The weapon is in good shape, I had considered having a gunsmith (familiar with Lugers) give it a good look and then maybe take my cousin to the range and fire it. However, if I use this, I will replace the grips to preserve them and not let the picture get damaged from use (like Bill mentioned).
If I have read correctly, model 1908 refers to the year the German Army adopted this weapon, regardless of the production date? At one point, I thought I found a chart that placed this series of serial numbers to 1907-1908, can anyone point me to a way to verify that?
David, I have also wondered about the 118.36 under the barrel. I saw one reference that it was related to the caliber? Also the serial number on the barrel and front of frame is 42856 (8 and not 3 in the middle).
This all looked great in the shadow box, but I cannot leave a valuable/dangerous weapon in a simple shadow box on my wall. I will place a picture of my uncle in a Jeep (somewhere in Europe) where the weapon was. I will check the holster for markings later. It still has the tool in a pouch at the top and the current wooden bottom magazine was in the holster. My cousin removed the original magazine when he put it in the shadow box, and should have it around the house.
Any information on the "Prv" stamp in the magazine well? I have read it designated groups of commercial weapons bought by the German government for resale to soldiers. Any good documentation on that? With the WW2 era medals (issued just before hostility broke out), issued to WW1 veterans, it is interested provenance that this could have been captured from a soldier that not only server in both wars, but possibly used this weapon in both as a personal purchase.
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