New Luger Rig Police All matching 1918/1920

[ChrisG43]

I posted about a month ago about this, just bought it today...pictures are crappy but haven't had time to do it right. Two matched mags marked 1 and 2 respectively, holster and loading tool also matches....., Chris

[ChrisG43]

My computer keeps "scrambling" images, hopefully these came through OK on the board....can anyone help w/ the gripstrap markings? Chris...

[Don M]

Chris,

Welcome to the forum. I must have missed your earlier post.

You have an outstanding rig with one of the most enigmatic police markings! No one has yet figured out what these strange markings mean. Some have speculated that the K.L. stands for Konzentrationslager (concentration camp) but I haven't seen even a WAG about the reversed J.

Is the Luger a DWM or Erfurt?

I am writing a book about German police marks and would like your permission to use one or more of your photos. If you agree, please email me at the address below and tell me your last name for the credit. Also, if you have higher-resolution photos, they will be even better.

Thanks for sharing this.

[policeluger]

thanks, just great!!

[ChrisG43]

Thanks for the comments so far, I will be more than happy to help with any project Don, I'll email you shortly. Here's a few more I just took outside before the sun goes down, still not the best had to use flash. So, a possible concentration camp pistol? Wow, guess I did good. It is a DWM. Chris...

[Don M]

I now have a total of nine records of this marking in my database, with weapon numbers ranging from 17 to 120. Eight are on Imperial-era P08s with 1920 property stamps and sear safeties. One is on a mag only.

This suggests to me that this was a relatively small unit with perhaps 140 men, about the size of a large police Hundertschaft (company). If so, the "survival rate" of these is about 6%. Compared to other police units, this is relatively high and may indicate a high desirability among GI "souvenir" collectors.

Where the information is available (seven of the eight P08s), all have sear safeties indicating they were in police service in 1934 and probably through the war.

I would be cautious about jumping on the Konzentrationslager bandwagen. It is much too enticing! There are no known markings on pistols of concentration camp guards and it is very uncertain whether they would have been considered police for the purpose of installing sear safeties. Perhaps someone who has studied concentration camps will have a knowledgeable opinion about this.

[LU1900]

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[raygun]

Thats a cherry piece allright . hard enough to find an all matching Luger , let alone twin mags , holster and tool . wow . someone remind me, what is the story behind the twin dates , think I've read about it, but forgotten -- short term memory is the first to go !

[Don M]

Kim - 1918 is the year of manufacture, stamped by the factory. 1920 is a "property mark" stamped in 1920 to identify weapons owned by the German government.