nubee question.. P08?
 

What exactly is a P08 luger?

Depends on what you mean.

The P08 designation was given by the Germans because the Luger was officially adopted by the Army in 1908.

You also see P08 stamped on WW2 holsters and on Lugers. I am not sure, I "think" although this is a WAG, that the P08's were placed on holsters as the P38 came into service.

Ed

I noticed some lugers have P.08 stamped on the left side. I started to get the impression P.08 must have more significance.

I am not sure excatly why they started to do this, my gut feeling it is as I stated on the holster coment about P38, but I don't know? I imgaine someone that knows will jump in on this one after a while, meanwhile will look it up in a book or two.

I looked this up in Third Reich Lugers by Still, on page 75 it states </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva"> At the start of 1941 the four digit date numbering system used on military code lugers was changed to a two digit numbering systems and a P08 was added to the frame..</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">BTW, I know that Police Banner Lugers DO NOT have the P08 designation from the 1941 / 1942 time frame.

Ed

Ed, I agree that "P08" was the German military's designation for the luger. I would go further in my own personal definition of P08, as a 9x100mm(4"bbl) military accepted luger. That way, for one to properly identify a military luger all one has to say is the date on the receiver (or first issue, if undated 1908 or 1909 production), Manufacturer, P08 and serial number including suffix letter if present and NS (no suffix) if not. For example:1917 DWM P08 #1234a. On the other hand, to properly identify a commerial or contract luger, is more complicated: 1906 Commerical (or AE,Swiss,Bulgarian, Portugese,etc), caliber, short or long frame, safety & extractor markings, serial number. eg: 1906 AE 7.65X120mm Long Frame, Geladen & Geshiert safety marked #26152. Tom H.