Military 30 cal ?
 

Just interested; this appears to be a military marked WW1 gun; were they produced in 30 or was this rebarreled after the war ?

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/Vie...p?Item=9450761

Stu, I see you received no answers on this so I'll take a crack at it just so you'll know next time. The pistol in question is a 1916 DWM originally chambered for 9mm. The barrel has been changed - likely in the post-WW1 era - to .30 caliber, making it a "commercial" .30 Luger. Thousands of military pistols were done this way after WW1 and they are among the most common of all Lugers to be found.

At 90% finish, this pistol is worth $500 - $600 IMO. The starting price of the auction is absurd and it's no wonder there were no bids.

Doubs is correct. After WWI, the Mark was worthless and the Germans were desperate for hard currency. So they used the assets they had in quantity (guns) and altered them as needed to sell in other countries, mainly the U.S.

The Versailles treaty limited production of the Luger to 7.65mm (.30 cal.) so military pistols by the thousands were rebarrelled and shipped to the U.S. and other countries. Some had military markings removed and remarked as commercial pistols, others retained the original marks.

HTH

Jim

Thanks for the responses. The answer is as I thought, but every time I read the board it just underlines how much I don't know !