Help with IDing and Valuing

[WPMAClassofJanuary43]

Hello, I am new here and so if this is going in the wrong place, please gently let me know and I'll go to the right place.

I inherited some weapons from my father, a WWII and Korean War Veteran Officer. I am trying to identify a Luger that my father captured from a German soldier in Northern France in late 1943 or early 1944. (He was commander of an engineer's battalion building bridges at various fronts there.)

I will list as much as I can accurately and would appreciate advice for holes, or any help you might offer.

Toggle Inscription: 42
Chamber Inscription: 1939
Toggle Knobs: Squared and Knurled, as far as I can tell. They are grooved and the corners are "squared" I guess...?

No Grip Safety. There is a Thumb Safety, with the word "GESICHERT" in the firing position (not safe). The safe position is down.

Stock Lug: I'm not sure about this--there is groove that looks like something could slide up it, but I couldn't find more info on this.

9mm.

Grip Type: It is definitely wood, a fairly dark color, with diamond-shaped checks, no border on wood, no insignia on wood.

Barrel length: from the tip to the place it starts inside the chamber, is 4" or about 9.6cm.

The markings on the left edge of extractor: There are two very small "birds" or "eagles" with the number "655" on the non-safety side of the chamber. Next to these two there is another insignia. These are all similar to Proof Marks 47 from the LugerForum site.

Sights: Tough to describe: I couldn't find any way to adjust the rear sight. It is a very small "V" in a ridge that is 8mm wide and about 2.5mm tall. The front sight has grooves on it on the surface facing the chamber/rear of the pistol. It measures about 7mm wide at the base, and the upper part is triangulated to about 1.5mm or so. Both the base and the upper part are grooved. No other surface on either sight is grooved. The front sight's profile shape is that of an acute scalene triangle with the third, long side slightly convex.

The Magazine Bottom plug is wood, bears an even-legged cross on it, with the number 8844 debossed on it.

All other serial numbers match. There is the number 8700 in three places: on the side of the chamber, on the bottom of the barrel near where it attaches to the chamber, and on the chamber near the threads for the barrel. There are at least five "00"s that I see: on the side of the chamber, on the lever above the trigger, on the part of the sliding mechanism that the safety covers, and two on top of the chamber--one directly behind the 42, and the other, smaller, on the tongue part of the tongue and groove where the slider meets the front of the chamber.

Underneath, there is a scripted lower case cursive "y" similar to the "y" in the second page of the suffix information. This is sort of between the top of the trigger gguard and the barrel

The non-safety side of the barrel also has two much smaller marks, near where it screws into the chamber area. The first is another eagle, the second looks like a six-legger spider (in stick figure detail). Basicaly it is three lines that cross like an asterisk.

I don't know enough about color to comment too much, but it is a black with grey.

I appreciate any help you can offer me. I am also willing to pay someone to help ID it and eventually value it, but I'm not sure if that's allowed here. (I just went to look for the rules about that and couldn't find any.) I will check here, or if anyone would like to email me, I'm at mark@skatepunk.net

Sincere thanks. This site has already been so helpful to me.
Mark

[Frank]

Hi Mark, welcome to the Luger Forum!! I can help you in the identification, but not in the evaluation. The value depends on the condition and the number matching on all the numbered parts, both externally and internally. You or someone familar with Lugers could field strip it and locate the appropriate numbered parts. If you would submit some detailed photos, we could give you a dollar range.

Your Luger was made in 1939 by Mauser. The "42" on the toggle top is the Ordnance Code for Mauser in that year. Every so often the Ordnance Code changed. The eagle-over-655 marks are inspection or Waffenamt Marks and the eagle-over-swastika is the firing proof mark.

The serial number of your Luger is 8700y. Note, the y suffix is important and is part of the serial number. Mausers were made in blocks of 10,000 pistols beginning with pistols with no suffix. Then the next 10,000 had a suffix of "a", the next were identified with the suffix "b" and so on. The Germans didn't begin every year with the no suffix series, but just continued the numbering from year to year. Luger 8700y was completed about December 1939.

The wood bottom magazine was NOT supplied with your pistol. The magazine should be a blue folded metal tube magazine with an aluminum bottom. The bottom would be stamped with the serial number "8700 over the y suffix. It was shipped with two magazines; the spare was identified with a "+" sign under the "y" suffix mark. Below the "y" or "+" mark, the magazine inspection mark, eagle-over-655, is found.

I hope this answers your identification questions. Good Luck on the value question!!

[Edward Tinker]

Hello mark and welcome! I moved your thread to here, as when you are first a member you can not post in anywhere but there.

What other weapons did dad leave? And I am glad he served his country!

Ed

[WPMAClassofJanuary43]

Thank you, both!
I have my father's service sidearm, an automatic--A Remington, I beleve. I'm sort of doing this one at a time, but I know it is in his original leather holster marked "U.S." on it. I have not fired them since I was a young man, a Dad took me to the range, and I don't know enough about any of them yet.
The others are a Browning .30, a small pistol, a .22 bolt action rifle, and a few others.
I will stayed tuned to Luger forum and I appreciate your help.
Mark

[Edward Tinker]

Mark that sounds nice. I have two Remington Rand's, they are nice guns. The best place is the 1911 forum, although several of the members there are here too


Ed