Mauser American Eagle
 

My father in law inherited this, and I offered to find out some details. It says Mauser parabellum on left side, has American Eagle on top. I am in Baghdad, and awaiting more pictures. It looks in very good condition. I asked my son in law for the serial number plus a photo of the right side

thanks

Peyton

Welcome to the forum. It is most likely a 1970's made mauser luger, made by the original company, but many years later.


More pictures and information, such as serial number would help verify this.


My son is just north of Bahgdad, has beent there the last year.

ed

Let me add my Welcome to the Lugerforum too. My son-in-law is also just outside of Baghdad... but I can't pinpoint a location because he is constantly on the move... His last reported location was FOB Falcon...

I agree with Ed, that the gun is a Mauser-made Swiss-pattern reproduction manufactured in the 1970's.... but the serial number of your Luger will tell the story of the year it was made...

Hi,

Calling the Mauser Parabellum a reproduction is not what I would do. :D

It is an original Mauser gun, made by the original company, but in the 1970s. The style is based more on the Swiss Model 1929 style than on the P08 style, one of the reasons they were not very popular back then. The other reason was the price. For about $40 you could buy a nice, original pre-1945 luger, while the Mauser Parabellum (the one shown) would cost a staggering $200 those days.

The version shown was made between 1970 and 1973.

Hello Peyton,
For additional info about this production you can also have a look at the followng topic:

http://forum.lugerforum.com/forumdis...hp?forumid=132

and visit my web site: www.lugerlp08.com
selecting "Mauser Parabellum Area"

Have fun,
mauro

Gerben, If I recall correctly, one of the reasons that Mauser produced the Swiss pattern Luger in the '70s was that they acquired the Swiss manufacturing tools from Waffenfabrik Bern after Switzerland stopped producing the Parabellum... Am I correct about that?

Hi John,

Yes, it was one of several 'not too bright ideas' the Mauser guys had. The tooling and drawings were pretty much useless because of different manufacturing standards. The old jigs could not be used on the modern machinery and drawings and calculations had to be done all over again. This was one of the things that influenced the eventual selling price.

Thanks for the info, he is interested in selling it. Would an offer of 1,500.00 be reasonable? Hie son has handled it and has no desire to fool with it.
FOB Falcon is a small place they have a good gym, chow hall and most sleep in two story iraqi army barracks. I travel also and got to watch the AFC championship game there last January.

Peyton,
IMHO $1500 is too much. A Mauser new in the box with all accessories and paper work sells for between $900 and $1200.
Tom

I agree that $1500 would be too much right now... in a year, that may not be enough the way prices keep going up... I would say that somewhere comfortably between $1000 and $1200 is where you should be paying depending on how much you want to own it, and how much he wants to sell it... Good luck and let us know how you make out.

I sold one recently in mint condition with no box or accessories for $900. The box and accessories (spare mag, loading tool, cleaning rod, papers) would add about $300.

Thanks for the sanity check. I was not sure where to start.

Well a year has passed and I am still in Baghdad!! The Mauser is still in FIL's safe and he has not budged on price. I went home on a short vacation, and did not get a chance to drive the 3 hours across texas to visit. It is funny I got the money since I have been sitting here, but I value your words of wisdom.

There is one thing that I cannot understand. Looks like Mauser like putting "Original Mauser" on its manuals. Even pre 1946 (in Weimar or Nazi era, I cannot remember exactly). Why did they emphasis on "Original" at that time?

On postwar Mauser, they even put "Original" on the toggle. Marketing in new era is understandable. In old era .... any specific reason? I have never seen "Original DWM", "Original Krieghoff", or "Original Simson" prints.... maybe they exist, but I've never seen one.

Alvin,

'Original' was a marketing phrase that Mauser had used on and off since the 1930s. Many companies were producing Mauser rip-offs (the spanish C96 copies, 98 action copies, etc..) and it was just Mauser's idea of showing that the gun in question was made by Mauser themselves. They picked up the 1930s idea when they started again in the late sixties.

