[J_10]

My father in law was recently diagnosed with cancer and has been going through a lot of old things and is starting to pass them down. He recently asked me to see what type of information I could find about what I believe is a 1917 DWM Luger. It was passed down to him from his uncle many years ago. Based on my research so far on this forum, I believe it is an army issue. I've attached some photos and am hoping that this community can help give me some more information on the gun that I can pass along to him. I've taken the recommended photos from the sticky thread. Most things seem to match up with what I would expect, but a few things don't.

1) The barrel doesn't have a serial number, but it does have what looks like a stamp of a crown with the letter N below it?
2) Under the serial number at the front of the gun, there appears to be a stamped "a", I'm not sure what that means.
3) If you look at the numbers next to the sight, it reads 00 instead of anything related to the serial number.
4) the wood based clip does not have any serial number.
5) there's an additional aluminum clip with some interesting stamping and a separate serial number reading 8663.

Any and all information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

 

[Spacecoast]

J_10 -

Thanks for your inquiry and welcome to the forum. The receiver and upper part of the pistol (a P.08 Luger) look pretty good - and all visible numbers appear to be matching. There are more numbered parts inside. The full serial number of the gun is "889a" (that's what the "a" is for). They would number the guns to 9999 without a suffix and then start with a suffix of "a" for the next 10,000, "b" for the next 10,000, etc. So it's the 10,889th Luger built by DWM in 1917 for the German military.

Someone will be along to correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that the gun has been rebarreled at some point, the "Crown N" symbol is that of a commercial gun. One of the magazines is an unnumbered commercial magazine and the other is a later (1930s/40s) aluminum bottom mag from a Mauser Luger with a serial of 8663u. That might have some decent value, I don't know the magazines that well from WWII.

The rebarreling probably prevents the pistol from having much collector value, but it's a nice looking Luger and likely worth $1K-2K with the magazines. I'm sure someone else will chime in with more info.

Mark

 

[Pistol]

Looks to be a 1917 military frame (maybe former artillery luger) with a mismatched commercial barrel with scrubbed numbers. And unfortunately a mismatched rear toggle.

The unmarked wood bottom (beech) mag has a DWM Crown proof. This is a spare artillery mag and not just a regular commercial mag. The aluminum bottom mag is for a later Mauser luger.

The luger being mismatched makes it relegated to the shooter category with value $800-$1000. The wood bottom mag would be $200-250 depending on condition. The Al bottom mag maybe $125-$150....depends on if someone needs that number.

 

[Doubs]

The Luger began as an Artillery model made by DWM in 1917. The barrel would have been 8" in length and the rear sight would have been mounted on the barrel. Following WW1 the barrel was replaced with a short barrel and required that the rear toggle be replaced so that it has a rear sight. The original Artillery rear toggle link would not have had a sight. The unnumbered but crown stamped magazine base shows that it's a military replacement mag for any Luger, not just an Artillery model.

It doesn't have a sear safety so it wasn't converted for police use. You don't mention caliber and many were converted to .30 Luger after WW1. The barrel should be about 95mm in length but could be 98mm. (Post-war Germany was limited to barrels less than 100mm) The Crown/N is a civilian proof stamp so the conversion was likely done by civilians and not the military. While the East Germans replaced a lot of Luger barrels marked with a Crown/N and often a date, the size and position of your C/N almost surely means it was done in the 1920's.

When recording your identification information, note the caliber, 889a and 1917. Keep your pictures for further proof.

 

[J_10]

Thank you Spacecoast, Pistol, and Doubs for all the great information about the pistol! Doubs, I think you may be right about it being converted to a .30 caliber, as it was stored along with a jar of .30 caliber bullets. I will make sure to have someone who knows more about guns than me verify.

 

[Geo99]

Here's how to tell if it is .30 cal or 9mm - drop a wooden pencil down the barrel. This link explains it -

How to tell if 30 Luger or 9mm Luger

This gets asked a lot, never occurred to me to just take pictures. The 'check' Take a normal sized, old fashioned pencil and drop it down the bore. If its fairly tight, its 30 Luger (aka 7.65mm Luger) - if it falls easily and there is plenty of room, its 9mm!!

www.lugerforums.com

 

[J_10]

Here's how to tell if it is .30 cal or 9mm - drop a wooden pencil down the barrel. This link explains it -

How to tell if 30 Luger or 9mm Luger

This gets asked a lot, never occurred to me to just take pictures. The 'check' Take a normal sized, old fashioned pencil and drop it down the bore. If its fairly tight, its 30 Luger (aka 7.65mm Luger) - if it falls easily and there is plenty of room, its 9mm!!

www.lugerforums.com

Thanks so much!