[Guest]

Hello all, I have just purchased my first Luger, and would be glad to get any information on this gun that I can. It is dated 1936 on the top just behind the barrel, and has S/42 further below that on the cocking mechanism. It has seriel number 201 on the left side, and all small parts have 01 on them throughout the gun. There is a lower case g below 201 in front and above the trigger. The barrel has a crown and an N then the number 753 underneath. The magazine is blued with what looks like an aluminum base with the number 201 stamped on the bottom with a 1 stamped above it. The left side of the magazine has a 2/1001 stamped on it just above the aluminum base. The front of the grip frame has S XVIII then what looks like a Japanese MUM design or a starburst design stamped.The right side of the receiver has three eagles stamped in a row with what looks like the number 63 under the first two. The gun must have been reblued at sometime because there is no strawing on any small parts, and the finish is matte. Thanks for any help.

 

[Edward Tinker]

Mark, welcome to the forum. Pictures of it would help very much, but my gut feeling is that it is a east german import.

Your gun was orginally made in 1936, and S/42 is the code name for Mauser.

There were approx., 89,500 made in 1936 from serial number 5000f to 4500p, so yours was around the 1500th one made that year.

The magazine having the 2/1001 is a post-war magazine, used by the east germans.

Ed

 

[pipeman45]

Please, post some pic's.

 

[keoki7]

Grasshopper, you have a DDR Volkspolizei pistol with the VOPO unit number and East German "daisey" on the grip strap.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the help, I will try to post some pics as soon as I get some pictures.

 

[RockinWR]

Mark,
* You do not mention whether your pistol has importer marks. Have you detected any?
* The "C/N over 753" mark on the barrel indicates a new barrel was installed July, 1953. It was proof fired after which it received this C/N commercial "proof with nitro (smokeless) powder" mark. This post war proof is similar to the wartime C/N; but, the form of the crown differs subtlely as well. Possibly the pistol was refurbish/reblued at this time.
* Pictures of the grip strap marking would be helpful in pinning down the exact meaning of this. As George states, the "Mum" could easily be a "daisy"(DDR) or it could be a Berlin "Rosette"(West German). In either case, I believe it is a form of a post war Police mark. The "S XVIII" would be the Unit ID & number & is similar to some West German grip marks noted on P.38's. These are described in Warren Buxton's The P.38 Pistol, Vol.III, Pg.43. Possible Dieter, Martin, or another one of our German resident experts can ID this more definitively.
* The "2/1001" marked mag came from the former wartime Haenel plant in Suhl, Germany after it was taken over in the post war and re-named the VEB Ernst Thälmann Werke by the East Germans.
* Trust this helps.

 

[Guest]

RockinWR I can't find any import marks on the gun. Thanks for the info. Does anyone know anything more about that unit id. Can you tell where this gun was issued by that id code?

 

[keoki7]

grasshopper, I have one marked "S XVII" with the daisy. Like yours, it has two matched East German magazines numbered "1" &"2". Mine has a very faint import mark on the right rail. I bought it back in '86 in a pawn shop. Perhaps one of the German members knows something of the DDR police marking.