[mrerick]

Google Translation:

I had to write the thoughts listed below in my mother tongue, since my knowledge of English is not sufficient to express myself with the necessary precision. I also assume that such a far-reaching examination of the topic requires both interest and, in particular, prior knowledge , at least as far as interest is concerned, is likely to be lacking for most collectors. Nevertheless, I would like to make them accessible to a large audience in the hope that, before the book is even written, those who are interested will be able to contribute and present their own approaches. The prerequisite for this is, of course, a good translation of my thoughts into English. This is certainly associated with some work, but these lines also took some time.

In the last twenty or thirty years, I have dealt quite intensively with the tools for the P08, but there were always questions that I would have liked to have answered. One of these questions was when the tools manufactured by DWM bore an acceptance stamp and which acceptance officer struck it. Up to 1911, P08s from DWM and Erfurt production only each had two clearly visible acceptance stamps, first on the left side and from 1910 on the right side. On closer inspection, there is a smaller (2 mm high) acceptance stamp on the right hand acceptance stamp, which is usually the same as the larger acceptance stamp (3.2 mm high). Here the same acceptance officer has placed an acceptance stamp over the one previously struck.

Notes on the meaning of the individual stamps can be found in the regulations for the stamping of the pistol 08 together with a drawing that was drawn up by the Spandau infantry construction office as a result of the beginning of pistol production at the Erfurt State Rifle Factory. The drawing attached to this section in 1910 shows the acceptance stamps on the right side of the fork, exactly as can be seen on the DWM and Erfurt pistols manufactured from 1910 onwards and names the stamps from left to right with 3: sleeve hard, smaller Acceptance stamp and year; with 26c: sleeve (fork) small acceptance stamp and on the barrel caliber in hundredths of a millimeter, 1.5 mm high and 26b: on barrel, sleeve and chamber heraldic eagle (proof mark). From October 1911, as is usual with changes in military regulations, the drawing was provided with a cover sheet on which three acceptance stamps and the proof mark can now be seen. The originally concealed acceptance stamp (pistol ready for firing) means under 26a: case, small acceptance stamp next to the full pistol number at a height of 2.1 mm on the barrel, chamber, extractor, firing pin, front and rear hinge, bolt catch, locking piece, trigger , cover plate, trigger bar, safety bolt, safety lever and grip shells were provided with the two last digits at a height of 2.1 mm, the grip with the full pistol number at a height of 2.1 mm.

So that's the framework that helped me in my deliberations to determine which acceptance officer probably put his stamp on the tool. In connection with the material specifications in the construction drawings by Gerorg Luger, the dimension tables of the infantry construction office, the internal company regulations that are noted at Mauser/Oberndorf for the tools and other considerations, I tend to assume that the first acceptance stamp 3: (Hard case) on the P08 was also hit on the tools. In my opinion, 26a and 26c have no relation to the tools, especially since there are usually hardly any or no toolss that have acceptance stamps 26a (pistol ready for firing), and neither at the DWM nor at the Erfurt P08.

Back to the tools of the DWM pistols before 1910. Archival materials in German archives are silent on the question of whether the 50,000 tools listed in the contract between the Prussian state and the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabrik were provided with an acceptance stamp . There are few clues that can contribute to an answer. A crown/Z tool and stamp 66.R.M.G.67 goes with the DWM P08 with No. 9174 and troop stamp 66.R.M.G.21. The only question is: Was the machine gun company equipped at the same time with the 80 P08s that it was entitled to according to the weapons budget for sergeants and vice sergeants, 7 non-commissioned officers, 8 privates and 61 privates, the flag smith and the sanitary non-commissioned officer? Even if there are only a few reliable archival documents, that seems to have been the case. The register drawn up by the Artillery Depot in Landau in connection with the subsequent installation of bolt catches and the replacement of the front sight to standardize the sighting range lists the numbers of P08 of various machine gun companies, which, as far as identified so far, all in the same year and in the corresponding sequence of numbers were produced. However, this is not really proof, just an indication of a probability. And the regulation mentioned above about the stamping of the pistol 08 together with the drawing probably only reflected the previous practice of the ordnance pistols manufactured by the DWM since 1908 with regard to acceptance and introduced an additional procedure.

A few more sentences on the general manufacture and distribution of the tools and the Ordnance pistol.. Heinz Meyer, whose family had German roots but has lived in South Africa for 4 generations, started a post in Jan Stills Luger Gunboards com on June 26, 2022 under the title “1913 Erfurt Luger”. As far as I know, the P08 presented is the only Luger pistol made in Erfurt, and also with a magazine with the same number, which shows what an Erfurt P08 looks like that was delivered to officers who were obliged to dress and equip themselves and also draws a link to the DWM Commercial Army Luger. Next to the civilian bag you can see a tool from DWM production with a Spandau acceptance stamp, initially an obvious contradiction, but which then prompted me to further consider the distribution of P08 and the tools.

Weapons and tools were procured and distributed via the artillery depots of the general commands of the individual army corps. From 1911, the Erfurt State Rifle Factory became the supplier of the ordnance pistol and also supplied the P08 together with a reserve magazine and the tools to the artillery depots. While the magazines could be assigned to the respective pistols by their numbers, there was neither a reason nor an opportunity to be able to assign a single tool to a weapon. Nor did it matter if a DWM tool was assigned to a pistol made in Erfurt; the acceptance stamp guaranteed the function of the weapons of both manufacturers.

Another question that has occupied me for years has to do with the large number of tools that were heralded by changes in shape that took place in the DWM from around 1915 or 1916 and the first examples of which had three-part crowns and the letter H or narrow S had. At the same time, the shape of the tools attributed to Erfurt seems to have changed; tools with the acceptance stamp C/J are available in the originally rather angular design and the later slightly rounder design, the Erfurt tools C/S (each in upper and lower case, but always with an underscore and sometimes a small overscore) are examples of the later round shape. My observations lead me to assume that the tools from both manufacturers were only produced and accepted in their original design and according to the original procedure for a short time after the outbreak of war. There may have been a variety of reasons to refrain from the complex and expensive production of a rather insignificant accessory; Reasons may have been a shortage of skilled workers or the temporary commitment of workers who could have been deployed more sensibly elsewhere. It also seems possible that the tools were manufactured by Pieper in Liège, for example, like other parts for the P08, in order to manufacture the more important machine guns or the K98 in the factories in Germany. The late tools are characterized by a DWM-typical shape and color with a now increased degree, which grips behind the pinned feeder button of the magazine, as well as a changed bending technique of the short part of the tool, which can be seen in a clearly defined area when viewed from above. Apart from a few (early?) exceptions, it seems that the side edges of the tool were not finished. From this point of view it seems to have been taken down and in the 1910 by the infantry. Construction Bureau Spandau for the stamping of the pistol 08 together with a drawing listed tool only for the years 1909/10 to 1915/16.