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Unread 09-21-2002, 10:35 PM   #5
Ron Wood
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Jerry,
The first Lugers the Swiss made, the 1906 Waffenfabrik Bern (formerly and erroneously called 1924/06 Swiss) was exactly like the 1906 Lugers that DWM produced (except for the snazzy bordered grips). The different grip shape, along with a bunch other changes to simplify production and reduce cost, occurred with the 1929 model.

Without provenance, this carbine falls in the same category as the 1902 Swiss Fat Barrel. Who knows if it is real or not? I have seen no documentation to date that would indicate that a carbine was ever produced by the Swiss. Certainly they had the capability and may well have generated one or two for presentation purposes, but there is no record that I know of that they did so. If one had a DWM carbine and obtained a Waffenfabrik Bern toggle with the same serial number, all that would be needed is to swap out the toggle train and slap on a pair of borderd grips, bingo - a Swiss carbine. Dont know if this carbine has a Swiss cross-in-sunburst on the chamber, but that can be accomplished also. One would have to examine the actual weapon to check out proof marks, match machining marks with a 24/06 Swiss example, etc., etc. to begin to validate the piece. Unless, of course, there is impeccable documentation accompanying the gun.

It is a nice looking piece. Wouldn't mind having it, real or not (but I don't have $9K to spare either!).
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