Red color on 1940 Luger
 

I have a very nice 1940 DWM (9MM) with a red slide. The Luger has not been refinished or touched in any way. Can any one tell me about this strange color???
Thanks
Tom
tomporter@usa.net

Tom, my guess is that it is a blueing malfunction, the color is probably what is commonly called 'plum'. I have a 1939/42 Luger that has a grey reciever. If you can, post a picture of it.

I have seen this on a couple of P38's and a PPK, as Herb said, it is called plum color, I am sure that there was a glitch somewhere and it made it through the system.

Ed

This color (in my experience) results from having your bluing solution the wrong temperature or incorrectly mixed. Some find it attractive, but to me it is a glitch. On the other hand, I think it is probably just as durable as the blue finish and that is why it was allowed to be issued without repeating the bluing process... (just speculation about the conditions for issue, of course)

I think if you do an individual forum search for the word "plum" you may find some photos have been posted of guns with this condition.

Here is the URL for an example in Doug G.'s excellent Luger collection that is on permanent display in our Member Gallery:

http://gallery.rennlist.com/lugergallery/albun89

Was DWM still making Lugers in 1940???

Johnny, forest for the trees???

Duhhh, as far as I know, Mauser might have had some DWM parts still, but if it is marked DWM, I would feel there was something wrong there...

Ed

The short answer is NO. The toggle has been replaced on your Luger. By 1940, Mauser had been producing either wartime coded toggles or commercial guns bore the Mauser banner logo.