Crates of Lugers!!..(Truth or Rumour)??
 

A Fellow firearms collector told me that he had heard rumours of crates of original unissued Lugers still in grease coming in from the Ukraine....via an Importer in Tennessee.....would be kind of neat to get a couple of brand new sequentially numbered WW2 Lugers......anyone else heard about this ???

No, sounds like one of those bs rumors, but I am like you, my fingers and toes are crossed!

:)

Ed

Reminds me of the tales that were going around after the Korean war about brand new Jeeps, still in the crates, that could be had for $50.00.

That tale was around for years but I never saw one of those Jeeps and don't know anyone else that did.

Joe

That rumor is absolutely true. Except those crates of sequentially numbered Lugers are coming from Waffenfabrik USA, not the Ukraine.

The Ukraine has two "large" weapons depot's which do contain large amounts of German weapons to include lugers.
I have a contact who has access to one of them and I do obtain items from him such as Luger holsters etc.
I have not heard about the Lugers via Tenn., But I do know that large amounts of 98k's have come from this depot to the USA.
All German depot stocks that were captured at the end of the war to include unissued items were sent via rail to these depot's.
They remain there today and are slowly being obtained for export. Most "metal" items I get have been coated with a black coating that comes of with mild solvent showing the original finish.
I just received a shipment this week that included a Mauser stock for a C96.
I hope this add's to the original posing.
Regards,
Hessian

Thanks for the info Hessian!!!.......I would love to visit these depot's......how big are they???....Thanks....Peter.....(anyone want to visit the Ukraine with me!!!??)

Point of fact - "Ukraine" is the correct way to refer to Ukraine, not "The" Ukraine. It it incorrect to use the article "the." Since independence in 1991, it has simply been referred to as "Ukraine." mm

"The Ukraine" means the periphery, the back country, the boonies. Hence the definite article.

Peter,
One Depot ( if I recall correctly ) has 7 tunnels each tunnel with 18 rail cars full of items. But there could be other buildings and areas that I don't know about.
I stand corrected "Ukraine" vise "The Ukraine"... Ok on to other things!
Hessian

Hi Hessian......WOW!!....sounds amazing....a WW2 collectors paradise......I would love to visit....I grew up in England...and in the Early 60s visited the Channel Islands which were occupied by the Germans in WW2.....some friends and Myself discovered a tunnel (sealed since the war)....were able to find a way in...and found it to be full of German Helmets ,Jackboots,Wagons...gas mask containers,saddle drum MG magazines...etc etc....due to the humidity most of the stuff was rusted....nonetheless, for a bunch of 12 year old boys,it was quite a discovery....Peter..

This is great stuff! I hope there is followup on this thread. What a boon to collectors if the lugers were fouond to be sequantial unissued items instead of just surrendered booty.

I was over there several years ago when the pistol bidding was going on, and as I recall Century Arms won the Stars and Radoms, Key II the P38s (most of the best ones then purchased by FGS in Ohio) and the lugers by a German firm and were split by several smaller firms (Sarco, AIM, Interordnance, etc) who put in a combined bid. Almost all of these were the dipped, force matched ones that we've seen over the last few years. I doubt that there are any more pistols still in "the tunnels". TH

LugerDoc,
By chance was it the same Depot that the 80 FG42's are stored?
Regards,
Hessian

Hessian, I didn't see any long guns, as they just brought us samples of the pistols to look at. TH

I contacted my good friend in the "east" and told him that collectors here in the USA perceived that there might not be many pistols remaining to buy from the former USSR.
His response was, " No that is not true there are many " I added that it would be nice to have a picture or two as proof.
No he said, "I will send you the magazines as proof".
Guess what came in the mail today... you got it a box full of magazines, I know that many are PPK mags as I asked for those. It will take a couple of days to sort through all of them as they are each individually wrapped.
Yes, I can tell that their are some luger mag's.
Der Hessian

Please keep us informed on this. I'd like to see the Lugers if some get in the U.S. If the lot of Lugers are like the lot of K98's that came in, I just don't know about. I saw some of the K98's and found them to be "re-conditioned" by the former USSR. Don't know exactly what they "re-conditioned" but some of the nazi eagle stamps were pinged out of the 98's. Hope these new Lugers and "or" P38's are not like that.

So does anyone know about how many Lugers we are talking about that there might be?

Thanks, Kelly

Hessian, ole buddy and same state person...

box of Luger magazines, hmmmmm, I'm over by Spokane :D

Ed

Tinker, I will rent you my GT specialties dent remover for your magazine project :-)

yah, like Der Hessian will send some over fer me, :D

Hessian, if it's not too much trouble, and you intend to sell some of those mags, could you post the serial #'s of the Luger mags????

