Commecial Database Commentary (very long)

[Dwight Gruber]

Post 2 of 3

1906 â??NEW MODELâ?� PARABELLUM

The â??New Modelâ?� Parabellum is characterized primarily by its coil mainspring. This feature was in development as early as 1904-1905, when Lugers with short old-model frames, modified with coil recoil springs, were delivered to the Dutch for testing.

The first military delivery of this variation was to the German Navy in mid-1906. This dates the 1906 entries in the database, and provides the collector designation. It may be coincidence or the limits of the data that the first 1906 entry in the database is a Navy Commercial.

1906 Frames

1906 models are found as Commercials, American Eagles, a few Swiss Commercials, and Navy Commercials. With the exception of the Navy Commercials, production of all models varies with long and short frames being intermixed (Navy Commercials are always long-framed). As I started gathering frame-length data late in the process, most 1906 entries do not include this information. I look forward to getting data in the future to back-fill these entries, to see if any kind of manufacturing pattern appears.

1906 commercial series pistols are all on â??safeâ?� with the thumb safety lever in its upward position, as was the practice in the initial 1906 Navy delivery. In 1912 the Navy required a change in manufacture, for the lever to be â??safeâ?� in the down position. Commercial production did not follow this alteration.

Although most of the 1906 commercial pistols have a routed-out polished area as a â??safeâ?� indicator, the earliest commercial production was stamped GESICHERT in the safety well instead, following Navy contract practice. The question is raised whether these might be over-production of military frames or frames which failed military inspection, or if DWM made a conscious decision to return to the safety marking method of the Old Model. This is another feature which I started collecting late in the process, so there is currently not enough data to establish a pattern.

The Navy Commercial is the only 1906 commercial variation which has a stock lug. These pistols were originally sold with a complete holster/stock rig, following the Navy contract practice. The database includes the presence of these accessories where known.

1906 Lugers are found in both .30 Luger and 9mm. This detail is pretty thoroughly reported, and there seems to be no particular pattern to the practice. There are long stretches of fairly complete number reports with a single caliber, however.

The American Eagles

1906 American Eagle Lugers are found with proofs and without. Pre-1911 (c/BUG) proofs seem to be pretty random; post-1911 (c/N) most AE appear to be proofed, although the reporting sample for this detail is comparatively small. 1906 Commercial are found with proofs and without in the same pattern.

Many American Eagles are found with LOADED marked extractors. This is another feature which entered the survey very late, so there are not enough samples to come to any conclusion about their distribution.

More than 2,000 database entries are from Hans Tauscherâ??s sales lists as documented by Sam Costanzo in his World of Lugers: Serial Numbers of Lugers Issued to German Agents in the United States 1913-1916. The serial numbers and calibers are listed, but other than 1906 Navy Commercials the particular models are not. Entries verified from other sources with added information are mostly 1906 American Eagles, as might be expected; four reports are Commercials.

Crown/BUG to Crown/N

The wellspring question for the database is answered some 53,000 guns into Luger production. Conditional proof reporting suggests that the changeover from c/BUG to lazy c/N proofs was completed somewhere between sn 52828 and sn 53175. There is a handful of sporadic lazy c/N proofed guns between sn 49074 and sn 51431, but the guns reported in this range are overwhelmingly c/BUG proofed.

Martin Krause and Jim Cate have discovered documentation confirming that two of the German state proof houses devised the crown-over-N as the Nitro proof mark in 1910, and three of them implemented it in 1911. This establishes a firm date for production of this range of Commercial Luger production.

Production of all 1906 commercial models appears to have concluded by the middle of 1913, around sn 69100.


1908 COMMERCIALS

The 1908 model Luger was developed for the German Army in response to the Armyâ??s desire for reduced complexity and production cost by elimination of the grip safety and holdopen. The Army accepted the resulting Pistole 08 in 1908, and let the production contract with DWM in December, 1908.

The first P-08 Commercial recorded in the database is sn 39142. It seems likely that very few, if any, 1908 commercial Lugers were made before the beginning of 1909.


1914 COMMERCIALS

The 1914 Commercial Lugers share the main characteristics of their military counterparts: the addition of a stock lug and holdopen. They also share the same mis-assigned collector designation, as the stock lug was actually instituted by an Army instruction August of 1913.

DWM modified the frame of the standard P-08 by eliminating the spur in the recoil spring well, giving the front of the well a flat profile. This change occurred in 1914, in a military serial number range probably representing the 3rd quarter of the year. DWM Commercial production followed suit sometime between sn 70362 and sn 72353. The change dates this range approximately to the beginning of WWI in August, 1914.

The Great War

The serial number range from 69000 to 76000 is one of the more interesting stretches of Luger production. As the European political situation rapidly evolved toward the inevitable conflict, the nature of DWM commercial production changed as well.

