Questions about a 1929 Swiss Military
 

Learned gentlemen, here are my questions. I have a beautiful 1929 Swiss Military Lüger and I have found all the necessary references to identify it in Aaron Davis's book "The Standard Catalog of Lüger", page 157. Number fits.
But there are 4 discrepancies:
What is the mark on the back of the receiver?
Is the mark Left Front that of colonel Muhlemann?
Why a "P" on the front of the receiver?
Why a U notch when all the litterature tells of a V notch?
I am relying on your exoertise to enlighten me.
Those questions aside, it shoots beautifully and has a trigger of almost Benchrest quality.
Thank you in advance.

I can give you a start, Phillipe.

The P is stamped on pistols that were decommissioned from the military and made available for Public sale.

The U notch strikes me as something the Swiss may have done to improve the traditional, crappy sight picture, IIRC.

Phillipe,
I can add a little more information from my own research following my purchase of a deactivated 1906/29 Swiss Luger a few years ago.

The mark on the rear of the receiver is the 'Waffenfabrik' Bern marking.

The ‘M under cross’ is the proof of proof of Maj. Mühlemann, who was the factory inspector between 1913 and 1941.

I read that if a soldier elected to keep his firearm upon his retirement, before the weapon was released by the Swiss Military they were refurbished by the factory and stamped “P”, which on my example is stamped on the right-hand side of the frame.

The frame well of the 1906/29 were also stamped with the date of manufacture, month and year (two digits: MM.YY) on military and private sale pistols up to 1943.

Thanks to both of you; I had an inkling about the P and Muhlemann but I didn't know about the Waffenfabrik mark. I haven't found theMM/YY yet but will look for it.

Found it, I presume: 46 1 which I think means January 1946? But it doesn't tally with your 1943 observation so I may be mistaken...

I am only learning about the 1906/29, and other Lugers from reading about them, so the "up to 1943" information may not be correct. 1946 was the final year of manufacture for these weapons I believe, but Maj. Mühlemann was the factory inspector between 1913 and 1941. So his mark would not be found on a 1906/29 produced in 1946? Again referring to my notes, I read that Major Hauri was the inspector between 1942 -1946

I have found with my other passion, Thompson Submachine guns, that a lot of the earlier books written on the subject contain some inaccurate information, which later books on the subject have corrected.

I quite agree and those figures may refer to something else: I only had a quick look and found them on the underside of the slide stamped on a square piece of metal roughly under the beginning of the chamber.

I am away from home at the moment, travelling to North Africa for work, or I would have posted a photo of the location.

Which reminds me, I have a flight to catch at 06:15, so wake up call at 03:45 and it is now 20:10 here in Madrid, so time for a shower and get some sleep.

When you get a chance, take the receiver/cannon assembly off the frame, and push the locking bolt lever back into normal position .

You should see the month and year that your Luger was manufactured stamped on the frame right under where the locking bolt rests when it's in the disassembly position.

The Swiss are a nation of target shooters, and their handguns and rifles reflect precision and accuracy needed to compete...

Marc

"You should see the month and year that your Luger was manufactured stamped on the frame right under where the locking bolt rests when it's in the disassembly position. "

Thanks Marc; I just did that and can barely see: 11.39 I needed a x12 magnifying glass and strong light to make out the stamped numbers.

Again, thanks to all who took the time to answer my query.

By the way, I tried to check the date on my Swiss Military 1906 but to no avail. #5281. I couldn't see a trace of a date in the area pointed out...

I believe only Swiss made or re-worked lugers will have the date in the well; your 1906 made by DWM will not have had a date from the factory.

That's what I thought. BTW, my #5 post was stupid: those numbers were just the last 3 numbers of the serial numbers: nothing to do with the dates; I am no specialist, just an amateur. I should have re-read a couple of French magazines and would have found there the answers to 2 of my questions: the Waffenfabrik mark and the U notch.
Again, thanks for all the help!

I would advise you to buy "Parabellum. Storia e tecnica delle Luger svizzere- A technical history of Swiss Lugers" by Vittorio Bobba.

Yes indeed! I have looked it up but quite pricy. I am leaving for Italy tomorrow for a competition and will check with my Italian friends.

Up until a couple of years ago, those were available new at reasonable prices from an online dealer in Italy. Have not looked recently.

Octo, This time of year I remember my visit to Cannes, just in time for the film festival and races in Monaco. Viva La France, TH