LF Member, Kelly, Help...
 

Member, Kelly, would like to know what the letter suffix on his luger might be and whether the blued magazine is proper and what the spotting might be...

Here are some photos sent :

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/kelly_3.jpg
http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/kelly_3.jpg
http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/kelly_1.jpg

Pete,

I don't know about the spotting and magazine finish, but the suffix appears to be a "Z'. We need to know the chamber date and toggle marking to determine for sure the magazine finish. Hope this is of help!

Regards,

Thanks again Pete for helping me on the posting. The chamber date is "1937" (No strawed parts). Toggle marking is S/42. The mags are not matching numerically to the gun. The suffix looks a whole lot like a "k" or an "X", but it is just really hard to tell and everything I looked up I can't find an accurate representation for it. Due to my camera, this was the best I could get from a pic. Thanks in advance for all help.

Hi Pete and Kelly,
I took a close look at the suffix you have pictured and compared it to the photos that Ed has collected and it appears to me to be an X. It matches up with those examples pretty well. I also compared it to the photo I have of my Z suffix and it does not look like that one. Hope this helps.

Sid.

Hi Kelly,

Glad I can help...

Hopefully, John D's pending upgrades may result in a easier way to upload photos.

I suspect many more members would do so but have not been able to master the technique here on the Luger Forum...

Regards,

Pete... <img border="0" alt="[typing]" title="" src="graemlins/yltype.gif" />

minigun,

I stand by the "Z" suffix. The proper magazine would be the blued rolled metal as pictured with the solid aluminum base. This style "Z" is found on the 1937-S/42 pistols. Can you get a closeup of the suffix?

Regards,

Hey Toggletop, I'm with you, it's a Z. Looks just the the 1937 Z-Block I have!!

These darn suffix letters are tough to decipher. There are small differences among the 1937, 1939 and 1941 Z's

Hello everyone,
Yeah, I can sure try and get a better photo, maybe some sort of different lighting is in order. Due to the area the suffix is in (close to the fold of the receiver and the way the light hits it) it's really hard to get a good shot of it. Of course I'm actually looking at the real thing where you all have to look at it on a 2 demintional scale, but I myself would go with an "X". A "Z" is close but I don't know.

So what do you all think of the way the bluing spotted on the mag? Is that a normal thing?

If it's okay with Pete, I'll send him hopefully a better photo. I'm not with my stuff right now, so it might be a day or so.

Thanks, Kelly

Kelly,
It would be better if the camera angle were straight on looking at the letter even if a little further away if you can't get close.
Tom

Mouse went berserk. My story and I'm sticking to it.

Sorry about the hiccups. OBTY, based on what's available to look at I vote for "X" as it appears like the 2 "X"'s I have.
Tom

Looks like there is a crossbar on the letter, which would make it a "z"
The spotting looks like the results of a spray. Opening a Coke can near the gun and not cleaning it up immediately will produce similar results. Ask any gunshow displayer who has had some guns messed up by some dolt spilling his softdrink.

Here is a photo with Kelly's suffix and one from the photos Ed has collected. Kelly's is on the left.

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/x_copy2.jpg

What do think? I still say that it is an X.

Sid.

I also vote for an "X"...

That's x-zactly what I thought it was (a bit after the fact)!

Hello My Fellow Nuts,

I will step in the hot water one more time. I want you to keep in mind I only have one eye. So taking that into account I have also posted an image of what I see and what I have seen on the "Z" suffix block of 1937-S/42 pistols. It is a difficult suffix to figure out. I once had a luger enthusiast stand at my table at a gun show and examine a 1937-S/42 pistol in the "Z" suffix. After about an hour he still could not tell what he was looking at. Maybe I don't know what in the hell I'm looking at either. But here is what I see. :confused:
ZZZZZZZZClick on the Z's.

Regards,

I think it is an X! HEre is the "Z" off Sid's Luger sans finish!
http://members.rennlist.com/lugerman/SIDZ.jpg
And the Z from Ed Tinker's examples.
http://www.lugerforum.com/Suffixes/S...s/image105.jpg

Hello Thor,

The "Z" suffixes are not the same for all the Mauser variations with the "Z" suffix. Ed's suffix is not what you will find on a 1937-S/42 luger.

