[M I Smith]

New here and just purchased a 1917 DWM that - based on my reading of other posts in this page - is a military "T S S" model. I believe the "T" is an underlined T. I have not disassembled the pistol yet, except to take the wooden grips off. I expected the grips to be marked 2191 like the numbering on the pistol but all I found was a single letter "P" on one grip. The letter suffix at the base of the barrel appears to be an "e." I'm astonished at the number of different stamps on the gun: single letter stamps hidden by the wooden grips for example. I will attempt to post pictures here. I'm especially curious about the eagle stamp on the front of the trigger guard. The magazine is not numbered but has a wooden base which seems right. The magazine does not seat properly because the action does not lock back when the magazine in is place, but it does lock open with a different (new) magazine in place. I got a holster with the pistol (tool is missing) and a short length of belt, both of which are stamped by a maker and a date. The holster is 1917 but I can't make out the maker at this point. The belt appears to be 1916 or "16" something and a maker mark.

I'm excited by my new purchase, of course and especially happy to have a chance to put this question out to folks who've been at this much longer than I have. This 1917 will make a nice companion to an AC43 P38 I've had since the mid-1980s. Never actually thought I'd own a Luger, but it's happened!

 

[Deutschland]

I'm no expert on Lugers but what I can tell you is that the Eagle stamp on the front of the trigger guard is a fairly rare Prussian Eagle.

 

[Douglas_Jr]

Welcome to the club!
The worst is yet to come: it is impossible to have only one Luger.
Yours looks like a good one to start with. I like old soldiers and this one has just the right amount of patina expected for a 98 years old gun.
I don't have my books on hand now, but I agree that the Prussian Eagle on the trigger guard is very uncommon to see in a DWM 1917.
Congratulations.
Douglas.

 

[lugienewbie]

Here is a closeup picture of a luger with the Prussian Eagle stamp from Central Powers Pistols. They were marks to indicate government property. An only one 1917 was reported in the book with such a stamp.

 

[mrerick]

Hi Michael, and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your new Luger.

Please re-post your pictures with more size and detail. You can't see the detail in resized pictures that small. Keep them about 1024 pixels across as JPEG or PNG files.

The majority of small marks you'll find inside the Luger were manufacturing inspection marks applied as parts passed inspection during the production process. In this era, the inspectors associated with departments had their own individual stamps.

From what I can make out, your Luger is in good condition and probably in original finish. I believe that there should be "halos" around the serial number digits stamped on the barrel near the base.

it's possible to have your magazine rebuilt. Contact G.T. on this board (Gerald Tomak). Don't attempt to disassemble it yourself. It really does take special tools to get it right, plus the skill someone like Gerald has. Normally the base on a DWM military magazine would be numbered, so this one might be a later commercial replacement.

Marc

 

[M I Smith]

What a great group of responses. Thank you all. I'll get some better images asap. There appear to be two of the Prussian eagles on the pistol: one on the front of the trigger guard and one on the top side of the barrel, slightly off centerline to the right.

Yes, I'm bitten and the missus is already giving me the stink-eye! I have a 1942 Walther P38 (AC43) with mismatched grips that I bought from someone in my unit in the 1980s for about 300 bucks. Somehow, I think this Luger may have a more interesting pedigree.

It seems clear that I need to obtain a good set of reference books. Do you all have any suggestions for the Luger Library?

 

[lugienewbie]

I have two excellent books that I go to all the time. They have become a collectible item themselves. You might post a WTB and see if any forum members have one.

For Imperial era: Central Powers Pistols by Jan Stills is available from Amazon for $130 there are only a few left: http://www.amazon.com/Central-Pistols-Germany-Austria-hungary-Bulgaria/dp/B002R21GKW

For 1930's and WWII era: The Mauser Parabellum by Don Hallock and Joop van de Kant for $350 again only a few left: http://www.amazon.com/Parabellum-19...6941196&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mauser+parabellum

-Brad

 

[M I Smith]

Thank you all, again, for your input and for the book recommendations. I haven't been in a position to take better photos of the markings but in the meantime I did have a closer look at the holster and identified the maker as C. Prose, Berlin, 1917, which is a maker I've seen spoken of here and elsewhere on the net. Seems that maker also made equipment for World War II. There is also a small length of leather belt that appears to have a 1916 date on it. This piece is in pretty bad shape and I can't make out the maker's stamp on it. Does anyone know what that piece might be for? It seems too small to be a waste belt; perhaps a shoulder belt of some kind.

In researching the discussions of the so-called Prussian Eagle here on this site, the last run down I have indicates that only one Luger from 1917 had previously been identified as having that stamp. Can anyone tell me if that number has been revised? Also, is there somewhere on this site that I should post the specific information about this pistol so that it can be added to a known listing of dates, numbers and so forth?

 

[Pete E.]

The authors of the Mauser Parabellum book sell them direct as well.

Their site shows $ 125 for the standard edition, but that may not be current. I heard from another Member in the past week that the price for the standard edition is more, now.

http://www.the-mauser-parabellum.com/book orders.htm