Fire blued front sight
 

I asked this question before and seems like it was missed. Almost all the 1900/1902 Lugers shown in Kenyons, Luger The Multinational Pistol have what appears to be a fire blue/gray front sight blade? Is this the case? As I dont own any, I have none to check myself! Thanks!
<img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

Hi Ted! I don't know about the early pistols, but I saw an art. model in the mid. 1990's that had been in a bank safe since 1920!!! Two oooold gentlemen had brought it in to a boat shop where I worked at the time, as they had heard I knew a little about lugers... one thing I remember vividly was that the front sight, breechblock to forward toggle pin, and grip screws were the most beautiful fire blue I had ever seen! It was untouched 99%+ gun by any standards! Never saw or heard about the gun again! As the two gentlemen were just kicking tires at the time..... till....later....G.T. <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" /> <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />

The front sight blade on my 1923 Safe/Loaded commercial appears to be fire blued.

Greg

I have fairly minty 1900 and 1902, and the front sights are fire blued.

WOW! What a prompt and great response. I REALLY appreciate it! <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />

I speak only in regard to Imperial military lugers w/o implying that others of this era were not so finished: on the Imp military pistols front sight blades were required by reg to be fire blued.

Crank up the kitchen oven to 500 degrees, use a screen to allow air to circulate, and put them parts in there after it has set for about 10-15 to stabilize, and cook em' for about 15 minutes. Should do the trick. I screwed up when I was strawing some parts once and got the prettiest fire blue I ever seen on all the parts. Make sure the parts are absolutley degreased and clean, no oil from fingers etc., and finished to your liking, high polish or matte before you try this.

Thor, I have new repro M1900 (or any 7.65x120mm barrelled) front site blades that have been beautifully fire blued, but the used originals that I have in stock, appear to have been rust blued. I'm not really sure what the original finish should be. Tom

By coincidence I was just reading the Dave Norin article, "Spotting Luger Restorations," and found the following quote:

"Nitre bluing is that bright, electric-looking blue found on trim parts such as grip screws, FRONT SIGHTS, springs, and pins." (All caps mine)

Luke

Luke:

Thank you for the corroberation re: the nitre/fire blued front sights. I have received a copy of the Man-at-Arms article, however, have not hade time to read it fully.

I dug out my notebook; the reference to finish of the small parts, to include the front sight, can be found in the MaBtafeln (table of dimensions for the P08) which were promogated in 1913. (The captial "B" represents a germanic letter that I cannot reproduce on this keyboard. I believe that it represents the double ss consanant.) FWIW, my note also indicates the the lettering in the safety area, Gesichert, is required to be filled in with white sealing paint.

Tom: As you know, fire blue is not a durable finish. It wears easyly and has a tendency to turn a brownish color. However, if you check the front sight on your Imperials under a good light you should be able to see remnants of the original finish.

[quote]Originally posted by Garfield:
<strong>Luke:

(The captial "B" represents a germanic letter that I cannot reproduce on this keyboard. I believe that it represents the double ss consanant.) </strong><hr></blockquote>

Garfield, I remember enough of my German Language training in high school MANY years ago to verify your statement about the character that looks like a capital B representing a double-s... (actually it is two single 's' characters stacked on top of one another) and you are also correct in that I don't believe that this germanic letter can be produced here in a reply message very easily...

It can be done in Microsoft Word, but I couldn't copy and paste it successfully here.

John S:

Thanks for the info. Sometime past, I saw a thread on one of the other forums, thought it was the Makarov bunch under Gunboards.com, but have searched for it several times and no joy finding it.

Anyway, a couple of the posters were explaining how you could gain access to foreign letters and then use them from your computer keyboard. As I say, thought it very interesting and was going to go back to read it fully. Thought that I had posted it to my favorites but apparently didn't.

Mayhap some of the members here know what I am talking about. I am not very computer literate and did not really understand what it was that the posters on the above mentioned thread were talking about.

Does anyone know where the term "nitre" came from ?

Regards,

Pete... <img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

Garfield, e-mail me at mailto:66mustang@palouse.com66mustang@palouse.com</a> and I'll give you a run down of the little I know. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Pete, I'm not 100% sure but I think nitre is a very old term for 'heat'. Also, in German (niter) it means Saltpeter, or Potassium Nitrate, British spelling, niter.

Is this "Ã??" what everyone looking for? On a Mac keyboard, it is an option/"s" key. And it is a double "s" or two "s"'s.

I am a bit confused between a fire blue and a nitre blue and what I call a miter. Maybe its my hearing (its not so good these days). But I alway took nitre or miter bluing as a boiled in oil piece at about 500 degrees.

Oh! My 1900 Ã?? has a fire or nitre or mitered front sight. A bit worn but there.
Big Norm

Fire Blue Front Sight
 

I am working on a 1916 DWM Military model produced in the "f" production block that has some problems. This gun has an original fire blue front sight.