1917 dated 1914 Navy luger- taken into police service - 4" TP barrel re-work, # 8128

[DonVoigt]

This pistol started service as a 6" Navy luger, and still has most of its original numbered parts;
exceptions are : barrel, which is a TP(Technical Police) barrel; rear toggle pin with wide flange; striker is a fluted replacement with no number; grips are beech with no number; and as usual- the magazine.

The magazine is an interesting single acceptance Erfurt mag with large "359" stamped, it appears to have been a replacement mag as there are no numbers of normal size under the 359.

Pistol has been refinished - during rework. It must have been in pretty rough shape, as the original navy markings on the left chamber are quite weak, and the added serial number there much stronger. Usually the sear safety is added after finish, and the rivet is "in the white" , in this example, the bottom of the pin is blue- but it does show a pin prick after finish, in the white-perhaps to tighten a loose rivet?

The blue presently shows light wear and discoloration under the finish, so I think it period and not a later enhancement.


A good example of the serial being added to the left chamber after original mfg, i.e. at rework. The original take down lever and side plate are numbered on the bottom in the Navy/commercial style and -interestingly-the side plate has the added "28" in exposed fashion, but the TD lever does not. The replacement small head toggle axle/pin is not numbered, though one would expect it to be; shown with the correct original type pin below.

The original "28" numbered breech block and mid toggle are present, the rear toggle and its integral Navy type adjustable sight have been replaced with a newly numbered fixed sight replacement.

The TP marked and proofed barrel is not numbered, but the bore gage of 8.82 is present.

The finish applied is interesting as it appears to be hot blue on the frame and receiver. The toggle train and the sear bar do not appear to have been refinished during re-work. Edges and corners were well maintained in prep for the refinish, notice the lines and marks in the flats. The frame is blued on the inside as is the case with the hot, salt blue finish.

Timing of the rework is of interest and may be the first hot blue "police rework" I have seen or heard of.
This doesn't mean much, as I have only seen or owned what came my way.

I speculate that this Navy pistol must have continued in use or storage until about 1937, when- as the 3rd Reich was expanding its army and police numbers- it was pulled for re-work and issue to the police.

I say 1937 as it has the TP marked barrel- TP was renamed from TPV in March 1936. It has no magazine safety and was never cut for one- addition of the magazine safety was stopped in 1937.
Use of hot blue came into use(by Mauser at least) in Mid 1936. There are no police grip markings, which were also eliminated in 1936-7.

So as they say, the evidence is circumstantial at best, but I think 1937 is a good guess for the rework to police.

Comment and observations are appreciated, any similar pistols- please post pictures.