heckinohio,
You need to brush up on the details of what you are considering to purchase before committing to a "price [that] is not for the faint hearted". The 1903 French is a rare "transition" Luger having characteristics of the old and new models. The breechblock is of the improved style having the new type extractor, therefore it is marked CHARGÉ in the same location that a standard Luger extractor is marked GELADEN or LOADED. The toggle knobs are flat rather than dished, but the right toggle knob retains the 1900 type three-piece toggle lock (rather than the one-piece type of the 1903/04 Navy model), and the checkering on the knobs is at 90 degrees rather than 60 degrees. Internally it still has the laminated flat mainspring rather than the subsequent 1906 new model coil mainspring.
As Jan and Garfield have pointed out, if the offer to sell is genuine, you should not "have to buy the guns to get you any more information than I already posted". Big bucks demand full disclosure. At an absolute minimum, the serial numbers of the pieces must be posted to determine if they even fall in the right range.
1903R.JPG
You need to brush up on the details of what you are considering to purchase before committing to a "price [that] is not for the faint hearted". The 1903 French is a rare "transition" Luger having characteristics of the old and new models. The breechblock is of the improved style having the new type extractor, therefore it is marked CHARGÉ in the same location that a standard Luger extractor is marked GELADEN or LOADED. The toggle knobs are flat rather than dished, but the right toggle knob retains the 1900 type three-piece toggle lock (rather than the one-piece type of the 1903/04 Navy model), and the checkering on the knobs is at 90 degrees rather than 60 degrees. Internally it still has the laminated flat mainspring rather than the subsequent 1906 new model coil mainspring.
As Jan and Garfield have pointed out, if the offer to sell is genuine, you should not "have to buy the guns to get you any more information than I already posted". Big bucks demand full disclosure. At an absolute minimum, the serial numbers of the pieces must be posted to determine if they even fall in the right range.
1903R.JPG
