LugerForum Discussion Forums - View Single Post - 1914 erfurt arty w/ finetuned front and back

Big Norm · 04-10-2008, 08:40 PM

Hi Nick. Ed is right. The army military Luger with a 4 inch barrel is often referred to as a P-08 which is short for Parabellum 1908. That means that the German army adopted the 4 inch barreled pistol in 1908 as its official side arm. Parabellum means 'Made for War'.

Then the army also adopted the 8 inch barreled artillery Luger and called it LP-08 for Lange Parabellum or Long Parabellum. The royal arsenal in Erfurt, Germany was scheduled to manufacture some and the commercial arsenal in Ordendorff, Germany (DWM) was also supposed to produce some. But war broke out in August, 1914 and the royal arsenal in Erfurt needed to produce more rifles. So all remaining production of LP-08's was transferred to DWM. With the exception of 1915, Erfurt continued to produce P-08's and DWM produced P-08's as well as all LP-08's until the end of the war.

The exception to the P-08 and LP-08 there was the P-04. That means Parabellum 1904. This designation was given to the navy military 6 inch barreled pistol because the German navy adopted that pistol in 1904 as its official side arm. DWM made all of these pistols. In addition to being called the navy or P-04, the WW1 pistols are also referred to as the model 1914 even though there is some debate as to whether or not there was any WAR TIME production outside of the contract years of 1916 and 1917. There were PRE WAR production of the P-04 for the German navy in 1906 (collectors say that there are three versions produced for that contract year). There was also the PRE WAR production in 1908. All these pistols are called P-04's even though collectors identify them as different versions of the navy model. There is also the very rare 1904 version.

People who collect all sorts of guns in addition to the Lugers would like to have the Erfurt LP-08 and one of the five different chamber dated WW1 DWM LP-08's plus the two pre WW2 LP-08's (the Persian and the Siamese LP-08's). Collectors of Lugers only, such as myself, want all eight of the LP-08's. So you see, supply and demand predicts that there will be more demand from gun collectors for the Erfurt LP-08 because it was only produced in one year. Many of those were destroyed due to war as well as for many other reasons afterwards.

So, if your LP-08 is truly an Erfurt artillery Luger then people would want to make sure that it is a real Erfurt artillery and not a counterfeit pistol. Many good pictures is a requirement before a price estimate can be made. I emphasize 'Many Good Pictures'. Look at a below posting of a recent sale on GunBroker as an example of what I mean by 'many good pictures'. A wise man on this forum more than once said that the tuition at Luger University can be very expensive. He wasn't kidding.
Big Norm

04-10-2008, 08:40 PM	#6
Big Norm RIP Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: SE Michigan Posts: 1,864 Thanks: 1 Thanked 6 Times in 5 Posts	Hi Nick. Ed is right. The army military Luger with a 4 inch barrel is often referred to as a P-08 which is short for Parabellum 1908. That means that the German army adopted the 4 inch barreled pistol in 1908 as its official side arm. Parabellum means 'Made for War'. Then the army also adopted the 8 inch barreled artillery Luger and called it LP-08 for Lange Parabellum or Long Parabellum. The royal arsenal in Erfurt, Germany was scheduled to manufacture some and the commercial arsenal in Ordendorff, Germany (DWM) was also supposed to produce some. But war broke out in August, 1914 and the royal arsenal in Erfurt needed to produce more rifles. So all remaining production of LP-08's was transferred to DWM. With the exception of 1915, Erfurt continued to produce P-08's and DWM produced P-08's as well as all LP-08's until the end of the war. The exception to the P-08 and LP-08 there was the P-04. That means Parabellum 1904. This designation was given to the navy military 6 inch barreled pistol because the German navy adopted that pistol in 1904 as its official side arm. DWM made all of these pistols. In addition to being called the navy or P-04, the WW1 pistols are also referred to as the model 1914 even though there is some debate as to whether or not there was any WAR TIME production outside of the contract years of 1916 and 1917. There were PRE WAR production of the P-04 for the German navy in 1906 (collectors say that there are three versions produced for that contract year). There was also the PRE WAR production in 1908. All these pistols are called P-04's even though collectors identify them as different versions of the navy model. There is also the very rare 1904 version. People who collect all sorts of guns in addition to the Lugers would like to have the Erfurt LP-08 and one of the five different chamber dated WW1 DWM LP-08's plus the two pre WW2 LP-08's (the Persian and the Siamese LP-08's). Collectors of Lugers only, such as myself, want all eight of the LP-08's. So you see, supply and demand predicts that there will be more demand from gun collectors for the Erfurt LP-08 because it was only produced in one year. Many of those were destroyed due to war as well as for many other reasons afterwards. So, if your LP-08 is truly an Erfurt artillery Luger then people would want to make sure that it is a real Erfurt artillery and not a counterfeit pistol. Many good pictures is a requirement before a price estimate can be made. I emphasize 'Many Good Pictures'. Look at a below posting of a recent sale on GunBroker as an example of what I mean by 'many good pictures'. A wise man on this forum more than once said that the tuition at Luger University can be very expensive. He wasn't kidding. Big Norm