[Guest]

Greetings All, I have a Luger pistol brought back from WW2 by a local gentleman it is marked Erfurt on the toggle and the reciever is marked 1914/18, does this mean the gun was reworked or reissued after the war? It is serial #7872 and all nums match unfortunately the previous owners house caught fire in the 1970s and the pistol is severely damaged, even though damaged the owner couldnt bare to throw it out and hung on the wall of his business by a nail until he passed on in the early nineties whereupon I bought it from his family, any info anyone could give me on this particular model of Luger would be appreciated.
SMS

 

[taudelt]

SMS... The Blue Book suggests that Erfurt made about 25,000 in 1914. I have seen double dates where the second date is 1920 but I have never seen one like you discribe. Can you post some pictures???

 

[Guest]

Sorry I dont have a Cam, wish I could post pics, the date says 1914/18 I am assuming the second number refers to 1918 though it only has two digits, of course I could be wrong as I am far from a Luger pro.
SMS

 

[Dwight Gruber]

SMS,

The date marking on your Erfurt Luger is extremely uncommon--this makes the third or fourth known. It refers to a gun whose receiver was completed and dated during one year (1914, in your case) but not assembled into a pistol until the second year (1918). Keep your eye on this forum, I have a 1917/18 Erfurt, about which I will post a profile very soon.

If you can, find a friend with a camera whose help you can enlist in photographing and posting photos of this very important Luger.

I have a couple of specific questions about it. There should be four markings on the right receiver, inspectors marks and a proof mark. Is there a small crown-over-RC stamp above the leftmost mark? Is 7872 the full serial number, or is there a small script letter under the number on the frame front above the trigger guard?

Thanks for letting us all know about this gun.

--Dwight

 

[Edward Tinker]

From Gortz and Bryans; German Small Arms Markings

quote:<h5>Receivers from reserve stocks, where the year of manufacture does not correspond with the year of completion of the weapon, will receive a 2.1mm high correction for the year of completion behind the manufacturer-year in fractional form.
For example: 1909/13.

Receivers newly installed in troop-service weapons will receive this correction according to the manufacturing year of the old components.
For example: 1913/09.

Editorial note: It seems that this marking procedure was followed to the letter by the inspectors of the Erfurt rifle factory - or, alternatively, that the instruction was aimed specifically at this factory... </h5>

 

[drbuster]

Dear Taudelt. Don't know where the Blue Book got its production figures for the 1914 Erfurt. Our "Bible", Imperial Lugers of Jan Still, page 14, states that only 7000 were produced, supported by the reported serial numbers and suffixes. This is supposed to be the rarest of the production military Erfurts. Of course, the 1914/1918 variation is a horse of a very different color, as Dwight Gruber said.

 

[taudelt]

Ya learn something new all the time....

 

[Guest]

Dwight, Yes there are four markings on the right of the reciever and the first is a crown, under it could possibly be RC it is hard to tell due to the damage the pistol has suffered, the full serial # is 7872 there is no small letter that I can find, Im sure some of my friends have a cam I shall try to have it photographed but Im afraid seeing it would make Luger collectors sick as I said it was seriously damaged in a house fire and was hung upon a nail for twenty years afterwards, I appreciate all the info you have given me.
SMS

 

[Dwight Gruber]

SMS, thanks for the reply. The Crown/RC marking I'm talking about would actually be above the mark you describe, if I understand you correctly; perhaps an illustration will help:

And I wouldn't worry too much about making us Luger lovers sick, a willfully abused or neglected Luger is properly an item for disgust or anger, but while it might makeus sad I think we all uderstand tragic circumstances, and are looking forward to whatever photos you can manage.

--Dwight

 

[Guest]

Dwight, Yes there is a small marking above the first as in your illustration, I can see the crown but due to pitting I cannot tell if it is RC or something else, hope this is of help.
SMS

 

[Guest]

Gentlemen, here are photos of the luger, the date will prob. be hard to make out butits the best we could do,
sms

Download Attachment: Picture 3.jpg
5.93KB

Download Attachment: Picture 2.jpg
5.89KB

 

[Dwight Gruber]

SMS, thanks much for the photos and the info.

--Dwight

 

[Guest]

No Problem, Hope I didnt cause anyone to lose sleep seeing a P08 in the shape this one is in, at least its still a good paperweight huh?
SMS