Sherry Cook

Basil,


There are two books which I have that shows which parts are number for the Imperial Lugers. They are Walter's book, "Luger" and Gortz's book, "Die Pistole P.08" The later is only available in German only. This may be a good page from one of these books that could be scanned and put into the Technical section of the Forum too.


As to the purple cast on the pistol, it would almost take someone to look at the pistol to determine if it was a post war re-blue or an arsenal reblue. Aaron is correc that if it is a post war reblue it was not a good job. In the bluing process, the time, temperature, and concentration of the bluing salts is what gives the "purplish" hue to the metal. If these conditions are not correct, an off color blue job will be present. After Mauser began to use the salt bluing process, the cannon and sometimes the frame will have this purplish color. From my experience, I have never seen a rust blued pistol with this color and it if yours has this it would seen that it was reworked at some point. I have no idea if any arsenals reblued Lugers and used the salt process on the Imperial Lugers and issued them during the WWII period. Do others have any comments on rebluing during the WWII period?


Marvin