Little Help
 

I recently went to a gun show and brought along my Luger, I learned a lot about it but there are some characters stamped on the grip that have always interested me. They gave me a brief description on what they meant but referred me to this site to learn more. I'm hoping someone out there can tell me exactly what they mean. Any help would be much appreciated, this Luger has been in my family for 4 generations now, I'd love to learn where it came from and how my great grandfather ended up with it. I know these letters and numbers can't tell me all that but maybe they can point me in the right direction. Thanks again!

Normally, these are a "Unit Mark" that associates the pistol with a military unit during WW-I.

The author of "History Writ In Steel" (which discusses these marks) is a member of this forum. He should be able to lend some light on the markings.

Marc

Hi Jake, Welcome to the forum! Unit marked Lugers like yours are particularly interesting and we would like to see more photos. Does it have a dated chamber? Is the middle toggle marked DWM or Erfurt?
Your unit marks translate to 173rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Machine Gun Company, weapon #180. What interests me is the fact that the 2 was added later. At the start of the war each regiment had only one machine gun company, so no number was needed. Later in the war each regiment had two or more. Here's a photo of the unit mark on a DWM 1st Issue (1909) from the same regiment. Regards, Norm

Looks like an overlap of 2 different units?
Jaeger Regiment 173 and Machine Gun Company 180

Thanks for the quick replies!!!
 

I didn't expect such a response! Thank you all for the feedback I've added so more pictures, hopefully that will help. One thing they did tell me at the show was all the visible numbers are matching with exclusion of the magazine, which I guess is pretty common. Thank you again everyone!

I like 1915's, you just see them so much less :)

Thanks for sharing.
The Inf. Reg. 173. was part of the 34. Infantry Brigade until September 1916 when it routed to the 223. Inf. Brig.
We can belief that your Luger was issued to the Inf. Reg. 173 in 1916 when most of the Regiments got the 2. and 3. M.G. Company. No 180 for a Luger of a M.G.K. is very high- the highest number I have ever seen!

wow that luger has a great ambiance! great info and comments about.thank you all!
So........ splitfish, do you know your great grandfathers service history? did he ever tell any family members how he obtained it?


makes one wonder if was obtained after a battle between his unit and the german one.

Very nice. Thankfully it looks well cared for. Thanks for sharing!