Help identify: Luger 1906 Commercial 9mm

[briskspirit]

Originally Posted by Dwight Gruber

Which book please?


--Dwight

Standard Catalog of Luger by Aarron Davis

Quote from the book:
QUANTITY MADE
3,500 to 4,000 in 9mm Parabellum
SERIAL NUMBER RANGE: 25050 to 69000.

Some combination of this set of marks was
used on commercial Luger production starting
in 1900 and proceeding through the 1906
pattern guns. The crown/B and crown/U
indicated the actual proof, while the crown/G
is thought to indicate a rifled barrel. Later
the crown/G was dropped, with the other two
marks being applied sideways

Also here (lugerforum.com) there is a proof mark page with the same info about BUG and BU. That's why I thought it should be one of the early productions.

P.S.:
With all respect I am not arguing, I am trying to understand As I am getting obsessed with Lugers now and reading about each proof mark - so interesting!

[Dwight Gruber]

Originally Posted by briskspirit

Standard Catalog of Luger by Aarron Davis

Davis's "Standard Catalog" is full of misinformation and errors, and cannot be trusted by someone without Luger knowledge.

The serial number range quoted is approximately correct, although there are other variations witnin that range.

DWM's production archives are not to be found. Any estimate of commercial variation production is meaningless guesswork.

The c/B, c/U, c/G proof information is in wrong. This proof suite was in use from the beginning of Parabellum production in 1900 to 1912, when it was replaced by the c/N nitro proof. c/B and c/U are always found stamped sideways on the left receiver. They are also found stamped on the breechblock. c/G without question indicates a rifled barrel, and is always found there with the other two marks. This protocol was established by the German proof law of 1891.

My estimation of date of production--and it is assuredly only an estimate--is based on extensive serial number reporting of New Model variations correlated with the date of the German army's acceptance of the P08 and its subsequent commercial production.

The comprehensive Luger library approaches 50 volumes. I recommend two books to you: "The Luger Book" by John Walter; and "Lugers At Random" by Charles Kenyon. Walters's book is fairly encyclopedic, and succeeds where Davis fails. Kenyon's book is over forty years old (and is therefore obsolete in some details), but it is still the only single-volume overview of Luger collector variations.

The best, most up-to-date information on everything Luger is to be found in this forum and Jan Still's Luger Forum https://luger.gunboards.com/activity.php.

--Dwight