K and G Date Stock Lug Dimples As Reported in Collections

[Jan C Still]

K and G Date Stock Lug Dimples As Reported in Collections (An alternate to the discussion in The Mauser Parabellum 1930-1946, pages 98-99)

Note: Information from a number of collections is helpful to determine the correctness of early Mauser military Lugers.

I recently found time to start reading The Mauser Parabellum 1930-1946 by Don Hallock and Joop van de Kant. I started with Chapter 11 (the K date Luger). The authors state on page 98-99 “By the time the late K-S/42 and early G-S/42 Luger pistols were being fabricated, the stock lugs with the Mauser dimple began to appear. This phenomenon can always be used to identify a Mauser frame versus a DWM frame, these never had dimples in the stock lug.” The K dates and earlier G date Lugers illustrated in this book (K sn 451 page 108, K sn 2003 page 107, and G sn 5518d page 121) have the DWM (no dimple) frames.

I am not clear concerning the information in Table 9.04 on page 98 of The Mauser Parabellum 1930-1946. It may indicate that all but a few K date Lugers have the stock lug dimples present which seems to contradicts the statements listed above. Perhaps Joop can clear this confusion.

Contrary to the information presented above most of the K dates (7 of 9) and all of the G dates (12 of 12) found in in Scott Castles, Adrian Kellys, and Jan Stills collections have dimples at the top of the stock Lug grove.

Scott Castles K date serial numbers: 294, 2410, 4701, 7949 and 850a; and G date serial numbers: 9602c, and 8096d all have Mauser frames (dimples at top of stock Lug grove).

Jan Stills K date serial numbers: 1056 (no dimple, shown on page 19 Third Reich Lugers) and 3265 (dimples, shown on page 10 Axis Pistols); G date serial numbers: 4849a, 539b, 2635d, 7307d, 7348d, 2043f (sear safety), 2927f (KM 1376). All these G dates have the dimples.

Adrian Kellys K date serial numbers: 630 no dimple, and 8021 dimples; G date serial numbers: 6956b, 4398d and 3804f. All the G dates have the dimples.

The above reports from Castles, Stills and Kellys collections suggest that DWM frames may not have been used in the manufacture of earlier K-S/42 and early G-S/42 Luger pistols. The K signified the manufacturing date and the frame is a major component. In my opinion, an Army Luger marked with a K (1934 date) would have at least its major components manufactured in 1934. It is suggest that the lack of dimples at the top of the stock lugs on a few K date Lugers may have been an early manufacturing variation by Mauser machinists.

Please examine your K date and G date Lugers and determine if they have dimples at the top of their stock lug slot and report the results here.
Thanks
Jan
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Note: all the K dates listed in the collections of Castle, Still and Kelly above have the receiver indents.
Note: Adrians K date sn 630 and Jans K date sn 1056 are identical. Each has the Mauser hump, no stock lug dimples, 0 37 accepted, and all scriptic S stamped parts except the front sights which are gothic S.
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Footnote: A fake K date was exposed in the pages of AUTO MAG about 25 years ago. It was fabricated from a 1920’s era DWM that had been stripped of its DWM markings and Reichswehr unit stamps and re-stamped as a Mauser K date with two matching mags. Its owner discovered the fraud using magnuflux to detect the scrubbed earlier markings. Of course it had a DWM frame and its stock log was without the dimples at the top of the slot. Over the years many similar fake K dates have been reported. These are one of the most faked of the Mauser Lugers and a number of these fakes have been exposed on this forum.
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[wlyon]

Jan
K date serial # 6406, dimpled
G date Serial # 9829 b, dimpled
Bill

[BogeyB]

Jan,

G 4169b dimpled.

Mike

[automan1]

K date #2547 dimples & hump

Bill