VOPO G date
 

OK boys I almost fell over backwards when this gun arrived. First the picture.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/hzapost.jpg

Now the story!

I collect EG reworks and this pistol has a renumbered G date upper with the HZa stamp mated to a 1936 receiver with VOPO markings and "bullseye" grips. I'll post detailed photos when I get a chance but the gun is a reworked HZa gun that has been reworked by the East Germans!

The dealer had no clue as to its history and sold it on Gunbroker for a "Buy It Now" price of $650.00. As a nice VOPO non import marked example of an EG rework it was worth it. The HZa stamp is a bonus.

Mark

Pretty Cool!

Would you expect anything less? ;)

Ron ... buddy ... I am still diggin' this find ... and I will shoot her this weekend, why not?

Just a rework right?

Betcha she shoots great, also got an EG holster and spare mag. The mags don't match but both are marked 2/1001 with an EG "dual purpose" holster.

c/n barrel with force matched parts.

Mark

Mark: I can guess that EG means East German, but the rest of the acronyms on your first post lose me. Would you please translate or is there a place I can refer to? thanks. John

The East Germans reworked many P.38's and Lugers in the early 50's, just prior to adopting Soviet made weapons. East German Lugers will have a variety of EG (East German) made parts and orginal WWII parts. The newly manufactured EG mags will be marked with a 2/1001 code on the tube. In addition many of these guns will have newly manufactured EG barrels which will have the crown over n (for nitro) proof on them (c/n). VOPO is the East German Police (Volkspolizei) or "Peoples Police", this post war marking had a shield with a number in it within a "sunburst" and was stamped on police guns. HZa is for Heereszeugamt which was a repair facility during the war. (A rare marking on WWII German arms)

This gun has an "m" block frame from 1936 as the "control" serial number with the other parts stamped over or ground out and stamped to match. The toggle is "42". This is an interesting gun to me but a damn shame it was done to an HZa marked receiver.

Thanks Mark;
Very interesting. That is an incredible amount of information from a few marks on a gun. My main interest is in obtaining a luger shooter preferably with a 6" barrel. Do the EG reworked lugers fall mostly into the shooter category? Would the EG reworks all be 9mm with 4 inch barrels? thanks again, John

John,

In my opinion the East German reworks are a study onto themselves. As a pistol colletor I would not use them as "shooters", I think they will be recognized as a legitimate variation at sometime in the future. (Although I will put a few mags through the gun I just picked up. I will replace the extractor with one from a "shooter" as it is matched to the gun and I don't want it to break)

I would look for a mismatched or refinished Luger as a "shooter". Here is a link to my "shooter" collection which includes a few Lugers.

http://www.p38guns.com/Shooterpage.htm

Also a link to some EG P.38's.

http://www.p38guns.com/Postwar.htm

Mark

Yo Cisco,

I swear, you could catch fish with a rock. I'm moving to Bean Town just to follow you around to pick up the scraps.

Ron

Mark:
Thanks. You have quite a collection. John