Luger, total number

[tugbrass1]

What is the total number of Lugers made before 1945? All lugers made in all countries.

[Edward Tinker]

this has been brought up before, a search would probably show several answers

these are rough numbers from the top of my head:

WW1 about 1.5 million
WW2 about 1 million
commercial production around 200 thousand
Simson <12,000
Krieghoff <14,000
Swiss not sure, I think it says in Simson Lugers around 350 thousand

[tugbrass1]

Thanks Edward,
I added up the production figures that you were kind enough to list and arrived at a count of 3,076,000 pistols. I hope that this total is close and that I didn't add sub totals on to sub totals. Does my total sound OK?

[CAP Black]

Looks like <3,076,000 to me. But close enough

[Edward Tinker]

THIS IS WHAT WE HAD IN SIMSON LUGERS

Production figures for all New Manufactured Lugers

(Military as well as commercial; but not including reworks)

Ø DWM- approx. 818,000 (Jan Still-- 743,000 military; 74,955 commercial)
Ø Erfurt- approx. 519,000 (Jan Still-- no commercial made; just P.08's and LP.08's)
Ø Simson- approx. 11,900 (Authors-- all military and police; no commercial made)
Ø Krieghoff- approx. 13,825 (Randall Gibson-- 12,200 Luftwaffe; 1,625 commercial)
Ø Mauser- approx. 943,500 (Jan Still- 900,000 military; 43,000 Commercial Banner)
Ø Swiss- 47,701 (Datig- from 1918 to 1947; 45,784 military and 1,917 commercial)
Additionally the following are sometimes (incorrectly) listed as manufacturers:
Ø Spandau Armory- There are about a dozen guns known; some apparently genuine, but not made from scratch at Spandau, as there was no tooling or inspection gauges there. Purpose of manufacture is unknown at this time and those examples of known guns are dated 1917 or 1918.
Ø Vickers- 6,000 guns assembled from parts made by DWM with the parts shipped to Vickers in England for the Dutch East Indies; in the years 1919 – 1922, (additional guns were made for the Dutch, but were not “Vickers” marked on the toggle). There were also about 35 guns assembled from surplus parts for promotional purposes.



Additional information on Swiss manufacturing:
Not in order of production, as they first bought the Luger, then made their own.
Ø DWM-made Lugers for the Swiss:
o M1900 - Military Issue - 5,000 Lugers
o M1900 - "A" suffix - ~ 100 Lugers
Ø M1906 Cross/Sunburst - Military Issue - 4,049 Lugers
o M1906 Cross/Shield - Military Issue - 6,164 Lugers
Ø Mauser-made Lugers for the Swiss:
o M1906 - Commercial Issue (with v suffix) - ~ approximately 100 Lugers
Ø Bern made Swiss Lugers:
o M1906 W+F ('24 Bern) - 17,873 Lugers
o M1929 W+F Bern - Military Issue - 27,940 Lugers
o M1929 W+F Bern - Commercial Issue - 1,917 Lugers

[tugbrass1]

Wow! Edward, you certainly provided a detailed picture about the total number of German Lugers produced before 1945. I have seen a few production figures from this facility or that plant, but I have never seen all of these figures gathered into one summary before. I very much appreciate the considerable effort that you made in this matter.
I am composing yet another document about about the elegant Luger. I wanted an approximate production figure to afford the reader of this report some idea about the popularity of one of the pistols that dominated the first half of the twentieth century.
Best Regards, Joe McHugh

[Arizona Slim]

I believe probably the one thing that most collectors of just about any collectable would like to know is the existing number (and condition) of the item they are interested in, if we apply the above information along with the following estimates as posted by Bill Lyon it seems we can at least get a ball park figure as to how many are left. Of course these numbers are estimates and do not take into account the loss due to natural causes such as flood, fire, those sold for parts etc. but these gentlemen are considered to be very knowledgeable and experts in the field of Lugers. Lon



"For what it's worth. I have put this on before. It was dreamed up many years ago by some of us Luger collectors. "35% lost in war, 20% destroyed after war, 10% other countries (Russia etc.), Of the 35% remaining 10% are matching and 95% or better. " Matching does not include mags. which would be a very low figure." Bill
__________________
Bill Lyon

[Douglas Jr.]

Ed,

Does this amount includes other foreign contracts?
For instance the Portuguese, Brazilian and Bulgarian Lugers (just to mention others than the Swiss)?

Douglas.

[Edward Tinker]

Originally Posted by Douglas Jr.

Ed,

Does this amount includes other foreign contracts?
For instance the Portuguese, Brazilian and Bulgarian Lugers (just to mention others than the Swiss)?

Douglas.

No, this was written before Joops book and Mauro/Vlims books. I would guess, what less than 200K, that would include commercial / american eagles, non-AE's, dutch, Portuguese, Brazilian, and police was 50K or so?

That sound right to you guys?