Quote:
Originally Posted by cirelaw
Was there a book or instruction written issued with the test pieces or maybe an instructional wall chart?
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Eric,
This is a good question and one that has no definitive answer. For one of the best analysis I would suggest looking at Chuck Whittaker’s “Land of Borchardt” site and read his article “Early Old Model Commercial Production American Eagle Lugers” which discusses early Lugers and the associated manuals.
I will attempt a quick synopsis from his article to give you the best guess as to what manual might have been provided with the 1900 US Test Trials Lugers. There is no concrete evidence in official government documents that has been found to date that positively identifies what manuals may have been provided. However there is one statement that gives a pretty good indication. To quote from Chuck’s article:
“In an effort to minimize the problem of misfires, the adjutant General issued a circular, dated September 1902, which stated:
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…the attention of all officers to whom the Luger automatic pistols have been issued for trial and report is invited to instructions for cleaning the pistols given in paragraph 8, page 12 of Directions for the Use and Manipulation of the Parabellum Automatic Pistol, issued with the pistols.”
It might be assumed, given the date of the trials, the red covered manual of 1902 would be the one provided for the trials. However the Adjutant General’s circular quoted above makes reference to a specific paragraph on a specific page (paragraph 8, page 12) that is only found in the very earliest manual probably published in 1900. This manual has a gray cover and still refers to the “Borchardt-Luger’s System” and “Swiss Regulation Pattern 1900”! There are very few surviving examples of this manual so it would be in the category “extremely rare” and very expensive. This is the manual that I believe would be provided with the 7.65mm Model 1900 US Test Trials Lugers.
The 50 examples of the 9mm Cartridge Counter Lugers were most likely accompanied by the red cover 1902 manual for the 7.65mm Model 1900 as there was at that time no specific manual for the 9mm Luger available from DWM. While not as rare as the first manual, this 1902 manual is quite scarce and also expensive...Simpson's currently has one for sale for $1795.