[Dwight Gruber]

This post is in several parts due to the Forum’s per-post photo limit
--DG

Part 1 of 5

© 2015 Dwight Gruber

Alphabet commercials get no respect.

In the decade between 1921 and the transfer of Luger production to Mauser, DWM made not more than 120,500 commercial pistols. Conventional wisdom has it that this is a vast collector desert, an expanse of the most common and least interesting of all Luger pistols. This conclusion bears examination.

By the numbers, the entire span of Alphabet Commercial production is exceeded by DWM’s 1916 single-year production of 140,000 pistols, within its entire decade-long army production span of more than half-a-million P08s.

After the Great War DWM was explicitly forbidden to manufacture military arms—in this case, the P08 in 9mm with a 10cm barrel length. Because of this, it is proper to refer to post-war commercial pistols, in 7,65mm with 9.5cm barrels and stock lugs, as Alphabet Commercial Parabellums Production encompasses as many as a dozen distinct variations, including: Swiss New Model Parabellum; Commercial New-Model Parabellum; Krieghoff back-frame-marked OEM; Abercrombie & Fitch; Reichsmarine; Rif contract; Police; Finnish; Stoeger contract; and 1921-dated examples.

Some of these variations are much rarer than such valued and sought-after variations as Old Model Test Eagles and Bulgarian, Old Model short-frame and carbines,
Dutch and German test, Vickers, Mauser K-code, Krieghoff, Mauser banner, dated Simson; or the scant handfuls of French transitionals, Bolivian, Mexican, Manufacture Francais des Armes et Cycles, RG and commercial army, Old Model unrelieved frame, “Russian”, army-production police, and so on. Name your most-desired collector pistol, and you can find an Alphabet Commercial more rare.

It is true that some of the Alphabet Commercial suffix ranges are mostly standard Parabellum pistols, intermixed with police P08s and occasionally salted with other variations. The Alphabet Commercial i suffix range stands out as being filled with a rich variety of examples. Identifiable variations include:

Standard Parabellum (9.5cm barrel, cal. 7,65mm)
New Model Commercial
New Model Swiss, c/N proofed
New Model Swiss, Beschuss-probe proofed
Abercrombie and Fitch, 7,65mm
Abercrombie and Fitch, 9mm
Krieghoff, Suhl back-frame stamp
Police P08

In 1920 DWM re-started production of P08s under contract for the German army. In 1921 the IMKK required this production to be shut down, releasing countless parts to be available for commercial production. Any now-surplus 1921 dated receivers became the source for the 1921-dated examples of any of the above variations

One could make a case for GERMANY stamped and unstamped examples of those above being separate variations, but that might be too pickayune even for me.

The 1921 chamber date found on some of these pistols reliably dates their manufacture to that year. Conventionally, the Alphabet Commercial I suffix range begins with sn 2000i, that number being coincident with the posited end of 5-digit serial numbering at sn 92000 (Jan Still, “Weimar Lugers”). It is hard to rectify this with Commercial Database reports of 5 examples lower than sn 2000i. Of these, four are reported as Stoeger-marked pistols, three being American Eagle stamped. There are no reports of American Eagle stamped pistols in the conventional range.

This post is a survey presentation of most of the i suffix variations.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/attachme...1&d=1442376503

From left to right, these pistols are:

2343i New Model Swiss Parabellum, c/N proof
3082i Abercrombie & Fitch, 9mm
3191i Abercrombie & Fitch, 7,65mm
4721i P08 police
5869i standard Parabellum, 1921 dated
7045i Krieghoff back-frame marked, 1921 dated
7078i Krieghoff back-frame marked
9611i New Model commercial Parabellum
9995i standard Parabellum

A 1921-dated police and a New Model Swiss with Beschuss-probe are missing from this survey; I am in the market .

Noteworthy Characteristics

All i suffix Alphabet Commercials share some of physical characteristics. They are all upright c/N proofed (except for a Swiss variation, noted below) and have reinforced frame backs. This latter is important for authentication of Abercrombie & Fitch pistols.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/attachme...1&d=1442376954

The letter suffixes on the frame and barrel are consistently different. The frame suffix is very short and angular, deeply chiseled with a round dot. The barrel suffix is taller and more rounded, with a square dot.

Sometimes an i suffix Alphabet Commercial is seen with a barrel-style suffix on the frame. These are variously large and wide, sometimes lacking the preceding “tail”, often without a dot or with the dot obviously stamped separately from the stem. While it might not be out of the question that an authentic barrel-style suffix could occasionally be found on the frame, this should raise the question of authenticity and prompt detail examination of the stamping and other characteristics if the pistol in question.

The Swiss New Model variations with grip safety retain the earlier Old and New Model routed/polished safety indicator.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/attachme...1&d=1442377009

As seen in the examples above, the i suffix safety routings are a single router stroke, shallower, cruder, and applied with less care than the older pistol models. The top row illustrates the safety routings of sn 2343i, 3082i, and 3191i. For comparison, the lower row shows Swiss 1900 Military sn 128, New Model Parabellum sn 25091, and New Model Parabellum sn 55166. These older routings are wider than a single stroke and much smoother.

Swiss New Model i suffix Parabellum

DWM provided Parabellum pistols to the Swiss commercial market in two variations: complete pistols, and pistols assembled without barrels. These pistols all have long frames, with the Swiss federal Cross-in-Sunburst stamped on the chamber.

Parabellum sn 2343i is an example of a complete Swiss market pistol.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/attachme...1&d=1442377117
http://forum.lugerforum.com/attachme...1&d=1442377117
http://forum.lugerforum.com/attachme...1&d=1442377117

This gun has a 9.5cm length barrel, in 7,65mm, with a Swiss-style front sight. It is proofed with an upright c/N. There are 16 of this variation identified in the Commercial Database, found between sn 2049i and 4339i. Some are reported with GERMANY export stamps.