US Test AE's - 900 vs. 100

Johnny Peppers · 10-28-2002, 10:37 AM

Pete,
When the pistols were purchased from DWM, the first shipment of 800 was received on October 26 and the second shipment of 200 was received on October 29. Of the 1000 pistols, 900 were issued to the Cavalry and 100 were reserved to be issued to the Field Artillery and for test purposes. I don't believe that this would indicate that the 100 pistols held for the Field Artillery would necessarily have been a different lot of pistols. There is a list of the Cavalry units which the pistols were issued to, but to date no information listing the serial numbers at issue has been discovered.
The pistols were standard Model 1900 Lugers with the Great Seal of the United States on the chamber, but did not have any proofs or the GERMANY import mark. The serial number range of the test pistols falls into the 6100 to 7100 range, but even the list of the pistols sold to Bannerman contains pistols 7108 and 7147. The practice of numbering the takedown lever on the round started before the test series as I have record of pistol number 6018 being numbered in that manner. Also the practice of numbering the takedown lever on the flat returned prior to reaching serial number 7100. It is also interesting to note that the list of serial numbers sold to Bannerman contains serial numbers 6361 through 7108 consecutively. Apparently attrition wasn't too severe to get this many consecituvely numbered pistols back from the field.

10-28-2002, 10:37 AM	#2
Johnny Peppers User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Calion, Arkansas Posts: 1,042 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Pete, When the pistols were purchased from DWM, the first shipment of 800 was received on October 26 and the second shipment of 200 was received on October 29. Of the 1000 pistols, 900 were issued to the Cavalry and 100 were reserved to be issued to the Field Artillery and for test purposes. I don't believe that this would indicate that the 100 pistols held for the Field Artillery would necessarily have been a different lot of pistols. There is a list of the Cavalry units which the pistols were issued to, but to date no information listing the serial numbers at issue has been discovered. The pistols were standard Model 1900 Lugers with the Great Seal of the United States on the chamber, but did not have any proofs or the GERMANY import mark. The serial number range of the test pistols falls into the 6100 to 7100 range, but even the list of the pistols sold to Bannerman contains pistols 7108 and 7147. The practice of numbering the takedown lever on the round started before the test series as I have record of pistol number 6018 being numbered in that manner. Also the practice of numbering the takedown lever on the flat returned prior to reaching serial number 7100. It is also interesting to note that the list of serial numbers sold to Bannerman contains serial numbers 6361 through 7108 consecutively. Apparently attrition wasn't too severe to get this many consecituvely numbered pistols back from the field.