Eurfurt 1918

95Rifles · 05-07-2004, 08:14 AM

I had the pleasure of handling a 1918 Erfurt this weekend as a special guest of a national arms museum. I notice that all the serial numbers matched including the mag. The only mismatch was the side plate which had a number 1 less than the rest of the gun. Gun serial no = xx32 and the side plate had 31 stamped on it. Also the mag had the complete number. Any comments, as it seems to me most unlikly that the side plate arrived by chance

Dwight Gruber · 05-07-2004, 10:32 AM

I would have to guess that there was no chance involved, that some owner of this Luger needed to find a sideplate for it, and settled for the closest numbered sideplate he could find.

There are 100 identical small-part two number combinations in any 1,000-number serial# block, and at least 50 serial# blocks used during the course of Erfurt's production (Still, "Imperial Lugers, chart p.15). It is not surprising that, with 5,000 potential opportunities, someone found a sideplate one number off. It is rather more surprising that they didn't find the proper number.

Do you recall if there was an Erfurt Inspector's stamp on the sideplate? If not, then you expand the serial# calculation throughout the entire span of Luger producers over the time of their production and come up with an identical-number parts pool which is much, much higher.

This statisitcal serial# probability is what "force-matching" is all about.

Also, with the rigorous production and inspection methods the Germans used to producr P-08, you can be certain that the Luger you examined did not leave the factory that way.

--Dwight

05-07-2004, 08:14 AM	#1
95Rifles User Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 8 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Eurfurt 1918 I had the pleasure of handling a 1918 Erfurt this weekend as a special guest of a national arms museum. I notice that all the serial numbers matched including the mag. The only mismatch was the side plate which had a number 1 less than the rest of the gun. Gun serial no = xx32 and the side plate had 31 stamped on it. Also the mag had the complete number. Any comments, as it seems to me most unlikly that the side plate arrived by chance

05-07-2004, 10:32 AM	#2
Dwight Gruber User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,890 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1,282 Times in 424 Posts	I would have to guess that there was no chance involved, that some owner of this Luger needed to find a sideplate for it, and settled for the closest numbered sideplate he could find. There are 100 identical small-part two number combinations in any 1,000-number serial# block, and at least 50 serial# blocks used during the course of Erfurt's production (Still, "Imperial Lugers, chart p.15). It is not surprising that, with 5,000 potential opportunities, someone found a sideplate one number off. It is rather more surprising that they didn't find the proper number. Do you recall if there was an Erfurt Inspector's stamp on the sideplate? If not, then you expand the serial# calculation throughout the entire span of Luger producers over the time of their production and come up with an identical-number parts pool which is much, much higher. This statisitcal serial# probability is what "force-matching" is all about. Also, with the rigorous production and inspection methods the Germans used to producr P-08, you can be certain that the Luger you examined did not leave the factory that way. --Dwight