1914 Erfurt, Mannheim Police, Unusual Holster

[Don M]

This is a continuation of a thread (http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=24150) started by keny941. He and I exchanged a number of emails about this rig and he has requested that I post resized photos for him. I am starting a new thread to include a more descriptive title.

The pistol is a 1914-dated Erfurt P08 serial numbered 4684a with a 1920 government property stamp. It is further described in http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthre...661#post178661. The front grip strap is stamped Ma.536. and reads from the top down, opposite of Prussian police markings. The property number 536. is also stamped on the rear frame and there is a circled-S stamped on the left side of the receiver. This marking has recently been identified as belonging to the Weimar-era municipal police of Mannheim in the state of Baden (http://luger.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=22569 & www.historywritinsteel.com).

The holster is very unusual. It originally was an LP08 holster and, along with many others, was modified for police use after WWI. However, in all the modified LP08 holsters I have seen, the original upstrap was retained and a closure stud added on the outside of the cover. In this case, the cover was partially cut off, the original strap was removed, a new downstrap was attached to the inside of the cover and a closure stud added on the body of the holster. Unfortunately, there are no markings on the holster to prove that it saw police service with this pistol but one wonders if this was the way the Baden police modified these holsters. Has anyone seen one like it?

[Edward Tinker]

yes, I believe I have one like it. Although I have been told it is a modified walther holster (that is what my notes call it)

[Edward Tinker]

and this one is like it, but not modified as much

[Edward Tinker]

this does not have the same top, but the LP-08 look to it;

[Don M]

Ed, thanks for posting these pictures. Clearly, the covers of the first two are different from normal P08 holsters and perhaps for another pistol such as a Walther. What I can't understand is this type of cover on what was originally an LP08 holster in keny941's rig.

[Don M]

I have received some more photos of keny941's holster showing that the pull strap was removed and the front of the holster was cut down, presumably to make it easier to draw the gun. Two additional examples of these modifications are shown on the NAPCA forum in reply to my posting there.

Ed, are your first two holsters cut down the same way?

[Edward Tinker]

Don, I do not remember, and do not have photo's of them opened up; and since I am a long ways from home, I can't answer that until May 2011.


Ed

[Don M]

Even without confirmation of the configuration of Ed's holsters, it looks to me as if these were a standard modification of some police force. They probably wanted more of a "quick draw" holster than provided with the standard pull strap so they cut down the portion over the grip. The new cover was probably then needed to cover the gun in this area.