[Luke]

I am aware of a 1908 Commercial-Army Luger in 7.65mm which appears to be a correct gun with the following oddity:

The gun is a 7.65mm and the barrel has a proper Imperial Eagle proof on the upper-right-rear area of the barrel . . . . but the barrel has no serial number.

"Imperial Lugers" makes note of one example of a 7.65mm 1908 Commercial-Army, and in a conversation with Jan I learned that the gun was, in fact, original and not rebarreled.

Does anyone know at which point in the production cycle the Imperial Eagle was applied to the barrel of Imperial Lugers? In other words, were the barrels proofed before installation to the receiver? I am wondering if this gun (the one without SN, not the gun in Jan's book) was rebarreled with a 7.65mm barrel which had already been proofed. Then, for some reason the barrel was never numbered.

Appreciate any thoughts you might have on this one.

Luke

 

[Ron Wood]

Luke,
I am also aware of this 1908 Commercial-Army Luger in 7.65mm. I find it very difficult to believe that this example and the one in Jan's book were not rebarreled. They were Army pistols, and it would seem highly unlikely that 7.65 Parabellum ammunition was in German military supply.

The existence of an Imperial proof on the barrel of these two weapons is a puzzle, as this also begs the question of what a military proof is doing on a non-standard caliber barrel.

I have no answers, so I hope someone can enlighten the both of us!

 

[Luke]

Does anyone know at which point in the production cycle the Imperial Eagle was applied to the barrel of Imperial Lugers? In other words, were the barrels proofed before installation to the receiver?