Hessian,
I don't know if you are in the gun business or not. But if you have a number of Luger magazines maybe it would be good to contact Don Hallock out of Hobart, Washington. He publishes a list of Luger magazines that are available for trade or sale about once a year. The list is cheap to buy (only $12) and putting magazines on the list is free. You could contact him at: drh@oz.net
Big Norm

Hello,
Fellow patriots Iâ??ve finally made it through the magazines ( laborer of love ) and I have found the following; Luger magazines 100% as far as I can see except the â??ladsâ?� seemed to have buffed the numbers off leaving only WaApmts etc., But I did find some very nice â??Haenel Schmeisser patent magsâ?�.
VERY , VERY NICE Walther PPK mags. Mostly unissued and again very nice! I did find a few numbered mags also in this grouping ( They didnâ??t buff these out? )
Also, a few very nice p38 mags.
This thread also has caused another forum member to send me a small box of magazines yet to be inventoried.
Iâ??ll start taking pictures in the morning and make them available for those inclined to get a â??crackâ?� at them.
Thanks for putting up with me and my escapades,
Regards,
â??Der Hessianâ?�

Gentleman,
I'm now in position to buy a quantity of spare luger parts. These are out of the "tunnels" in the east, the same place the magazines came from.
My question to all of you is this; Is their a market for these items?, what in particular?
It was reported that some are stamped and numbered and some are not. Of interest was a scan that I received showing a "Erfurt" stamped trigger?
Please share your thoughts!
Hessian

Depends upon what the parts are and if they're reasonably priced. I'd say they'd sell. I could use a trigger myself.

Hessian,

IMO, you are playing a numbers and inventory game. You are going to have to buy a boat load of parts, sort by item and condition and advertise to make any money. The good stuff will be cherry picked quickly and the grade 3 stuff will be growing toadstools before it moves. IIRC, Numerich tried this for years and went bust and was bought by Gunparts and they are still at it. Very time consuming and labor intensive.

Tom A

Hessian, The biggest problem with the Russian luger parts is that many of them will have the original serial numbers peened out and have been refinished, so not worth much to collectors. I recently purchased 10 PO8 side plates from the DDR with the numbers peened out, and still have them all, since no one wants them at half the regular price. Most shooters seem to perfer the unnumbered repros at the same price. TH

Hey Hessian....just bring in the complete guns....how complicated can it be to get them into the USA.....(about a truck load of paperwork and frustration for each one????!!!!!)

Thank you, for the responses and very good points!
I'm right now going to be able to buy small amounts and see were this takes me. I will not bring in complete guns for the time being. I'm going to have guns stripped.
Some of the parts are reported to actually be Heer replacement parts. But above all it surely seems that I really don't want to be stuck with parts that will never find a home other than my garage.
Thanks for the responses and thoughts. I have a couple PM's to answer and to those members I will catch up to you in the morning.
I do have at present 1918 PO8 holsters made from Reichwehr holsters near the end of the WW1.
Thanks again,
Der Hessian Von Weisbaden!

WOW! Some sample parts came in they are in the tan original oil paper wrap and are unissued or numbered! NEW.
If someone would be willing to post a pic for me ( I don't know why its so complicated here )I would love to share this sample of parts.
If this is what they all are like... I'm getting more!
Regards,
Der Hessian

Well I would be glad to post pictures.

Also, I am driving over to Tacoma for work for the next couple of days, I'd love to meet up with you?

Ed

I'd be happy to help you...
E-Mail me the photos you want posted and I'll be pleased to put them on my site and then reference the URL's to you so you can say what you like about each.

I'll also post them here.

Charles

Boy I hate reading this, we have money, they need money, we want this "stuff", they don't. Can't we get together :)

Ed,
Send me your email address and I will send you the pictures also I have some P08 and P38 gauges to show you that are kind of neat.
Der Hessian

Dan,
There is nothing to hate, little by little I'm opening the door. First it was magazines now replacement parts. "Geduld"
Der Hessian

Greetings
Hessian sent me his parts pictures and I have posted them for him at:
http://www.memorableplaces.com/temp/forrobert/

Please feel free to have a look.

Sorry for the disclaimer, but:
Memorableplaces.com is doing this only as a service to the community and as I have not a CLUE what I am looking at with lugers or parts yet, (see my plaintive wail in the Newbies forum), I make no representation about any of the photos posted there. Heck I do not even yet know what some of the stuff IS. :-)

In any case, I trust this will help the community out a little.

Charles
http://www.memorableplaces.com/temp/...ture%20090.jpg

These look like firing pin go/no-go protrusion gauges for the P-08 pistol and the MP-38 Machine Pistol...

Heya John,

There are other parts pictured at that URL. I think I recognize what must be the mag release button... and looks like a shell casing so maybe another go/nogo guage?

Anyway - as I say all of those photos were posted for hessian so I'll let him (or you or others) tell the tales... I'll just absorb.

Charles

Charles,
Sir, you did a very nice job of posting the parts at your site, very kind of you. Thank you! (yes, that was go/no go gauge)
John,
You are correct on both gauges, I seem to have added them by mistake. The real items are the parts for display to the forum members,they are found at http://www.memorableplaces.com/temp/forrobert/

Glad he could help (was traveling and then working till tonight).

You can send me a PM and I can give you my work phone number if you are availble to visit in Tacoma area?

Ed