1940-42.... Mystery markings and grips
 

I just bought this Luger from a 85 Year old Austrian veteran who spent 2 years on the Russian front with the 519th Heavy Tank Battalion (still very lucid, the stories he told me were really fascinating, and hair raising!! He also described how most troops did not like the Luger, and really prefered the P38!!) .....this was not brought back by him, but purchased post war in Canada....he claims it could be a Luger made for the Japanese.... I think it is a custom gun that somebody put their initials on....it has P08 on the side plate??... grips that are numbered to the gun, yet I have never seen Luger grips like that...
http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/mvc417f_copy1.jpg
http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/mvc414f.jpg
http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/mvc411f.jpg
http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/mvc413f_copy2.jpg

Peter, obviously the parts are from "51" and "96" pistols. The grips from the "51" were reworked to give you the lines rather than the checker effect. Are both grips reworked?

The JAP. was not referring to the Japanese, I'm reasonably sure.

Interesting, but it's just an unusual "shooter", IMO.

:)

I think so too Frank, the JAP. with a period hints at that it is a name rather than a term.

Ed

What about the trigger plate,
I don't recall seeing any with "P08" stamped in them before.

Hi Frank....Both grips are the same....although one has no markings inside...

Occasionally a pistol turns up with additional stamped letters which cannot be explained, and are usually accepted as an owner's name or initials. Sometimes the letters are crudely stamped or engraved, but once in a while the letters seem to be professionally, even factory stamped, and just cannot be explained. Do the letters on this example appear to have been stamped before or after the blueing process?

I cannot tell if it was before or after, however the gun has been reblued...my best guess is that "JAP" is someones initials....why the side plate is stamped P08,and why the numbered custom grips,I have no idea...

Original message deleted.

I was barking up the wrong tree....

I've seen several of the Russian reworked lugers with similar verticle gooved black plastic grips. Also, the PO8 on the side plate may just be a reminder of the ammo (9mmP) required for this pistol, for those unfamiliar with it (Russians, etc?). Perhaps, the "JAP." may ring a bell with an expert in Finnish, Latvian, Swedish, etc. type units. TH