Distribution of 1000 Test Lugers and Holsters

[Ron Wood]

Originally Posted by cirelaw

Somewhere I had read how many Test Lugers and Holsters were shipped to what Army bases for testing. I've tracked West Point and Rock Island Arsenal. If I know the rest I can contact them for any more samples and possibly more serial numbers for Ron~~Eric

Not to stifle your initiative, but that ground has been plowed several times over. All of the available/surviving records of the distribution have made their way into the national archives and have been researched by several individuals. If you have a copy of Michael Reese's book on the US Test Trials Lugers the distribution of the guns is detailed in there along with much of the original correspondence (unfortunately somewhat difficult to read because of the poor reproduction) for the trials. Scott Meadows book on US Military pistols and revolvers has a full chapter devoted to the Test Trial Lugers and more legible versions of the correspondence. Most of the Test Lugers went to field units of the Cavalry and records in individual units are not held for very long. More recently forum member Clark Rickman has delved extensively into the archives and has turned up some hand written information on serial numbers that he provided to me.

There is no single point of contact at any organization or institution that will have immediate access to serial number data over and above what has been discovered so far. Only by personally digging into the archives as Clark has done is there any hope of finding more information. Blood, sweat and tears.