*1936 S/42 POLICE, sn 6584g, rig

POLICE, S/42 LUGER DATED 1936, SERIAL NUMBER 6584g, WITH ACCESSORIES.

Mauser manufactured military code Lugers for the police. These were marked and dated S/42-G, S/42-1936, S/42-1939, and byf-41. These all bore the police arsenal installed sear safety.

When Third Reich Lugers was published in 1988 only 32 such Lugers were reported for an estimated production of 1600. More recently it was reported in AUTO MAG (under a cottage industry alert) that a sear safety was added to over 100 military code Lugers producing counterfeit military code police Lugers. There are now more fakes in circulation than reported originals. I will stick to my original data base, as it was compiled prior to this large scale faking.

During 1936 Mauser produced approximately 89,500 Lugers in the 5000f to 4500p serial range for the German military (a very few went to the police). These bear a 1936 date, S/42 code and E(droop wing)/63 acceptance stamp. An estimated 200 were procured for the police and bear a sear safety. Four of these sear safety Lugers are reported in the 6000g serial range.

Figure 1. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Left slant view.

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Figure 2. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Top.

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Figure 3. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Right receiver and barrel, showing early test proof and E(droop wing)/63 acceptance stamps.

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Figure 4. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Serial number on the frame and barrel. Note the halo on the barrel serial number digits and 8.82 barrel gauge digits.

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Figure 5. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Full rig showing, police holster, police tool, and extra extruded chrome plated Haenel magazine.

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Figure 6. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Showing holster date, manufacturer, and police acceptance stamp.

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Figure 7. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Showing the matching extruded chrome plated Haenel magazine numbered 2 in the police style.

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Figure 8. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Showing the manufacturing hallmark on the spine of its matching magazine.

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Figure 9. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Showing the interior of the holster, police tool(numbered 9974) and number 3 extruded chrome plated Haenel magazine. This extra magazine bears serial number 6536.

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Figure 10. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Showing Eagle/F police tool numbered 9974 on opposite side. Typically these are faintly marked and in the white.

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Figure 11. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Showing the sear safety. It is held by a rivet at one end and on the opposite end bears a small pin that blocks the sear and prevents the discharge of a partly dissembled Luger. The sear safety was a police requirement introduced by Prussian State Police orders dated August 30, 1933. It was not a military requirement.

The rivets for sear safeties were made of steel (brass or aluminum was not used). Its half rounded head is not deformed and the rivet is in the white.

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Figure 12. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. The bottom of the sear safety rivet. The rivet hole is counter sunk on the bottom to accommodate the smashed lower end of the rivet.

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Figure 13. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. Showing the sear safety cut in the top of the side plate. Note that the cut is somewhat crude and in the white.

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Figure 14. Police S/42 code,1936 dated Luger, serial number 6584g. More details of the sear safety cut in the top of the side plate. The in the white character and somewhat crude workmanship of the sear safety installation indicates addition by a police arsenal (not the Mauser factory).

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Figure 15. These sear safety military code Lugers bear the police required sear safety, magazines numbered in the police style, and some are matched to police holsters (Still, Axis Pistols, 1989, page 211). They were issued to police units. It has not been established if they were issued to the rural or city police shown here or some other paramilitary police unit. They are one of the rarest Military Code Lugers.

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Jan C Still
Site Owner - Operator