VOPO mystery
 

Dear Experts:

Could you please help me with this barrel mystery? I have a 1912 DWM luger that was subsequently drafted into Weimar era police service (the telltale signs of formerly having a Schiwy safety), captured by the Russians (the ubiquitous “black dip”), and then refurbished for/by the VOPO’s (new byf toggle train and sear bar of unknown origin, all renumbered to match the 1912 original number, a VOPO shield, and two VOPO mags numbered to the pistol). The mystery is the barrel, which bears a superimposed TP and an eagle, but was NOT dipped in black. My understanding is that the TP indicates after the mid-1930’s, when the abbreviation/name for the Technische Polizei und Verkehrs Schule was changed to just Technische Polizei Schule. How would the VOPO’s have gotten their hands on a new 1930’s barrel? Didn’t they use their own new barrels, marked Crown/N ? Who manufactured the barrel? A picture of the marking on the barrel is attached.


Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff,

Your understanding of the armory practices of the Deutsche Volkspolizei is essentially correct, and you have provided the essence of the answer to your own question.

The barrel having a different finish from the rest of the gun indicates that it was replaced after the gun was 'dipped'. The TP/eagle stamping indicates that the barrel is not new, but originally assembled to a gun and proofed in the 1930s. The absence of DVP barrel markings suggests that the replacement was done privately, when or by whom cannot be known. It does appear that the front sight has been positioned backwards.

If there is a mark on the upper-left quadrant of the barrel, it will help establish the barrel's origin.

--Dwight

Do you know who would have manufactured the barrel? Would it be a Simson?

JEff

Is there a mark on the barrel's left side?

Could we also see a couple more closeups of the front sight, which from this first photograph, looks like it is installed in the dovetail backwards!

No other original marks at all on the left side of the barrel. Just a faint import mark, and the usual 8.83 under the barrel.

Jeff

Pictures tomorrow!

Jeff,

If there are no markings on the left it is truly impossible to know who might have made this barrel.

--Dwight

Good eye John !
I think you are right, it looks backwards

Jim

Here is a picture from the other side.

Jeff