Thread: id
View Single Post
Unread 10-19-2002, 08:59 PM   #11
Doubs
User
 
Doubs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Byron, Georgia
Posts: 1,736
Thanks: 819
Thanked 1,769 Times in 586 Posts
Post

Paul, your pictures show a post-WW1 commercial Luger that is likely a re-worked military pistol, converted from the original 9mm to .30 Luger by the simple change of the barrel.

The Crown/N marking is a commercial proof mark but may have been applied after the original military serial number on the left side of the forward receiver was removed. The sear bar is 1916 or earlier because it's not "relieved"... you can't apply the safety and still work the action because the sear bar contacts the safety lever and prevents the action from moving further rearward. At some point in 1916 the sear bar was "relieved" so that the action could move rearward while the safety was applied. Many Lugers made before 1916 had their sear bars modified.

The stock lug became standard on military DWM pistols during 1913 and post-war commercial Lugers also had them.

If you examine the receiver over the chamber (where the 1917 Erfurt is dated) you may detect an unevenness where a military date was removed. Then again, yours may have been manufactured after the war without a date as many commercial Lugers were.

The wood-base magazine is correct for a post-war commercial or military commercial re-work. Your grips appear to be replacements... much too new to be original IMO.

Another clue as to it's province is to look on the underside of the sideplate and take-down lever (locking bolt) and see if the last two digits of the serial number appear there. That's how a commercial Luger would be marked. However, re-works after the war, still considered to be "commercial" Lugers, may carry markings of former military guns.

Everything I see about your Luger, especially the barrel length, suggests a post-WW1 commercial or military re-work commercial Luger of the early 1920's.
Doubs is offline   Reply With Quote