As noted previously, 1906 commercial production gave way completely to commercial production of the Army-style P-08. By the end of the sn 69000 serial range most of the guns reported show evidence of diversion to military delivery. These are the 1908 and 1914 Commercial Army models, having 5-digit commercial serial numbers, but without the commercial lazy c/N proofs. These guns are all c/X, c/X, c/X army inspector stamped and army power proofed.

At this time commercial P-08 were also being issued to the Reichs Gendarmerie, the militarized police force which patrolled the Alsace-Lorraine region. These are the side-frame RG marked Lugers, both 1908 and 1914 variations. Unlike the Commercial Army pistols, the RG Lugers are commercially lazy c/N proofed, suggesting non-military procurement and delivery.

At the beginning of the war, very approximately around sn 71000, serial number reporting shows that commercial production was drastically curtailed. At this time, however, a very small number of a unique commercial variation appears. Designated â??1913 Commercialâ?� by Kenyon, these are standard 1914 commercial construction (with stock lug), but also having a grip safety. The thumb safety operates in the standard 1908/1914 mannerâ??on â??safeâ?� downâ??and is stamped GESICHERT.

Bill Reupke (Weimar Lugers and Auto Mag 11/05) has proposed the existent of a sub-variation, the 1916 Commercial, identified for the year the relieved sear bar was instituted. These appear at approximately sn 75400, and suggests a date for this part of the serial number range. This provides an interesting breakdown of the Commercial Lugers manufactured during WWI: less than 5,000 pistols between the beginning of the war in 1914 and the modified sear bar in 1916; and 550 pistols between 1916 and the end of the proof mark application characterizing the 1914 variation.

It seems unusual that DWM would continue to manufacture commercial Lugers during wartime, although it is true that officers were required to purchase their own pistolsâ??it might have been profitable for DWM to maintain commercial production to allow them to buy from the commercial market. It has long been asserted that DWM parts which did not pass military inspection were diverted to commercial production. The small number of Commercial pistols produced 1914-1918 certainly seems to beg the question of whether or not DWM WWI commercial production might have been entirely the result of military parts rejection.

The existence of a 1914 Commercial (post-1916 sear bar) with a Navy-style large-flange toggle pin tends to support the theory of diversion of military parts to Commercial production


20DWM

On Proof Marks

The identification of a particular Luger variation sometimes turns on the characteristic of the proof which has been applied to the gun. This is particularly the case with the 1914 (or 1916) Commercial variation and the 20DWM, identical guns whose sole difference is the orientation of the commercial proof markâ??horizontal on the 1914, vertical on the 20DWM.

As collectors we tend to act as though proof marks are applied as a willful factory designation to differentiate production. Because of this various correspondents have developed sometimes elaborate theories as to why some guns are â??transitionalâ?� in nature; or appear to be numbered â??out of sequenceâ?� in a production rangeâ??such as the range from sn 73282 to sn 76071 in which are found both 20DWM and 1914 Commercial.

As noted earlier, proofing of commercial firearms in Germany was done by state proof houses. This designation of the proof stamp and its application was entirely the responsibility of the proof house itself. Thus, identification and designation of particular variants on the basis of proof marks is entirely coincidental to their application, and literally has nothing whatever to do with manufacture (or rework) identification of the guns themselves.

So, at some time between 1916 and 1920, the proof house which served DWM in Berlin changed its stamping procedure from a sideways, â??lazyâ?� c/N on the left receiver to an upright c/N. There is no documentation forthcoming as to when (or why) this was changed, and there is no ancillary information in the database itself which suggests dates any closer.

A simple explanation can be inferred, however, for the â??out of sequenceâ?� production problem. These guns were simply not sent to be proofed in serial-number order.

Production of commercial Lugers was very small during the war, and thus cannot have been much of a priority for DWM. It is easy to imagine that completed pistols sat for a long time before being sent to be proofed, perhaps waiting for a large enough batch to make it worthwhile. It is nonsensical to imagine that anyone cared whether or not a strict serial number sequence was maintained once the guns themselves had been completed. Guns could have been stored out of sequence, or they could have been selected for a proof run simply because they were easy to reachâ??there is no knowing, and it really makes no difference. There is simply nothing more meaningful to be inferred from the range of changeover.

The question remains as to the actual date of the change from lazy c/N to upright c/N. Perhaps something is suggested by the numbers.

Less than 5,000 commercial pistols were made from the beginning of the war to 1916. It is important to note here that some upright c/N commercials are reported late in this production range. The changeover range from 1916 to the last lazy c/N pistol reported is 550 guns. Production from the last lazy c/N report to the next datable exampleâ??a 1920 chamber dateâ??is 7,899 pistols.

These figures, and the pattern of reports in the database, suggest to me with high confidence that the proof changeover from lazy c/N to upright c/N occurred well before the end 1916.

The Basel Police Lugers

(Although not 20DWM, these comments which have occurred to me about some of the Basel police pistols can only sensibly follow the foregoing proof mark discussion--DG)

In the November 2005 issue of â??Auto Magâ?� Bill Reupke presents an article about some Lugers shipped to the police forces of the Basel canton in Switzerland in 1921. The pistols he describes are proofed lazy c/N and are mostly near the end of the changeover range from lazy to upright c/N. He describes some physical characteristics which include defective slide guides at the rear of the frame.

Although mostly outside the scope of the database comments, two things related to the proof mark comments above occur to me. The first is the 1921 shipment of such old-production guns. In the years between 1916 and 1921 more than 10,000 commercial guns were manufactured. It cannot be guessed how many of these pistols remained in factory stock, or for how long. One has to wonder if one reason for the disparity in shipment date might be due simply to selling off shelf stock in reverse order to which it was manufactured (the newest guns being closest to the â??front of the shelvesâ?�), and not getting to the 1916-produced pistols for five years?

I also wonder if the flaws in the frame are further evidence toward the supposition that commercial production was based on rejected military parts?

Dated Commercials

Many of the 20DWM examples are reported in cal. 9mm. Most, but certainly not all of these, are police pistols.

The 20DWM Commercial range contains a number of 1920 and 1921 chamber dated examples, the primary benchmark for dating this range of guns. Although not all the chamber dated guns are reported with police characteristics, all the examples with caliber reported are 9mm.

During 1920 and 1921 DWM defied the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles by producing Lugers specifically for police use. These were a separate serial-numbered series of pistols specifically examined and accepted by the Heeres Waffenamt. They are all chamber dated 1921 and 1922.

One wonders if the chamber dated 20DWM are the result of taking parts out this other production line, as the case with the model 1900 Swiss Cross marked barrels, or if this is another example of reject parts going to commercial production?

Safe/Loaded and the End of 5-digit Commercials

The Safe/Loaded Commercial variation is a series of standard, .30 cal. production Lugers marked LOADED on their extractor and SAFE in the thumb safety well, with no mark over the chamber. Some confusion exists in the literature about this variation. Kenyon asserts that as many as 6,000 of these guns were produced and they are found in a range from sn 735000 to sn 96000. Other sources, or perhaps â??conventional wisdomâ?�, reputedly have these guns as the result of a contract made by A.F. Stoeger for 2,000 pieces

There are individual Safe/Loaded Lugers, some with American Eagles on the chamber, found scattered throughout the database. Kenyon is obviously including these in his numbers. The database itself confirms a consecutive run of nearly 2,000 pistols around sn 90000. The other sporadic Safe/Loaded examples scattered throughout the database should not be considered part of the contract variation.

There is a conditional report of one gun within the Safe/Loaded contract range which may be marked GESICHERT /GELADEN.

Almost all published sources have the 20DWM variation ending at sn 96000. Still (Weimar Lugers) maintains that the 5-digit serial numbering method ends just before sn 92000. The Commercial database tends to confirm the lower figure. Although there are four sporadic entries numbered between sn 93595 and sn 96080, prolific entries end at sn 91989 and the higher numbers represent unexplained anomalies.


ALPHABET COMMERCIALS

The Alphabet Commercial series begins with sn 2000 i, the 4-digit/suffix equivalent to sn 92000. The presence of 1921 chamber dated examples establishes their 1921 origin, and tends to confirm the numbering changeover scheme. As with the odd above-92000 guns, there are seemingly out-of-place i suffix Alphabet Commercials with lower i suffix numbers. As with the high 5-digit guns, there is no good explanation for the anomaly.

The serial number range of this variation accounts for nearly 90,000 guns. The literature and conventional wisdom dismiss these guns as the most common and mundane of all Lugers.

This cannot be farther from the truth.

The Alphabet Commercial range encompasses the greatest variety of any of the recognized ranges, Commercial or Military. Included in this range are the Krieghoff back-frame stamped Lugers; Stoeger 2-line guns; Swiss-style conversions including Abercrombie and Fitch; Finnish Lugers; and Weimar Police conversions.

In addition, many uncommon and unique examples are found here, particularly unexpected guns with SAFE marks, American Eagles, Navy or Artillery configurations or very long barrels, and Lugers modified after import by Pacific Arms and others.


29DWM

The 29DWM variationâ??the s, t, and u suffix Commercialsâ??represents the End of Days for DWM. Although technically Commercial Lugers (proofed with upright c/N), almost all the listed production of these pistols went to Police use and many are additionally stamped with the acceptance marks of the Heers Waffenamt. A large range after sn 8400s bear unit marks representing their shipment to the Kriegsmarine.

In 1930 the manufacturing inventory of DWM was transferred from Berlin, to Mauser in Oberndorf. DWMâ??s 30-year history as the producer of the Pistole Parabellum ended, and the Commercial database ends here as well. There are a few v suffix pistols recorded with c/N proofs, but their story is properly part of Mauserâ??s history as a Luger distributor and producer.