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Kyrie · 03-19-2019, 07:32 AM

By "what kind of Luger" I mean was it made for:

German Military? if so, the military of which era (Imperial? Wiemar? 3rd Reich? DDR?)?

Commercial? If so, what era and market (1900? 1906? etc., German Police? Foreign military/police? US commercial sale? etc.)

The Mauser banner, the C/U firing proof on the left of the barrel extension, and the chamber date of 1939 suggests this is a Third Reich era commercial Luger. But there are some problems with that assessment. Paramount of these problems is the absence of other, required, firing proofs. German proof law, and Mauser factory common practice when using the C/U firing proof, was to apply the firing proof to all three of the components that contributed to a sealed bore during firing (e.g. the barrel, the barrel extension, and the breech block).

Of these three components only the barrel extension has the C/U firing proof. There is a good photo of the left side of the breech block that shows no firing proof, and an adequate photo of the right side of the breech block that also shows no firing proof. We lack full photos of the barrel but in the available barrel photos there is no firing proof visible. This strongly suggests to me that this is a parts gun, made up after WWII, and in its present state was never intended for the European commercial market.

There are some other visible inconsistencies that suggest a mix of new and salvage parts (example: note the witness mark on bottom of barrel and barrel extension), but the absence of required and customary firing proof is a strong indicator this Luger is not what it first appears to be.

03-19-2019, 07:32 AM	#26
Kyrie User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 757 Thanks: 0 Thanked 212 Times in 101 Posts	Ballpark – 2nd step: what kind of Luger is it? By "what kind of Luger" I mean was it made for: German Military? if so, the military of which era (Imperial? Wiemar? 3rd Reich? DDR?)? Commercial? If so, what era and market (1900? 1906? etc., German Police? Foreign military/police? US commercial sale? etc.) The Mauser banner, the C/U firing proof on the left of the barrel extension, and the chamber date of 1939 suggests this is a Third Reich era commercial Luger. But there are some problems with that assessment. Paramount of these problems is the absence of other, required, firing proofs. German proof law, and Mauser factory common practice when using the C/U firing proof, was to apply the firing proof to all three of the components that contributed to a sealed bore during firing (e.g. the barrel, the barrel extension, and the breech block). Of these three components only the barrel extension has the C/U firing proof. There is a good photo of the left side of the breech block that shows no firing proof, and an adequate photo of the right side of the breech block that also shows no firing proof. We lack full photos of the barrel but in the available barrel photos there is no firing proof visible. This strongly suggests to me that this is a parts gun, made up after WWII, and in its present state was never intended for the European commercial market. There are some other visible inconsistencies that suggest a mix of new and salvage parts (example: note the witness mark on bottom of barrel and barrel extension), but the absence of required and customary firing proof is a strong indicator this Luger is not what it first appears to be.