Takedown Lever Puzzle
 

One of the most unusual Lugers of any era is Georg Luger's personal 1904-05 model, a short-barreled special with cut down frame and custom 7-shot magazine. Both Michael Reese's "Luger Tips" and Charles Kenyon's "Lugers at Random" contain photos of the pistol, No. 10077B.

I noticed that the two books seem to show 10077B with different takedown levers. In Kenyon the lever is heavily chamfered and carries what looks like a stamp of some kind. In Reese the lever is sharp-edged and unmarked. Whatever the explanation for the anomaly may be, it would be of interest to collectors when such a historically significant gun is involved.

http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/GeoLugCombCopy.jpg

Moderator Note: The following photo was enhanced to better show the chamfering (beveling around the edge) of the checkering on the takedown lever and submitted by user ViggoG-

http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/T-D-Comp1.jpg

Jerry, the picture on the left is the correct one, it has a standard take down lever. Check your e-mail.

Jerry,

In Kenyon's other book, LUGER: THE MULTINATIONAL PISTOL is a further unexplained anomaly. On page 58 is a description of this pistol, with small b&w pictures of the left side and top, probably same ones as in his other book, as you can see the beveled edges and the small "mark".
On page 59 is a full page color photo of this gun (which is now in Ralph Shattuck's collection; I actually held this gun in my sweaty palms during the two "Forum Conventions"). In this picture the lever has sharp edges and no marks. [img]confused.gif[/img]

It would be enlightening if Ralph would examine his pistol and post which takedown lever is on it. [img]wink.gif[/img]

Jerry/Hugh here is picture that I took of Georg's pistol while at Ralph's on 9 March this year.http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/Ge...onalWeapon.JPG

Jerry and Hugh
Your sharp eyes have uncovered yet another enigma! Kenyon's "Lugers at Random" photo dates from around 1969 when the first printing occurred. Reeses book dates from 1976, and Kenyon's "Luger: The Multi-National Pistol" was published in 1991. In this 1991 publication, there are two seven-shot Lugers, George Luger's on pages 58-59 and a Bulgarian crested example on pages 60-61. The picture of the Luger in "Lugers at Random" and the Bulgarian have the chamfered takedown lever. Reeses photo of George Luger's gun an the one in "The Multi-National Pistol" have the flat takedown lever. Hugh's photo agrees with the latter examples. The earliest photo was taken prior to 1969 while the gun was still in the Sid Aberman collection. The latest photo and Hugh's photo are taken from Ralph's collection. Who knows what hands the gun passed through or what transpired between those two times? Interestingly enough, there are at least 4 seven-shot examples in existence, and two of those are in the 55000 serial number range, dating them to around 1912 production!

Based on my readings in R. Gibson's "The Krieghoff Parabellum" on page 40; the straight edged knob on the locking bolt (i.e. take down lever) is typically a Krieighoff characteristic...is it not ???

The other luger manufacturers (DWM, Mauser, Simson) apparently used chamfered or stepped edges on the knob... <img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

Ron, your memory and your ability to relocate the info in your references is amazing. This is perhaps an excellent example of what I am trying to relate in my postings to the 'Boosting' topic. Is this an example of 'boosting' or just errors in the documentation of a piece by observers that may have not taken adequate notes?

Reply to John Sabato:
John, in my copy of Reese, the photo is very poorly printed, and the knurled head of the lever is literally lost in black ink! As I think you gleaned from the other posts, my comments were strictly about the "shank" of the lever, and that can, I believe, be seen clearly enough to distinguish it from the Kenyon picture. If I could, though, I'd be glad to put up a better scan.

Perhaps I should add for clarity that both authors specifically call out the gun as 10077B.

Thanks Jerry, I deleted my own comment on your photo after editing the first post with a slightly clearer photo as submitted by ViggoG - //John Sabato

To Ron and Herb:
I have the 1990 reformatted edition of "Lugers at Random," but Ron's information appears correct because Kenyon credits Mr. Aberman for the photo while saying the gun is (now) in Ralph's collection.

Herb's photo shows pretty clearly that the current lever is the plain unchamfered (Reese) version.

Thanks to everyone, so far, for adding HELPFUL information and sticking to OBSERVABLE facts on this little mystery!

This is the one I took a few years backhttp://members.rennlist.com/lugerman/GeorgsBaby.JPG <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />