Japanese Luger Story in AutoMag...

Jim Keenan · 09-02-2003, 11:10 PM

I have examined one "Japanese" Luger and it was a fake. The marking was poorly engraved and off center as well. I am certainly not going to get into the "who faked photos" contrversy, but I have seen nothing to indicate that Mauser made Lugers on a Japanese contract, or that the Japanese ever put the "mum" on captured or purchased weapons. (The type I rifles have no "mum".)

Engraving of chamber markings does not itself indicate a fake. The factory commonly did so when markings were needed for a small lot of guns and it was cheaper and quicker to engrave the guns than to make up a roll stamp. But engraved markings should still be looked on with some skepticism, especially where the marking duplicates uncommon stamped markings (e.g. "M2" markings).

Japanese officers could and did buy their own pistols, and some certainly could have owned Lugers, but these would have been commercial Lugers, not P.08's, nor would they have had the "mum" which indicated property made for the Emperor.

Tales of Japanese Lugers from WWII can almost always be discounted, not because anyone was lying, but because the Type 14 pistols as well as the Nambu pistols as a group, were almost universally called "Jap Lugers", even in army documents. I was once shown a "Jap Baby Luger" by a veteran who captured it on Okinawa. It was a Baby Nambu; still a very nice piece, but certainly not a Luger, baby or otherwise.

Jim

09-02-2003, 11:10 PM	#15
Jim Keenan User Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 184 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	I have examined one "Japanese" Luger and it was a fake. The marking was poorly engraved and off center as well. I am certainly not going to get into the "who faked photos" contrversy, but I have seen nothing to indicate that Mauser made Lugers on a Japanese contract, or that the Japanese ever put the "mum" on captured or purchased weapons. (The type I rifles have no "mum".) Engraving of chamber markings does not itself indicate a fake. The factory commonly did so when markings were needed for a small lot of guns and it was cheaper and quicker to engrave the guns than to make up a roll stamp. But engraved markings should still be looked on with some skepticism, especially where the marking duplicates uncommon stamped markings (e.g. "M2" markings). Japanese officers could and did buy their own pistols, and some certainly could have owned Lugers, but these would have been commercial Lugers, not P.08's, nor would they have had the "mum" which indicated property made for the Emperor. Tales of Japanese Lugers from WWII can almost always be discounted, not because anyone was lying, but because the Type 14 pistols as well as the Nambu pistols as a group, were almost universally called "Jap Lugers", even in army documents. I was once shown a "Jap Baby Luger" by a veteran who captured it on Okinawa. It was a Baby Nambu; still a very nice piece, but certainly not a Luger, baby or otherwise. Jim