Show off your Wartime guns...

And sorry about posting the rifle pics, I didn't quite follow the OP's original intent ... sorry :o .


Jad0110 -

That Luger appears to have military markings, meaning it's unlikely it was manufactured in 1920. Is the chamber marked?
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It does have very faint military markings. They are in fair to poor condition, not like some of the nicer S/42s I've seen that had much sharper markings.

Roughly where on the chamber would it be marked?

It was originally made in 1920, but it was reworked by the Nazis at some point, I'm guessing sometime in the in the mid to late 1930s. Still, all the serial numbers I noted match, save for one ... it may have been the cross pin holding the toggle mechanism in place, but I'm having trouble remembering at the moment.


 
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Stevie - Ray -

That Luger appears to maybe be nickel plated? (hopefully not)
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It was hard chromed after the war, as was a general practice for so many.:( Appears to have a decorative chrome applied as well, but the process wasn't explained fully to me by the member of the Greatest Generation that gave it to me, only that it was "hard chromed." Chroming nearly eliminated collector value, but it doesn't matter to me as I would never sell it.
 
jad0110 -

It's the 1920 chamber marking I was asking about, very interesting. I need to do some more research on it, presumably this is a military gun that was finished after the conclusion of the war.

Stevie - Ray -

Too bad about the chrome, but as you say it was likely done long ago when these guns were very common. I'm looking for a nice original unit marked DWM, preferably before 1915.
 
jad0110 -

This thread at lugerforum.com has an interesting discussion on the 1920 and 1921 chamber marked Lugers (not the double dated ones, only one date). You may have to join in order to see it.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=32406

Here's the essence:

It is a police Luger. I have S.W.I. 764. with serial number 87156. This indicates hat it was the property of the Schutzpolizei (Schupo) command in Frankfurt am Main in the Wiesbaden Administrative District, weapon number 764. Yours is weapon number 651. This pistol is one of the anomalous 1921 dated DWM’s with a five-digit serial number. They are a cross between military and commercial models that DWM apparently put together about the time that their military production was shut down by the IMKK (Interallied Military Control Commission). The IMKK was a commission of victorious allies that was formed to insure that military and police activities conformed to the Treaty of Versailles. (The above information was supplied by Don Maus, author of History Writ in Steel).

The 1920 and 1921 marked pistols were made for the Weimar Reichswehr, with 8,000 to 10,000 produced. Five-digit serial number pistols were interspersed within these, with S/N between 85473 to 89572. Estimated army and police production of five-digit 1921 marked pistols is 1,100, with most being police procurement (Weimar Lugers, page 13).
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I'd be interested in your pistol's serial # as well as any unit markings. The serial number on the gun being discussed in that thread started off as a 4-digit military but had an "8" prefix added to make it appear to be a commercial Luger.
 
spacecoast,

Thank you for all the assistance. I'll check out the link sometime over the holiday.

The s/n is 9229a, where the a looks more like an @ symbol.

Here are some photos.


This one is of the right side of the receiver (the side without the safety and take down lever). There are 3 markings, all faint, especially the 3rd one on the far left:








Here is a close up of the two clearer markings (center and right markings above):





And the VERY faint marking on the left (you can see the center marking on the right side of the pic):





Here is the s/n and another set of markings on the underside of the barrel, just forward the upper receiver:





 
Edit: I apologize for the rifle pictures in the handgun section.













All matching. Sorry, the firing pin picture is a bit hard to see.
My father bought a tear-down home a few years ago and we found this hiding in the rafters.
 
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