Vickers Dutch East Indies Luger

Dwight Gruber · 06-14-2005, 06:12 PM

Herb,

Curious indeed.

The witness mark doesn' t tell much, it is very mismatched. Mine is as well; the barrel is original British without date. It would be useful for other Vickers owners to weigh in with their barrel markings/originality and the characteristics of their witness marks.

"Something other than a routine barrel replacement" occurred to me, although Martens and DeVries are pretty positive about this. I'm not sure that simply swapping out the sideplate would have merited a date.

It is easy to speculate that some spare parts were included in the Vickers shipment (I believe I have read thhis, although cannot find the citation so this should not be considered authoritative). A barrel would have had to have been assembled into a receiver and proof fired in order to receive the nitro proof stamp, I'm not sure this is likely. Martens & DeVries note on p. 86 that the Dutch obtained spare parts from DWM until (possibly) WWI, making most (but not all) the parts required, including barrels, by the mid-30s.

Regarding the placement of the serial number on the thumb safety, remember, these guns were numbered in the Commercial style.

Thanks to you and John S. for moving the discussion.

--Dwight

06-14-2005, 06:12 PM	#9
Dwight Gruber User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,908 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1,330 Times in 435 Posts	Herb, Curious indeed. The witness mark doesn' t tell much, it is very mismatched. Mine is as well; the barrel is original British without date. It would be useful for other Vickers owners to weigh in with their barrel markings/originality and the characteristics of their witness marks. "Something other than a routine barrel replacement" occurred to me, although Martens and DeVries are pretty positive about this. I'm not sure that simply swapping out the sideplate would have merited a date. It is easy to speculate that some spare parts were included in the Vickers shipment (I believe I have read thhis, although cannot find the citation so this should not be considered authoritative). A barrel would have had to have been assembled into a receiver and proof fired in order to receive the nitro proof stamp, I'm not sure this is likely. Martens & DeVries note on p. 86 that the Dutch obtained spare parts from DWM until (possibly) WWI, making most (but not all) the parts required, including barrels, by the mid-30s. Regarding the placement of the serial number on the thumb safety, remember, these guns were numbered in the Commercial style. Thanks to you and John S. for moving the discussion. --Dwight