Help identifying luger p08 commercial
 

what i think i have is an early commercial p08 dwm,9mm ,4", all numbers matching, but the mags, mags are or seem correct for period, serial number 2331 alpha t , not sure of that, left side proof crown N, right side wza66 ,crown n under barrel with serial number, there is a pinned hold down strap over the side plate, gun is 98 percent, excellant bore, shoots and fuctions well, over all great condition, holster, comercial ,brown looks like marked lza and a egale, unit marked L.Hi.65 front strap,mags unmarked wooden bottoms,stock lug,exc grips, has hold open. over all i give this gun a solid 98 per,best one i have owned. un dated over chamber, i have never seen the hold down strap over the side plate, any help would be greatly appreaciated, i hope the pics will load, i took alot, danodesertrain@yahoo.com thanks again for your help Padre Dan

few more pics
 

thanks for your help

two more
 

couple more

Dan..i have never seen the hold down strap over the side plate, any help would be greatly appreaciated,

This is a Police sear safety

Your pistol started it's life as a Commercial and was pressed into service with the Weimar Police.

Is it 9MM? I see it is..

I can't see the holster well enough to comment on it.

In any event, both the Commercial-Police and holster seem to be in stunning condition!!!

thanks does any one know the year of production? it is perhaps the nicest luger i have ever owned, the part over the side plate is a police safety? besides the holster it was in a case marked john dickson an son edinburgh. does any one have an idea on this case?

Dan, The case is an unremarkeable common relatively modern gun case. It has nothing to do with the historical aspect of your Luger. I suspect your Luger is mid 1920's. Some members here can pin it down with the serial # and suffix.

two more pixs
 

thanks again everyone

Dan, Holster is a reproduction.

ok, thanks, the gun along with the other items and another luger were in a veterans estate, everyone has been very helpfull to help me , i was a military armor, but having owned several lugers , i never really knew much about them and mostly at the time was not intrested and probably sold or traded off some good ones, thanks again for your help.

Hi Dan,
Thanks for posting your extremely nice Luger.
Your Luger, S#2331t, is classified as a 29DWM in Jan Still's 'Weimar Lugers'. It was made in 1929. As Jerry stated before, this Luger started out as a commercial. It originally had a 30 cal. barrel. and no sear safety. The 9mm barrel and sear safety were added at an arsenal. Most 29DWM's were procured by the Army or Police. Only a few were sold commercially.

did it orginaly havea chamber date and it was removed?? is this now considered a rework? and i am being told to check the recoil spring, how can i do that? i do not wantto do anything wrong to harm this gun, allso any idea on value? angain thanks everyone for your help.

Your gun never had a chamber date. Those recommending a recoil spring check are concerned that the spring was not replaced when switched from .30 to 9mm. This is hardly likely.
I would recommend a local gunsmith do this at this point, unless there is a knowledgeable site member near you who can help. Look up spring/caliber combinations in the search mode here on the site to learn more.
Youtube has several decent videos on field stripping your gun.
I agree with Jerry that your holster is a reproduction.

thanks, i could not see how the chamber date could have been removed and it still look this good, i have fired it about 50 times with factory remington loads with out any problems, i fully field strip it and cleaned it when i first recieved it and to check it for any problems before firing it, i had no idea it had been a .30 being changed to 9mm. nor did i know anything about the recoil spring swap. the gun to me is very nice and i just would like to know as much about it as i can. the unit markings L. Hi.65 i am being told means weimar era,L aassigned to landiger (rural constabulary),Hi Hildesheim distric, .65 meaning item 65, what can anyone tell me about the proof marks anda appromate value for it, allso are the mag bottoms wood or resin, sorry for so many questions, but this is the first luger i have really considered as a keeper, again thanks every one for your help, regards Dan

the mag bottoms look to me to be wood, they are undated, but appear to be correct. i allso have a another mag that is alum bottom and numberd and maybe world war two, it works just fine but does stick out the butt of the gun further, i know it is not correct for this gun, but should it be a tad bit longer than the others? thanks

Mine looks related. Any comments or observations

Looks very nice, i would say they are close in apperance. What do you know about yours?

both of our are vey close! L.Hi.65 and mpne is L.Ka.124!! Good Stuff!

as far as the recoils spring goes, the 7.65 has 17 coils and the 9mm has 19 coils, i comfirmed this by checking my other pistol and it has 19 coils as well as this one to, so i would say the recoils spring was replaced with the correct one when it was rebarreled.

Your 29 DWM is not a typical rework. It was a new gun when it went to the arsenal. Most reworks were used and needed some repairs.
The two blank wood bottom mags are commercial and correct for this model. Police replacement mags will have the serial# and the number '1' for the primary, and '2' for the extra mag. The tube of the aluminum bottom mag you mentioned is cut square making the front edge stick out at the bottom. Earlier mags were cut at an angle to match the bottom of the frame. They should be the same overall length.

mike, Ty but curious how can you tell it was new???? when it went to the arsenel. the more i read the more interesting lugers are, i think i havea keeper, see the military thread for my other luger a 1918 1920 double date9mm DWM,, it's a keeper to, thanks again a few pics of it

i see what you mean on the mags , the straight cut mag with the aluminum bottom is marked fxo and a proof mark an 08, is this a common military replace magazine? thanks

Hi Dan,

Your "FXO" mag was made by Haenel, for Mauser in WW2. They are worth up to $200+ in really good condition or with certain markings.
What serial number/letter code does it have on the base? It may be some member's long lost, matching mag!

It is believed that your gun was new when converted because of the "halos" around the serial numbers on the barrel and frame. This lighter colored halo only happens when a number is struck new on a new, blued surface. Any refinishing would eliminate these halos and their absence is always a good indicator of a refinished gun.

Ahh thanks again the mag is number 3443 got it years ago in a trade, so my pistol was new when sent to be rebarreled and the police sear added? thanks again

I knew the mag was world war two and about it, i have seen some of these bring big bucks on ebay, i may try and trade it fora correct early mag with a wooden bottom to match my lugers, thanks again

Because of the number font and the abcense of any letter code or other markings, (I do see a small waffenampt above the number), this MAY be a police reissue magazine.

thanks again, now i know

One small correction. I assume that your identification of the pistol as a 29DWM means it has an "s", "t" or "u" suffix. If so, it left the factory as a 9-mm pistol and was not rebarreled.
__________________
Regards,
Don

Dan,
Sorry for the confusion. It was the earlier 30 cal. Alphabet commercials I was thinking about, that were rebarreled for the police. Your 29DWM only had the sear safety added at an arsenal.

thanks again, so i have a original 9mm 1929 dwm, that had a sear safety added for police use by weimar era ,rural constabulary,hildesheim district, thanks everyone for your help