DWM tin
 

We know that DWM had a hard time surviving after WW1 and the Versailles Treaty. It meant they had to abandon the production of arms and ammunition, at least to the public eye (and more importantly, that of the Interallied Control Commission). They never gave up the production of small arms and ammunition completely and found ways to preserve expensive production machines by using them for the production of cutlery, push buttons, pots and pans and all sorts of consumer items.

I recently received this beat up little tin. It once held a DWM made bicycle chain, another product that helped DWM through the tough years. The company name is BKIW, with quite a bit of reference to the DWM name in both the product and the company name (vormals Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken). The box was made somewhere between 1933 and 1936.

...???...So it was "formerly" DWM, and then BKIW??? :confused:

Correct.

The DWM was introduced in 1896, after the merger with the Patronenfabrik Karlsruhe with the weapons manufacturing division of Ludwig Loewe & Cie.

The DWM was used until 1922, when the name BKIW was introduced, on the 30th of May.
In 1933 the 'vormals DWM' was added to the company name again, on the 29th of June.

Finally, on the 30th of June, 1936 the old name DWM was reintroduced.

After the war the company in Karlsruhe was renamed IWK (Industriewerke Karlsruhe), while the Berlin plant kept using the DWM logo, but with a new name 'Deutsche Waggon- und Maschinenfabriken'. After the merger with Keller & Knappich in Augsburg IWK became IWKA (Industriewerke Karlsruhe Augsburg) and a few years ago, when the main office relocated to Augsburg, leaving Karlsruhe altogether, the name was changed into Keller und Knappich (or KUKA).

Are there any Lugers (or other pistols) marked/engraved "BKIW"???

no

this info is in 2 or 3 books (newer ones), I need to see if it is w/ the FAQ, but if not, I can add it

They weren't. Even though DWM used BKIW as a company name, they kept using the DWM brand name for certain products (as you can see on the tin as well), including guns and ammunition.

This is a 1934 flyer for the promotion of oil sealed DWM pistol rounds.