Newbie needs help

[mrerick]

Hi,

The "Bo29" refers to Boehler Steel. It's known to be found on some 1914 Lugers.

Immediately below the serial number on the frame in front of the trigger, there are two marks. The left one is a scratch. Is the other mark a scratch also, or is this a lower case letter? If it's a letter it's part of the serial number. 6161x ....

In 1916, the sear bar was "relieved" to allow the gun to be unloaded with the safety on. Your pistol has the relief cut visible on your second posted photo. When the decision to relieve the sear was made, there were, of course, many Lugers in the field. The order included a directive to return existing guns to have the sear modified. The tooling marks on your sear look like your gun could have been one of those so modified.

Your gun is in remarkable and beautiful condition. It looks like there is still some cosmoline or grease coating parts. As you give it a good cleaning, be thankful for it's help preserving your Luger.

I've gotten some of those inexpensive cotton "string" gloves that are now available. They are ideal for handling my guns since they keep the finger oils off the finish. They are so cheap that when they get dirty, I just throw them away.

You didn't show the front of the holster. If it has a post in the flap that the strap pushes down on to hold things, it's a police holster. If it's a buckle, it is a military design. I can't make out the interior of the sunburst, I believe that it is a police proof.

So, very possible that this was a WW-I gun that was reworked (to add the sear safety) and assigned to the police during the Wiemar era. It's so well preserved that I'd guess it was held by someone in the hierarchy rather than a field officer.

Marc

[D. Ricks]

The 2 marks are small scratches. There is no suffix letter. Those are halos in pictures and on the gun. Like I said there was cosmoline all over the out side and the inside. My question is were there any police guns that did not have police markings on them, There are no markings on outside of gun other than a typical 1914 DWM Luger. It has a sear safety but no cut on the frame. Is that normal? The only mark that I have a question about is inside the frame on the flat in front of the trigger K&B. Was the information I found on the net correct that the first 10,000 guns had no suffix letter. I want to thank everyone on the forum for your help on this gun. The sunburst has a K in the middle. Thanks Norm,Dave and Marc.