[Jan C Still]

FL SELBSTLADER, SN 26162, ARMY ACCEPTED, ERSATZ MACHINE GUN COMPANY MARKED
This pistol arrived yesterday. It was purchased from Auction Arms(6248236) with the help of John James who alerted me to the auction and Garfield who did the bidding for me after I found my password inoperable shortly before the Auction ended. Many thanks to both.
Details of the Fl Selbstlader (also called Langehan) are covered in the post below.
FL SELBSTLADER, SN 55223, ARMY ACCEPTED Jan C Still http://www.gunboards.com/luger/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2587



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Figure 1. Left side, Langehan, serial number 26162. German Army accepted and E.M.G.K. unit stamped.


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Figure 2. Right side, Langehan, serial number 26162.


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Figure 3. Details right side manufacture hallmark, serial number and C/N proofs. F.L. SELBSTLADER / D.R.G.M. 626623-633251. Three C/N proofs and 26162 serial number.


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Figure 4. Left side, details of C/scriptic letter Army acceptance stamp.


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Figure 5. Front grip strap of Langehan, serial number 26162. The unit marking: 2.E.M.G.K.18.A.K. signifies: 2.Ersatz Maschinengewehr-Kompagnie, 18. Armeekorps.
Ersatz or supplemental Machine Gun Companies were attached to Army Corps for training purposes and as a replacement pool. In battles where machine gun unit causalities were high; the ersatz machine gun companies were sometimes thrown into battles that required additional firepower.


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Figure 6. Western Front machine gun crew under British attack.

 

[Fritz]

Jan,
my congratulations to your last find and to your supporting friends.

You lucky man, to find a unit marked and Imperial accepted FL Selbstlader in this shape is very unusual.

Fritz

 

[Jan C Still]

Fritz
I was very Lucky. Any World War I non-Luger Imperial German unit marked pistol is rare and very difficult to find. When I saw the Auction Arms(6248236)photograph of the pistol it looked slightly pitted and the unit stamping was only mentioned in a note. The dealer did not know the meaning of the letters and numbers on the front strap! I hoped that other Imperial collectors would not notice the note. As the price only went to $305, I assume that the note was missed by most. When the pistol arrived in the mail, I was very pleased that it was in much better condition than the Auction Arms photograph revealed. Many thanks to my friends Huggiebear and Garfield.
Jan

 

[sauerfan]

Jan,

congratulations for this rare and fine pistol! I guess, the Langenhan is one of the underestimated German pistols. At the time of its production, the Langenhan must have had a good reputation. Even from the German colony Tsingtau in China, requests were sent to the company Fr. Langenhan in Zella-Sankt Blasii for price lists. Shown here is a postcard dated July 07, 1910 of Oberleutnant Behrens of the third Seebataillon in Tsingtau to Fr. Langenhan asking for delivery of a price list for Langenhan's (target?) pistols. A quaint fact: the postcard was sent via Siberia (surface mail, not sea mail) and first Lieutenant Behrens asked for shipping the price list via Siberia also.

Regards

Martin

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