A question about my Luger............

My grandfather recently gave me a Luger he purchased many years ago. The markings it has are as follows: DWM 1918

It has two clips with matching numbers as the gun itself. The numbers are 3449. The small numbers all over the gun are 49. There is a number on the handle, LKO146. If anyone could tell me when the gun was made or an approximate value, I would appreciate it greatly. I'm planning on keeping the gun and I want it insured. It's silver colored finished with a pearl colored grip. Thank you very much.

[BILL]

Hi Larson, welcome to the Lugerforum. It sounds like you have a WWI era military pistol and (assuming the barrel is 4" long) these are not extremely rare. Many thousands were produced (the 1918 above and behind the barrel indicates the year of manufacture). Be aware that if it is silver in color it is not in it's orginal condition and the orginal grips were wood. To be considered valuable to a Luger collector it should have a blued finish with brown walnut checkered grips. Since it has family historical value you should keep it in your family and if you can insure it for around $400 to $450 it would be wise.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

[John Sabato]

[SteveM]

Larson,

With the gripstrap markings you describe, your military 1918

Luger was reworked for Police use during the Weimar era.

It was assigned to the Landjagerei at Koln and was weapon number 146. Do the magazines have wood bases or metal?

What kind of markings are on them other than the serial

number? Are they marked number 1 and 2? Is their a milled slot just ahead of the 1918 date?


Best,

SteveM