached as most were removed. This is a very desirable example and you are to be congratulated. As I said, you are so lucky!

The pictures are there now. I hope you can see them! I would like to say that one of the magazine have aq wooden knob and this is the magazine that have the number "2415". Same as the pistol. The other magazine that have a knob of metal have the number "6875" and also a suffix like a "L" but also with cross. (see picture)
I also send two photos from securing button and small sign and "2415" on the barrel. When I was measuring the barrel through putting a pencil in it, i got 9.5 centimeter. I do not know what calibre the pistol have.
http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload...gazine_200.jpg
http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload...secure_200.jpg
http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload...fix_barrel.jpg

Okey...big thanks for your help. I am very lucky indeed. My wife first instinct was to through it in to a nearby lake because she hate firearms. But lucky me she did not do that ;-) Well, I was not surprise to here that it is a finnish weapon because Sweden had troops in Finland in the famous finnish winter wars. Two more questions, What does the brass plate stand for, what does it means. Second, how much is this piece maybe worth?
Regards
Erik

Congratulations with finding such a nice Luger!
..if you by any chance decide to sell it, I'm a neighbour from Norway and might be interested! ;) There is usually no problem to have it registered.

Erik,
The markings on the brass disk indicate the unit to which the Luger was issued. I am not positive, but perhaps the LAS.6/1 on your Luger means "Laivastoasema" (I hope I spelled it correctly!) which I think means navy base. So I believe your Luger was assigned to Navy Base 6 and is weapon number 1.
I hesitate to guess the value of Lugers because it can vary widely depending on condition, country and other factors. I can safely say that your Luger and holster are worth quite a bit more than $1000 US but I do not have a better number. Perhaps one of the other forum members can give you a more accurate evaluation.

congratulations on this wonderful find. Like Ron said very rare to find with the brass plate intact. Sure wish I could buy it here. Were there any items relating to this gun in the attic.?
uniforms ,caps, papers etc. Very interesting story.

Hi,
Thanks for the congratulation. I am very surprise myself of the discovery that I made last week. Fantastic I think. You asked if it was something else in the box. It was sometype of medal. A black cross with silver around. A pin on the back. It was inserted into the holster. No pappers or anything with the pistol. Only some old bullets in the box and magazine. These we have taken away for saftey.
As I told you I am not so much into war relic but I reconize a Luger....
Regards Erik

I would like to ask another question to you Luger Pro on this forum about the stampings. On the total metal magazine there was another number and other stamps. Is there anybody could tell me what these means and could give in information.
Regards Erikhttp://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload...0_frstorad.jpg

erik, welcome to the forum! Once you become an actual member (you will be approved by tomorrow), I will move this thread to the New Collector forum.


Also, can you see about using smaller photo's that don't make my eyes bleed? ')

Sure...I Will do. The last photo was okey I think? Sorry for the big pictures but it is hard to know how big they will be when you are new to the forum.
Regards
Erik

:)

and wonderful find by the way!!!!

Hi,

A very nice discovery. I shouldn't worry too much about the quality and danger of the ammunition. It can usually be stored for quite a long time without it becoming dangerous.

Your pistol may either be in 7.65 parabellum or 9mm parabellum. The bullets could answer the question. If the case has a small neck, it's 7.65. If it's a straight case, it's 9mm. The ammo itself may have some value, depending on the maker.

Erik,

What a treasure you have found in your attic.

To the best of my ability, the answers to your second magazine questions:

The numbers represent the serial number of another pistol serial 6875 i which that magazine was originally issued with.

In fact it was the spare magizine which is indicated by the plus sign "+" stamped below it. That letter "i" is part of the serial number.

The last symbol is called a 'stick eagle 63' and represents the military inspection and acceptance of the magazine assembly for use.

Have you looked in the small pouch inside the top cover of the holster?
There may be a loading tool hidden inside - to add to your collection !

Regards,
Fritz.

Sorry, but the little pouch was empty. I was wondering what should be in this little pouch.....thanks for the help.

If you want to find an original and matching loading tool, a good place to look is on ebay or make a post on "wanted to buy" on the forum

I believe it is Lentoasema, airport.
I found a listing on the old unit abbreviations on the net.
Airport 6 was Viipuri (Viborg). It was a largish town/city (by 1940's Finnish standards) on the Karelian Isthmus and became a part of the Soviet Union after the war.

Viipuri in Wikipedia, in English

Very interesting
 

Well, this sounds very interesting. As I told before I have no knowledge in what the letters means on the brass plate. So, I trust that a person from Finland maybe knows what he talks about. Is there any military records in Finland that are open for person like me to get information from the military to get knowledge about the brassplate?

Re: Very interesting
 

Thanks for the proper phrasing! :)

My grandmother was evacuated from Karelia and I'm three quarters Karelian so "Karjala el�¤�¤" indeed!


I just luckily found an old document (1936) reproduced on the web that happened to have a list of the units and their abbreviations.

Maybe the Military Museum (Sotamuseo) might be able to help you if you want to know something more specific.

Of course they might want the gun "back" as it probably was taken without permission (aka stolen) from the Army. Well, probably not a big deal any more. After the war ended, some soldiers travelled to Sweden in fear of retribution from the Soviet occupation forces, maybe one of them took it to Sweden? I'm just making guesses based on the fact that it was found apparently quite unexpectedly in an attic.

What about the caliber, have you checked? As someone wrote, it should be obvious looking at the ammo. The 7.65 cartridge case has a shoulder and the 9mm does not. Or you could just use a ruler or something to check the muzzle, 1,5mm is such a big difference you won't need a precision instrument to measure which is it.

Thanks for info. It is a 7.65 mm. You see it both on the ammo and I have also checked the size of barrel. How the pistol came to Sweden I do not know but, but either with a finnish soldier or maybe some civilian who got it from a military. Who knows?
But, it is very funny to try to get to know the history of the pistol and one start is to get to know what LAS 6 / 1 means. Was the Finnish Lugers always marked in this way? Did they change the number on the brass plate if the Luger went to another place? When did they stop using the Luger in the Finnish army?
I send a picture again on the Brassplate
Regards
E


LARGE VERSION
http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/las61.jpg
http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/finland18.jpg

Hi all!
I have now got the information that "LAS" that are on the Luger, should mean "Lentojaukkosen teknillinenkoulu". This should be a Airbase with Teknology support. It was placed in (kauhava) in Finland.

Lentojoukkojen teknillinen koulu, it means something like the Air Force Aviation Technology College, actually.
During the war it moved several times, to Kauhava only in 1945.

I don't know where you got this idea but IMHO this is much less plausible than my earlier explanation which was based on a 1930s document which, as I mentioned, included all such abbreviations.

Here is a link to another document listing the organization of the Finnish Army

On page 80 you will find LAs 6 which is also listed here as Lentoasema 6, Airbase 6. From 1934-36 it was Viipuri and 1937-38 Immola.
Lentojoukkojen teknillinen koulu is listed right after that, the official abbreviation is Le.Tekn.Koulu. Also "LAS" wouldn't make much sense as there is no letter "a" in the whole name...