Regards,

You are propably right, the two were taken from a 1939 and 1940. Point taken! (I still think it is an X)

Okay, I looked a little closer. It might actually be a "Y". I emailed Pete a better pic of the suffix. This pic is the best of about eight that I tried. Hope this helps. There will also be a pic of this Luger's barrel. I'm trying to figure out what happened to the finish on it. The finish spotted, but just on the barrel.

Also, I'd go with Ron on the mag spotting. The Luger dealer I bought it from sets up a lot at the Dallas show and it wouldn't surprise me if that might have happened at one time. There's no other possible explaination of the mag spotting?

Thanks everyone.

Two more photos from Kelly :

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/kelly_barrel.jpg

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/kelly_proof.jpg

Okay, here it is. What do you think? It really looks like a "Y" to me now. It's still a little hard to tell from the photo, but maybe someone can clean the pic up a little and tell. Thanks a whole bunch, Kelly

Hello Kelly,

Without a doubt it is definitely a "Z". What makes it look like a "Y" is how the top of the "Z" is made. You have certainly created an interesting transfer of information on one of the fancier suffixes on Mauser lugers and one that is not often seen by many people.

Good Luck,

Well ToggleTop it looks like it's you and me together again. Sounds like a song title to me!! It's a "Z" !!!!!!!!!! :)

What's funny is the guy that stamped that letter on it probably had no idea that it would end up in America and 60+ years later a number of Americans would be discussing what the stamp is.

Why didn't they just have a standard set of letters anyway? I mean why all the different kinds of the same letters boggles my mind.

I thinks its and "R"!! Okay, I flux between an X and a Z, but if TT and Frank say its a Z, well, it is hard for me to argue!

The dreaded, can you make the suffix clearer picture comes to mind....

Ed

I don't know if this helps or hurts. It didn't help me to tell what it is.

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfuploa...roof_copy1.jpg

Hey Kelly, please tell us the Waffenamt Markings on the right side of the receiver. They are either both a droop eagle over 63 (DE/63) or a straight wing eagle over 63 (SE/63) or one of each. Which is it for your Luger!!!!!!

Hello Frank,

Thanks for your support. Without your support, I think the limb would have already been sawed off. I find it good to have Frankenstein on your side!!

Best Regards,

Chester,
W.C.'s on your side too. I vote for "Z".
If Chester, Frank and I are wrong. We ain't goin' down without a fight!

Ron

Hello Frank,
My Luger has three. The first is a straight winged eagle 63, next is a drooped eagle 63 then another eagle waffen mark (with no 63).

Kelly, your Luger is known as a transition variation. The inspectors stamps changed from DE/63 to SE/63 and yours was caught in the transition. The Y-Block Lugers I have recorded are marked with DE/63 & DE/63, the No Suffix Lugers are marked with SE/63 & SE/63. Thus, this change in inspection marks was made somewhere in the Z-Block.

So gentlemen, the suffix is a "Z"

:)

Very interesting info Frank. I'm still learning, so by "transition variation" do you mean that it went to a different type of bluing and the strawing disappearances? And, any way this suffix could be a "Y"? I mean it really, really looks "Y"ish to me. Kinda neat figuring it out from another angle (by other stamps to tell you what it is).

It is definately not a "y", the z is a hard one that is a bit wild looking.

Ed

Kelly, there are two major variations in the 1937 Luger; those with rust blue and straw parts and those with hot dip blue parts.

Then within the first variation there are two sub variations; those with a Mauser Hump and those without the hump. All of these will have a Waffenamt Marks of DE/63 and DE/63.

Within the second variation, there are also two subvariations; those marked DE/63 and DE/63 and those marked SE/63 and SE/63. Further within this second variation there is a transition between the two subvariations; marked DE/63 and SE/63.

You have this transition variation. I don't know how many of these were built, but I don't think too many.

Hope this helps explain!! :)

Luger letter suffixes can be hard to read and difficult to guess. For the confusing ones I refer to Costanzo on page 152. The letter in question is a Z.
Jan