Tracking the history of a piece

rldarmstr · 05-23-2008, 03:54 PM

Has anyone found a way to track the history of a given piece to the people who have owned it beyond a mouth to mouth account of it's acquisition to the last known owner?

Did Germany keep records by serial number of guns assigned to individules?

Has anyone every made a compilation of stories of how these pistols were first acquired? Fathers, Grandfathers, Uncles, in the Great War or WWII or someplace in between and how they came by their Luger pistol?

Perhaps this forum is not the place for these questions but personally I find some of the stories fasinating. I'm sure there are many stories, equally as many exagerations, and possibly even a few tear jerkers but I would like to hear them all. I have one of my own, that accounts for my father's Luger but what say ye all? Is this too "off topic" or "non-Luger specific" to indulge?

Vlim · 05-23-2008, 04:04 PM

Hi,

There is virtually no way to determine which pistol was issued to which individual in the German army.

The aquisition stories are often clouded by bad memories, assumptions, bad interpretation and, in some cases, lies. Many, many lugers made it into the USA through the commercial market in the 1950s and 1960s and a lot of former GIs simply bought their guns through these channels in those days, sometimes to replace a souvenir gun they had lost along the way, sometimes to 'fill in the gap', so to say. A lot of times these guns obtained in the 1950s and 1960s underwent a change from 'bought' to 'captured', the story being dilated and transformed as it was passed down or retold.

This said, there are more than enough interesting stories and interesting guns around. Our own Forum Admin Ed Tinker is working on a publication that contains exactly these 'bring back stories'. Perhaps Ed can give us some feedback on the current status of his project?

05-23-2008, 03:54 PM	#1
rldarmstr User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 16 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Tracking the history of a piece Has anyone found a way to track the history of a given piece to the people who have owned it beyond a mouth to mouth account of it's acquisition to the last known owner? Did Germany keep records by serial number of guns assigned to individules? Has anyone every made a compilation of stories of how these pistols were first acquired? Fathers, Grandfathers, Uncles, in the Great War or WWII or someplace in between and how they came by their Luger pistol? Perhaps this forum is not the place for these questions but personally I find some of the stories fasinating. I'm sure there are many stories, equally as many exagerations, and possibly even a few tear jerkers but I would like to hear them all. I have one of my own, that accounts for my father's Luger but what say ye all? Is this too "off topic" or "non-Luger specific" to indulge?

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05-23-2008, 04:04 PM	#2
Vlim Moderator Lifetime LugerForum Patron Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Europe Posts: 5,053 Thanks: 1,036 Thanked 3,990 Times in 1,205 Posts	Hi, There is virtually no way to determine which pistol was issued to which individual in the German army. The aquisition stories are often clouded by bad memories, assumptions, bad interpretation and, in some cases, lies. Many, many lugers made it into the USA through the commercial market in the 1950s and 1960s and a lot of former GIs simply bought their guns through these channels in those days, sometimes to replace a souvenir gun they had lost along the way, sometimes to 'fill in the gap', so to say. A lot of times these guns obtained in the 1950s and 1960s underwent a change from 'bought' to 'captured', the story being dilated and transformed as it was passed down or retold. This said, there are more than enough interesting stories and interesting guns around. Our own Forum Admin Ed Tinker is working on a publication that contains exactly these 'bring back stories'. Perhaps Ed can give us some feedback on the current status of his project?