New “baby” for Eugen

[Eugen]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

Don E.,

On the left side of the grip frame is a group of proof marks. One of them, two digits in a little shield, is the year of manufacture. What's the cut-off, 50 years? Then no, the KGP pistols would be modern. And if so, 1966 or before would be C&R.

Unfortunately, unless one can wrangle a discount at some supplier or other, a C&R is absolutely worthless in NY State due to State Police regulations. No SBRs or suppressors permitted, federally allowable notwithstanding. We have to have ammo sent to a dealer and p/u there. Still no background check for ammo yet, such as the latest law "requires."

Dave, thanks for the info. I called the shop (1.5 hours from me) and conveyed your information. Regretfully he was unable to find anything as I read your description. Is the mark on the frame and under the grip? I guess I am resigned to waiting the three days. Ugh!

IL is worst than most, but better than some states when it comes to restrictions on our second amendment rights. NY appears to be worse. The exception in Chicagoland where the restrictions are far greater than down state where I leave. Chicago land has a lot of idiots with guns and shoot each other at the rate of 5,000 a year. All their restrictions don't seem to help much. LOL

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by Eugen

...he was unable to find anything as I read your description. Is the mark on the frame and under the grip?

Oops, some of the KGP68As have them, but most do not seem to. If there, it would be in the same area as the circled Erma stamp on yours. It is on only 1 in 4 of this model in my collection. None of my 5 KGP69s has this proof, but all my earlier series (La, Ep, Et.22) have them. I know that the KGP serial number range began at around 100k, so yours is a relatively early example. Holger's book may enable you to dial it in much closer. But whatever the case, it would definitely have been made no earlier than 1968, the year that designates the model.

Originally it was just KGP-68, without the "A" suffix to the model name. I believe the KGP-68 production remained in Europe. KGP-68A model was imported to the U.S., and according to the 1968 regulations here, it has a magazine safety, as you've probably noticed, so the gun will not fire without a mag in place. The action cannot be flexed with the gun on safe, either. It will come back a tad, but no further.

[Eugen]

Dave, thank you for taking the time to provide such an informative response. I enjoy learning such details. It really adds to the enjoyment of ownership.

[Eugen]

I just wanted to provide an update for folks.

After I got the little Luger I took it to the range and had multiple FTEs and was very disappointed with the pistols' performance.

I disassembled the toggle and I discovered that I had a badly chipped extractor. I got in contact with ithacartist, and he was immensely helpful. He sent me a high quality repo extractor kit along with detailed install instructions. The install went fine. Without the detail info I would have surely struggled with the work. I took the gun back to the range and blasted off 50 rounds of WWB with near flawless results.

OK, I had one FTE. Hey, I'll take 49/50 on a non CCW, C&R vintage pistol all day.

I later got a spare mag and a beautiful set of wooden "German P.08 little junior" grips from him. Those brown plastic oem jobs looked way too toy like to me. Attached is a photo of the unfinished grips. I applied two coats of BLO and they look great.

I am a happy ERMA owner now.

If anyone needs ERMA advice David is the guy to contact. ithacartist, is the ERMA man!