Authenticating Imperial Navy Pistols

[Dwight Gruber]

Tom,

Thank you very much for a most educational and eye-opening, erudite and systematic primer. It should be obvious that this is a useful method for examination of -any- Luger, with some specific nods to details specific to Navy Lugers. Your willingness to share these methods and the trouble you have taken in their explanation is exemplary.

In response to your request for additional information, I would add one characteristic pointed out to me recently, that is the step in the chamber of (at least) DWM Lugers.

The 9mm Parabellum cartridge case is not straight sided, rather, it tapers slightly from base to mouth. Blueprints show that the Luger chamber is bored in two cylindrical steps, one slightly larger than the other. This leaves a visible "ring" in the chamber when viewed from the breech. Modern-made barrels' chambers are bored in a single stroke, thus the step is missing and there is no ring visible.



--Dwight

[Luke]

Tom -

Thanks very much for the information; looking forward to the supporting pictures which I am sure will be very helpful.

Luke

__________________________________________

Dwight -

Excellent additional information; I had not seen this drawing before.

Is there a recommended method for best viewing this ring in the chamber?

Luke

[Dwight Gruber]

Luke,

John Sabato actually posted this a couple of weeks ago in a discussion about making Luger barrels.

To see the ring, simply dismount the cannon and look into the breech end in the conditions under which you would normally inspect rifling. In my experience, examining my own Lugers and a couple others I considered buying recently, the ring is sometimes very prominent, and sometimes can be difficult to detect. Also, I have seen it not quite completely circumferential. I don't know what this might be attributable to, unsubstantiated speculation might indicate wear or manufacturing variation.

--Dwight

[Luke]

Dwight -

I had not read the string on making Luger barrels, but my thanks to John also.

Just checked a couple of DWM Lugers, and the ring is quite visible when using a small light placed at the muzzle and viewed from the chamber end.

Thanks for the tip.

Regards,
Luke

[ExMachina]

Tom, very well done post. I am grateful to have it available to me.

One thing that I noticed was the employment of bamboo skewers. Bamboo contains silica, which is an abbrasive and not good on metal. Perhaps ordinary toothpicks might be less risky?

-Dave

[Navy]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the kind words. :-)
I'll take your word for the silica, but I have found that toothpicks tend to break at the most inopportune times. And I don't put enough "beef" behind the skewers to do any damage.

Tom A

[Dwight Gruber]

Tom,

I've been going through back issues of Automag, and read some comments that laquer-stik-ing (or white filling markings by other means) can obscure evidence of engraved markings which ought not to be. Has this come up for you, have you dealt with the problem of removing the 'whitening' on someone else's Luger?

--Dwight

[Tim]

Tom,
Thank you. Very well done.

John Sabato,
Any way to make this a printable format (for the computer illiterates among us!)?

Tim

[Edward Tinker]

Tim, which part, all or Tom's reply?

Anyway, you can print all of it or you can take your mouse, hold down the left mouse at where you wanted copied, highlight it all, then right click and copy, then paste it into Word or wordpad, then print.

ed

[John Sabato]

Tim,

Ed's instruction couldn't be much simpler... and they work...

Thanks Ed.