American Eagles
 

Hello All --

Just wanted to start a topic where my collection could be proudly displayed. While these Lugers are for sale (and listed in the Classifieds section of www.lugerforum.com) it will take a lot for me to part with them:


http://www.iwaynet.net/~jwsiv/Lugers/4lugers.jpg

they are very nice.
Russ [img]cool.gif[/img]

I agree, these are very nice. I checked out the high resolution photos of them and you should be proud to display them. I also agree that, even though they are for sale, it will take a lot to part with them (or to purchase them).

This is probably second nature to most here, but several members have requested pictures of some of the variations of early Lugers.

Here's my first effort:http://www.iwaynet.net/~jwsiv/Lugers/Variations01.jpg

Excellent! The 1902 Eagle is the same as the 1906 Eagle. I almost looks as if there might have been something under the milled area that was removed (possibly a word). I have never thought that milling the area just to make it bright was an effective process. Any other thoughts on this?

To my knowledge, there was never a "word" under the safety lever on any pre-1906 Luger. However, I may be mistaken regarding the 1904 Navy.

The major differences between the 1902 and 1906 Eagles are ...

1902 Eagle has:
A thicker barrel
A flat main spring
A dished toggle with toggle lock
An early breech block
A strawed extractor
A grip safety

1906 Eagle has:
A more tapered barrel
A coiled main spring
A flat, knurled toggle with no toggle lock
A redesigned breech block
A blued extractor
No grip safety
Frame possibly marked "GESICHERT" lower

Ooops...what was I thinking?

A 1906 Eagle DOES have a grip safety.

Guess I need to add one to my collection!

[img]wink.gif[/img]

The shiny area under the safety lever is the same on a 1902 as a 1906AE. That was all I was referring to. And to my knowledge (FWIW) there was never a word under the bluing under the safety lever either, but....since, if you feel it, you will see that it has a ridge where about 1/32 of an inch deep where the top level of steel was actually milled away. This goes back to the question of.."Was this milled just to get rid of the bluing or was there a stamped/engraved word on stock German Lugers of that time period that was milled away (leaving a shiny, bare metal outline just under the safety)?" Pure speculation on my part based on the procedure not seeming to be very cost or time effective with regards to removing some bluing. :-)