[quote]Originally posted by kel:
<strong>I am writing on behalf of my partner who is doing research on his deceased father. His father was given a luger at the end of WWII that is dated 1918 and has DWM 82 on the top of the chamber. Underneath the barrel there is the stamping 3282 and what looks like a lower case cursive (letter L) and the numbers 882. There is stamping on the right side that is in german with 3 letters (not quite sure what they are but they all have crowns over them the last two look like s's and then the german eagle.<Snip> regards Kel</strong><hr></blockquote>
Kel, you have described a standard German military Luger manufactured by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) in 1918. The "82" on the chamber top should also appear on the back toggle link, top of the extractor, sear bar, sideplate, locking bolt (take-down lever) and safety lever. The numbers "82" are the last two digits of the serial number and help keep the same parts on the correct pistol. The number "3282" will appear on the left side of the receiver and under the barrel. The frame will have the number plus the suffix letter "l".
The full serial number is "3282 l", the last being the small letter "L". When recording the serial number for ID purposes, be certain you include in the information the following: "3282 l, DWM, 1918 and 4 inch barrel in 9mm". That's because somewhere there is a 1917 DWM with a serial number "3282 l" and possibly other years as well.
The three Crown-over-Letter stamps you see on the right side are inspection stamps. Each indicates passing an inspection at a specific manufacturing step. The Eagle is the DWM Eagle. If the pistol had been made by Erfurt, the Eagle would have been different.
Lastly, the "8,82" stamped under the barrel indicates the bore diameter in mm's. The bore diameter is the distance from the top of a rifling land to the top of an opposing land.
I hope this information helps.
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