Hi Edward!
East German Lugers are an interesting and complex subject.
Lugers reworked in East German for distribution as military aid may or may not have had any markings added, and will usually have a rather muddy salt blue. If the pistol was re-proofed, pre-war German proofs were used for some years. Proof marks may have a YY MM stamp indicating year and month of proof. These pistols may have their original checkered wood grip panels, or the â??bullâ??s-eyeâ? brown plastic grip panels we all know so well.
Lugers reworked in East Germany for foreign commercial sale will have East German commercial proofs, and usually a high gloss salt blue - these are beautiful pistols. The small number of new Lugers made in East Germany in the 1950â??s will have rather large font numbers - about 4 mm rather than the two mm numbers we are accustomed to seeing. These large font numbers are sometimes seen on replacement parts installed on older Lugers.
In terms of Russian Lugers, there really isnâ??t any such animal (other than the Russian contract variation). The Lugers folks are calling â??Russian Lugersâ? were actually imported from various CIS countries, where they had presumably been stored from the days of the Soviet Union. These pistols will usually have been salt blued over the original blue, may or may not have poorly made ribbed plastic grip panels, and may or may not be mismatched or poorly forced matched.
Thatâ??s about all I can tell you - sorry it was not more!
Warm regards,
Kyrie
|