H.P. marked Luger rig at Simpson Ltd.

[Don M]

Over the last couple of years, Dwight Gruber and I have been interested in identifying the Lugers with the police property markings H.P.xxx. In researching these markings for my forthcoming book, History Writ in Steel (HWIS), I have become convinced that they are from the Hessische Polizei, the Schutzpolizei of the Weimar state of Hessen. I have also become convinced that Lugers were issued to the Hessian Police in two phases. The first issue in 1921 coincided with the formation of the Hessian Schupo from the Sicherheitspolizei and consisted of former Imperial-era military Lugers and military/police Lugers newly manufactured by DWM in 1920-21. My research indicates these were probably issued to police in the unoccupied part of Hessen. The French apparently prevented their being employed in the occupied regions at that time.

The second issue occurred in late 1929 or early 1930, just before or just after the end of French occupation in January 1930. These Lugers consisted of 29 DWMs in the high â??uâ?� and very low â??vâ?� suffix blocks. These apparently were issued to the police in the formerly occupied regions.

Both groups of Lugers share the features of multiple property markings on the front grip strap, the right side of the receiver and the magazine spines. The major difference is that the stock lugs were ground off the later issue, perhaps at the insistence of the French to prevent their being used as carbines. These pistols are more prevalent and have been discussed fairly extensively on this and other forums (e.g. http://luger.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=4510 ).

There is a rig offered for sale by Simpson Ltd (http://www.simpsonltd.com/product_in...21286d38b24faf ) that is a complete and excellent example of the early issue of H.P. Lugers. While most of the information about this rig has been known for a while, this offers an opportunity to discuss some additional aspects of these pistols and update the current state of research on these Lugers. Originally a 1917 DWM LP08 (sn 5602h), it was reworked to replace the barrel and rear toggle link. Its stock lug is intact. It has the property marking H.P.109. on the front grip strap, the spines of both matching magazines, the takedown tool and the front of the Albrecht Kind holster. Strangely, it lacks a property stamp on the right side of the receiver as on all other H.P. Lugers I have observed.

The replacement barrel on this Luger is particularly interesting. On the upper left side is an E/33 acceptance stamp indicative of manufacture by Simson & Co. in Suhl. The bottom of the barrel has what appears to be a Weimar-era proof eagle above the numeral 1. I believe these to be separate stamps. Arabic numerals like this have been observed on the bottom of Simson barrels used by the Prussian police armory in Berlin to rework former Landj�¤gerei LP08s in 1929-30 (http://luger.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=16395 ). Although it is speculation, I believe these numbers indicate the date of manufacture of the barrels (i.e., 1 = 1921). If correct, this would be consistent with a reworking of this pistol in early 1921 and issue to the Hessian Police. It is not clear to me whether the rework was conducted by Simson or by a police armory using a Simson barrel. Perhaps someone will be able to identify the proof mark.

The Albrecht Kind holster is also of interest. It appears identical to holsters found with the 29 DWM H.P. Lugers. All of these holsters are by the same manufacturer and were converted from commercial buckle closures to police-style studded closures. My guess is that the holster for this pistol was replaced at the same time as new Lugers were issued in the formerly occupied areas.

Additional information about H.P. marked Lugers and the Hessian Police will be found in HWIS which should be available in another 1-2 months.

Photos below are courtesy of Simpson Ltd.