1900 AE Front Silver bead Front Sight

[Thor]

I have a 1900 AE Luger in for restoration. It has a bead sight, perhaps a Marble type but it does not appear to be the gold bead like I am used to, the bead appears silver like it MIGHT be a type of solder. The rub comes in that the front blade is supposed to be fire blued but I am worried that the bead will go away if the metal reaches the temperature to fire blue the sight. Is this an original sight? If so, I wonder how they were made orginally. The sight is the common type of notch sight that is found on most 4 & 3/4" Luger barrels and the silver is in the notch. Could this be a not factory sight that someone simply added the solder to? Thanks!

[Dwight Gruber]

Thor,

I just examined the front sights on three 1900 AE Lugers, here are some observations.

The sight you picture has a narrower blade than the sights I examined, which have a wide "V" shape and are correspondingly wider at the base. On the sight you show the rear face is cuved upward; the sight blades I examined have a straight angle, and the "notch" face is almost vertical.


Here is a picture of the front sight on 1900 AE #2104. Although the sight blade sides have been filed, the side profile is unaltered. Look for an alignment mark--a "witness mark"--stamped on the right top flat of the sight base, across the juncture of the base and the sight blade dovetail, as an indication of an original sight.

I'd say the sight you present is an aftermarket addition, although a pretty nifty looking item.

As to how it was made, from the look of it, if I were making this I might drill a hole vertically (or at a slight angle) into the sight blade, insert and solder a silver wire into place, and shape it to suit.

Hope this proves helpful.

--Dwight

[Ron Wood]

Dwight,
That was precisely my take on the sight construction. A homebrew modification of a later sight blade with length of silver wire silver soldered into a hole drilled in the sight blade. Another possibility is that the wire was laid into a channel filed into the original sight blade and the rear blued portion soldered on top. I believe you can see a bit of silver solder emerging from the bottom rear of the blade. For restoration I would think it would be best to replace the blade with an original type. As it is, the only option is to rust blue the blade, for as Thor has noted, fire blueing would destroy the silver insert.

[Aaron]

Here's my 1900 AE Luger serial 5658 with original period holster. Front sight has brass and silver insert. Comments?

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[Ron Wood]

Nice rig! The sight is a commercial replacement sight of the period, most likely Marble's. I wouldn't swap it out since it is period correct for your Luger.

[Aaron]

Thanks, Ron. The sight is so nicely made that I couldn't believe it was a hand made modification. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

[Dwight Gruber]

Aaron,

-Very- nice pistol and holster. For my survey--is the grip safety wide or narrow? where is the takedown lever numbered? is there a GERMANY stamp on the gun anywhere? I was able to get the rest of the info from your photo, thanks much in advance for the additonal info.

For the sake of pure curiosity, who is the holster maker?

--Dwight

[mauro]

Hello to all,
Please find hereafter some photos of my Marble sight. Usually these sights were stamped on the bottom with a number that identifies the sight. For example my Marble sight is the number 27 and it was made for Luger pistols.
The same pictures with an accurate description of these sights are available at page 65 of my book.
I hope this helps.
Ciao
Mauro

[Ron Smith]

It has been my experience to find Marbles "Gold Bead" sights, most often on .30 cal. Lugers such as 1920 Commercials. I believe it is a testament to the accuracy of the 7.65 cartridge.

After the owners discovered how reliable and accurate it truly is. They would replace the front sight to enhance or fine tune, the inherent accuracy.

Ron

[Lugerdoc]

Thor, I agree with Ron Wood's comments. I have observed both Marbles & Sheerd (marked on bottom) front sight blades as replacement on these early lugers. The one that is in your photo is an odd ball that I've never seen before and probably homemade from a PO8 blade. I do have unused Swiss M1900 or 06 type 7.65mm front sights available in the white @$25 or fireblued @$30. TH

[Thor]

Thanks very much to all for your excellent research and information. I really appreciate it!!! I have forwarded the info to the owner and we will see what he decideds.

[Vlim]

Hi,

Another, rather late, addition.

This illustration was found in the 1922 edition of 'Moderne Faustfeuerwaffen und ihr gebrauch' by Gerhard Bock.

It shows the Lyman-made bead sight for the Luger.

[Aaron]

Dwight, the information you requested is as follows: Grip safety is narrow type, takedown lever is numbered on the bottom edge, and "GERMANY" is stamped just below the serial number.

[Aaron]

Mauro, thanks for calling my attention to page 65 of your book. I don't know how I missed it before.

[trigger643]

Thor,

I believe my 1900 AE had bead front site as well, isn't it a marbles?

Glen

[Dwight Gruber]

Aaron, thanks much.

--Dwight