Red Nine Grips

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by stressed

I thought they only put these on the c96? .30 lugers were commercial all military were 9mm

Scottster,

Generally correct, but IIRC, German officers could use personally purchased pistols. This being the case, 7.65s were sharing the action with 9s and marking them like this left nothing to chance in the heat of conflict when reloading. An ugly "variation" in grips of the other-than-mint condition crowd--but definitely with a history, no matter how crudely they were carved in!

As far as value, there are some red 9 grip aficionados who have the knowledge about that particular niche of the market. I'd say a pinch North of a couple Ben Franklins, but wait for the experts to post...

[Sieger]

Scottster,

German officers, of that period, were financially responsible for providing their own equipment, including such essentials as their own uniforms, boots and pistols. They were, indeed, required to pay for them. I've never heard of an instance where they could go outside of regular regulation issue items, accepted and proofed by the Army, for personal weaponry, as this would have caused a logistical nightmare. If this were not the case, then there should be vast numbers of civilian marked and proofed battlefield liberated Lugers out there. We know that this isn't true.

The red nine was used to identify just what was being shot through a particular Mauser C-96, as both the 7.63mm and 9mm variations were purchased by the Army for general troop usage. The only red nine Luger grips I've ever seen were on an LP-08, and I really don't know why they were so marked, as all of the Army issue LP-08s were in 9mm.


Sieger

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by Sieger

German officers, of that period, were financially responsible for providing their own equipment, including such essentials as their own uniforms, boots and pistols. They were, indeed, required to pay for them. I've never heard of an instance where they could go outside of regular regulation issue items, accepted and proofed by the Army, for personal weaponry...

... LP-08, and I really don't know why they were so marked, as all of the Army issue LP-08s were in 9mm.

Thanks for straightening out my half-accuracies and misconceptions here Sieger! I remembered partly correctly about officers and their stuff, but now I know it was required. And regulated, if they could only acquire pistols, etc. that were Mil accepted! Red 9s, I've seen only in pics, were Artys--can't remember a P-08. Your info about the red 9 numbering for Lugers makes sense--I see now it was unnecessary because no alternate caliber was sanctioned. It is curious that Artys were numbered, in a situation that made it relatively unnecessary to do so.