My Family Luger, please help identify

[wlyon]

My guess would be a US purchase. Bill

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by wlyon

My guess would be a US purchase. Bill

+1

It is my understanding that if purchased in the UK it would have the UK firing proof on it...IOW, somewhere on the barrel it would have stampings like the attached pic...If it was purchased legally...

(I recall reading an article once that stated that de-mobbing British troops were told the strict penalties of smuggling weapons into England on the ferry ride across the Channel...The author went on to say you could almost walk across the Channel on the pistols & other weapons dumped overboard by alarmed soldiers)...

[Fritzer]

Originally Posted by postino

(I recall reading an article once that stated that de-mobbing British troops were told the strict penalties of smuggling weapons into England on the ferry ride across the Channel...The author went on to say you could almost walk across the Channel on the pistols & other weapons dumped overboard by alarmed soldiers)...

HA! I have the flip-side to that story. As told to me, my dad as young sailor on shore leave in WW2 FOUND his luger in a tidal pool on the coast of France. A complete mis-matched, missing grips and most of the magazine bottom. the grips and mag bottom were fashioned on ship from some mahogany he also scrounged. I still have it, the way he put it together.

[alvin]

Gun Collector's Digest #5 had an article on British commercial proof. Those long text of how many TONS etc on barrel was post 1955. The BNP stamp was introduced in 1955 as well. Before 1955, they used other text.

The 1955 rule is copied here:

-- NOT ENGLISH MAKE was eliminated
-- The viewmarks were eliminated
-- Birmingham proof and nitro proof combined into BNP
-- Caliber, cartridge case length, pressure added