[Ron Wood]

Your Grandpa has quite a desirable Luger. It was made as part of a contract order from the Dutch in 1919, and delivered sometime around 1921 or 1922.. Because this was right at the end of WWI, DWM was not permitted to manufacture 9mm pistols. So the contract was filled by Vickers, Ltd, of England. Oddly enough, the Lugers were assembled and finished by Vickers from parts provided by DWM!

Actually only around 6000 Vickers Lugers were made for the Dutch. A few low serial numbered guns were made by Vickers for company executives and promotional purposes, so for a long time it was thought that the guns were numbered from 1 to a little over 10,000. In reality, the Vickers Dutch contract guns picked up with a starting serial number 1 higher than the last Luger provided by DWM, so the serial number range is actually from 4182 to 10181. Your Grandfatherâ??s Luger was made toward the end of production.

The brass plate indicates the unit to which it was issued and weapon number. This Luger was issued to the 4th Company of the Left Half of the 21st Infantry Battalion and is weapon number 17 in the companyâ??s inventory.

These guns were used in the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia) and saw hard usage in a tropical climate; therefore they are usually in pretty rough condition. They are frequently mismatched and have replacement grips. Your Grandfatherâ??s Luger is one of the better examples.

Since the gun was assembled in England, the markings on the bottom of the barrel are British proofs and NP stands for â??Nitro Proofâ? indicating it was tested with smokeless powder. "Rust" is the Dutch word for "safe" and is pronounced "roost".