1912 dmw
 

Dear Experts

Attached are pictures of a 1912 DWM Luger I have attempted to restore to more or less original appearance. Serial number 1250. After WWI, this pistol was taken into police service (drilled for a Schiwy safety), then back to the military at some point, because it was captured by the Russians. It was given to VoPo, and they reworked it, putting on a BYF toggle train and a new barrel marked eagle TP (Technische Polizeischule in Berlin----Lord only knows how the VoPo had this), as well as a VoPo sunburst under the takedown lever (later defaced) and typical VoPo grips. I stripped off the Russian black and the underlying blueing (both rust and salt), and rust blued it 8 times. I did almost no sanding. I strawed the small parts at 500 degrees, getting various shades of gold on various parts and areas of parts.

Obviously, not the best work on the planet, but rather a start )and probably also an end!).

Jeff

Jeff

Light Straw 210˚C 410˚F
Straw 225˚C 437˚F
Dark Straw 240˚C 464˚F
Yellow Brown 255˚C 491˚F
Red Brown 265˚C 509˚F
Purple 275˚C 527˚F
Violet 285˚C 545˚F
Cornflower Blue 295˚C 563˚F
Pale Blue 310˚C 590˚F
Grey 330˚C 626˚F

Jeff..Always a fun thing to do!
Nice job...If you went to 500 degrees you might have overdone it.


Jerry Burney

Looks pretty good, excellent for a first effort. The process of rust bluing still amazes me. And now that you have it figured out you can grab up some thing off the used rack that others are ashamed of and turn them into showpieces.

Yes, rust bluing is amazing. Time consuming, but once you learn the process, it's so simple. Here's my Vopo, a 1936 that I installed in 6in barrel on and rust blued. It seems my oven is fairly accurate too, cause I had it set between 425-430 to straw my parts .....sorry, lousy i-phone pic.

6 or 8" barrell?

it's a 6in ... i think the camera angle exagerrates the length- a Bohler Stahl barrel I got from Tom Heller.....great shooter....will group under 1.5in at 25yds with Hornady XTP bullets