New Acquisition From NGD 2008
 

Hereâ??s my latest acquisition from NGD 2008, Louisville, KY. I bought the rig from another collector. It has original era leather straps, boots, etc. It even came with an unmarked takedown tool (correct) and an unmarked all steel cleaning rod. These were just the icings on the cake.

DWM LP.08 1917 Chamber Dated Artillery Luger, S/N 7057f. All matching, except magazine. It came with a beech wood â??+â?� bottomed magazine, which I switched out with an un-numbered imperial proofed beech wood mag I had in surplus. 1917 DWM LP.08 are the most commonly encountered LP.08. Jan Stillâ??s, â??Imperial Lugersâ?�, 2nd Printing, 1994, estimates production at 90,000 units.

Left side of pistol. Cleaning rod and takedown tool which were included in the purchase.

Right side of pistol.

Left side and right side close ups, showing s/n's and proofs.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0883.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0884.jpg

S/N on frame and barrel. Halos on S/N on the barrel. Photo of chamber and fine tune rear sight. '17 DWM LP.08 came with a combination of and/or front/rear fine tune or no fine tune sights.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0885.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0886.jpg

What makes this 1917 DWM LP.08 special and on the scarce side is the unit mark on the front grip strap. â??R.J.R.72.7.11.â?? or 72nd Reserve Infantry 7th Company Weapon # 11. According to Stillâ??s â??Imperial Lugersâ?�, 1994, regimental marked 1917 DWM LP.08â??s are approximately 1% of total production.

Overall, it is a clean honest â??17 Arty that hasnâ??t been messed with. The grip panels are numbered to the pistol. Here is a photo of the pistol with the right grip panel removed.

Maker marked and "1918" Dated artillery holster.

Marked closure strap.

Imperial proofed shoulder stock.

And finally, the candle on the icings of the cake: The stock iron is serial numbered to the pistol. :D

Joe
Vary nice indeed I would be smiling too. Thank you for sharing.:cheers:
Regards Randy.

A complete artillery rig is always a great find, congrats. Your cleaning rod appears to have a birch barrel along with the magazine base. The boot cup strap is a early one due to all stiching no rivets. The marked closeure strap appears to be of latter made due to the rivets no big deal it's still orginal. Is their a name or rank penciled in on the stock under the holster? A lot of times you will see this. A all matching stock and LPO8 along with the orginal carry straps is indeed a great find.

Nice rig!

very nice, something to be proud of.



Ed

Thanks for the replies Gents! It's been more than a week and I still got an ear to ear grin. The leather is a mixture of early and later but how often do you see these 90+ year old leather parts come on a rig up for sale. The first thing I did when I got it home was pull it apart and condition the leather. The straps and boot are not in the best shape and require a little TLC. No pencil /ink markings on the shoulder stock. On back on the holster is the Imperial proof C/III.

Joe Pirolo

Joe, Yes!!! Really a very beautiful complete rig. Only thing missing is the EM belt, buckle and a double magazine pouch to complete it!
Something to be proud of to be sure!
I don't see where you say the magazine is matching?
Also I have several of the WALZ marked stock straps...I don't know that I know what these indicate?
Most marked Artillery leathers are marked Maurey & Co. if they are marked at all.
Jerry Burney

Thanks for the reply Jerry. Unfortunately no matching magazine. Would have been nice though! The pistol came with a beech wood serial numbered "+" magazine. I switched it out with an un-numbered Imperial proofed beech wood mag I had laying around. It was the best SOS/NGD I've been to in the past four years! I posted some pictures I took at SOS over on "Gun Show Announcements & Discussion". Were you able to make it KY?

Joe Pirolo

Joe; Great shots of a beautiful rig. I also am still grinning ear to ear as I had the pleasure of being with you when you found this treasure.

Leo

Joe; Great shots of a beautiful rig. I also am still grinning ear to ear as I had the pleasure of being with you when you found this treasure.

Leo

Joe. Very very nice. Thanks for sharing. I have a Krieghoff holster with WALZ inside on the closing strap. Does anyone know what this is about? Bill

Joe,
very nice purchase. Be very careful with that holster. A 1918 dated holster is a hard find for perfectionist collectors who try to match up the date of the holster to the date on the chamber on the gun. Because the manufacturers mark are in the rough leather, the marks might be too easily rubbed off in time. So be careful, you have a good find there.

Maybe what you will have to do is find a good 1918 dated artillery rig to match up to your holster. With a little luck it might have a 1917 dated holster with it. Then you'll have two arties matched up.

Big Norm

Thank you for your responses.

Jerry & Norm:

I posted this on the NAPCA site a while ago, but I thought I'd share it with you and the membership. Here's a little add on I thought the both of you would appreciate. This was the first arty holster I purchased and have had it for some time now. I found a mag pouch on EBay several months after I purchased the holster. After I won the auction and got the pouch home I realized its the same maker mark and date as the holster. I found the second mag pouch over a year later on EBay and wanted it because it was dated and marked the same. When I got that pouch home I discovered it had the same Depot stamp as stamped on the inside flap/cover of the holster.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0847_2.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0852.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0854_2.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0858.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0860_2.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/dscn0862_2.jpg

Thanks again for your replies and "Happy Collecting!"

Joe Pirolo

I was looking through Still's, "Central Powers Pistols", 2007, and it appears some stats have changed. 1917 DWM LP.08 is still the most common encountered LP08 with an estimated production of 90,000 but unit marked '17 arties are now estimated at five percent. There are also four Lugers unit marked to the 72nd Reserve photographed in this reference book. Mine makes five. Oh well, not as scarce as I thought, but I'm still grinning! :)