Rear Sight on 1900 American Eagle

Ron Wood · 08-24-2012, 09:14 PM

Glenn,

The "1" is just an inspector's mark and has no particular significance. The barrel should have a serial number, so the gun has either been rebarreled or the markings on the barrel were obliterated when it was refinished (I would tend to go with a rebarrel since it was obviously a marksman's gun). There would be no military markings since the only military issue American Eagles were the US Test Trials guns, and even they did not have any military markings. The only other military issue M1900 Lugers were the Swiss.

I would not attempt to remove the extractor unless you actually break it while shooting. More M1900 Luger extractors are broken by attempting to remove them than actually fail in shooting. You have to lift up on the forward end of the extractor to free the lug on the bottom from the detent in the breech block and then pull forward on the extractor to remove it. Kind of a fiddley operation and a bit risky if you haven't done it before (don't ask me how I know!). It is an un-numbered part so replacement is not a detraction.

For Rich (postino): The apertiure is large that is true, but consider that it is being held at arms length, not with only a couple of inches eye relief that you would have with a rifle peep sight. At arms length it looks more like a ghost ring than a peep sight (at least for these old eyes).

08-24-2012, 09:14 PM	#20
Ron Wood Moderator 2010 LugerForum Patron Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Santa Teresa New Mexico just outside of the West Texas town of El Paso Posts: 7,051 Thanks: 1,119 Thanked 5,286 Times in 1,728 Posts	Glenn, The "1" is just an inspector's mark and has no particular significance. The barrel should have a serial number, so the gun has either been rebarreled or the markings on the barrel were obliterated when it was refinished (I would tend to go with a rebarrel since it was obviously a marksman's gun). There would be no military markings since the only military issue American Eagles were the US Test Trials guns, and even they did not have any military markings. The only other military issue M1900 Lugers were the Swiss. I would not attempt to remove the extractor unless you actually break it while shooting. More M1900 Luger extractors are broken by attempting to remove them than actually fail in shooting. You have to lift up on the forward end of the extractor to free the lug on the bottom from the detent in the breech block and then pull forward on the extractor to remove it. Kind of a fiddley operation and a bit risky if you haven't done it before (don't ask me how I know!). It is an un-numbered part so replacement is not a detraction. For Rich (postino): The apertiure is large that is true, but consider that it is being held at arms length, not with only a couple of inches eye relief that you would have with a rifle peep sight. At arms length it looks more like a ghost ring than a peep sight (at least for these old eyes). __________________ If it's made after 1918...it's a reproduction Last edited by Ron Wood; 08-24-2012 at 10:11 PM.