So, just marketing, nothing more, nothing less. Certainly no deeper meaning behind it.

Jason,
If you like Lugers, I recommend you look for a 9mm P08 style. You can get a nice gun for $1000 and it will probably grow in value.
Let your FIL attempt to sell his gem on the market and he'll see what it's worth. If he doesn't have the box and papers he'll be lucky to get $750/$800 out of it.

Swiss Tooling
 

Vlim:

I have heard and read this many times.

Tell me, didn't the Germans know that their standards were different than the Swiss?

Why did the drawings have to be redone? Calculations, I can understand, if newer techniques were used in production.

Probably the least bright idea was not using the original German pattern in the first place, as the Swiss pattern was not generally accepted by the buying public.

Sieger

Interarms Parabellum Prices
 

John:

If the market prices on GunBroker, etc., mean anything, these Mausers seem to be going down in price. Two really nice ones have sold, just last week, for under $900.00.

Sieger

Under $1k is not hard to find. But usually no box. Maybe sounds weird, that paper box worth some money. Was it numbered to the gun?

Alvin:

Sorry, it was AuctionArms.

New in box, with all of the goodies, including the round, blue plastic "Mauser Wappen".

Swiss style, 9mm, $841.00.

Another Swiss style, 9mm, six inch (without box) $900.00.

If these keep falling, I'm going to start buying!

Sieger

P.S.: The box these came in (the white one) really looked cheap at the time, and still do now!!

Yes the boxes were numbered to the gun.
DJU

I acquired a copy of Stoeger's 1939 catalog. On page 40, this catalog listed "GENUINE" OR ORIGINAL MAUSER RIFLE, and explained a little bit regarding it.

The difference between the "Genuine" Mauser Magazine Sporting Rifles and most of the so-called "Mauser rifles" is that the former are made at the Mauser factory where this system was invented and developed and that they carry with them invaluable guarantee of this firm whereas the latter, as a rule, are converted Mauser rifles composed of parts proceeding from former military rifles or of factory-rejected parts "made-up" anywhere and usually without any guarantee whoatsoever.

Looks like "factory Mauser" had to compete with "parts Mauser" (most probably just military surplus, but vendor had to amplify that :)) at that time because of all those surplus and parts available on the market after WWI.

Probably pistols were in similar situation.

Well a long time has passed since I started this post. My son-in-law and daughter gave me luger for my Christmas present. They gave $700.00 for it, it looks to be unfired, three magazines and no box. Since I started this post I have been in Iraq and now in Afghanistan!! I got to handle it during Spring Break 2011. Sadly I did not get to the range. My son took a couple of more pictures. Tell me more about this if there is additional info available.

http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...rrightside.jpg

http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...leftside-1.jpg

Swiss Pattern Parabellum w/6" barrel. Mfg. by Mauser in the 1970's and imported by Interarms. $700 is a reasonable price. 9mm or .30 cal? It will be a great shooter so please return safely and have some fun with it! A great first Luger.
Thanks for your service!
dju

Nice pistol.

It is a very early Interarms contract version, it still has the extra dot between the serial number digits 11.00.1584.

The 11 signifies that it is a 9mm. Production numbering started at 11.00.1001.

It would be interesting to see a photo of the Mauser banner on the toggle.

Price wise, NIB versions in .30Luger or 9mm are selling in the $850 to $1100 range on Gun Broker. I picked up mine in .30Luger for $950 a couple weeks ago and have been having big fun shooting it. I found the grips very awkward and uncomfortable. Hugh Clark, a member of this forum modified them so that they are both attractive and very functional. There's an excellent photo of what they look like here:

http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=25870

Thank you for your service to our nation. Come home safely.

Regards,
Doug

Thanks for all the information, I will ask my son to take a couple of pictures of the top plus any markings he sees.