Jan C. Still Lugerforums banner

The Last Krieghoff !

485 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  mhassoun 
#1 ·
The trial series (estimated production: 100-150 guns) of the New VOPO produced in 1953 (also called “The Last Krieghoff”) is likely produced using equipment from the former Krieghoff production facility in Suhl, which fell under the control of the VEB Ernst Thaelmann [1]. These “Lugers” came with and without the “N” prefix. (About half a dozen of each have been reported. Older threads in this forum include serial numbers.)

However, there are a number of differences between the 1953 VOPO and the earlier produced Krieghoff P.08 that make it difficult to confirm that the Krieghoff tooling was used to manufacture the 1953 VOPO [2].

According to Gortz & Sturgess [3, pp.894-805]: “Some refurbished parts were used, but the major parts, frame, toggles, barrel and many minor parts were new made, with very rough finishing, using the ex-Erfurt/Simson/Krieghoff production tooling. Various parts, such as the stripping latch and toggles also show obvious minor modifications of design or machining practice from the originals, demonstrating where there were gaps in the tooling and jigs available necessitating replacements to be made.”

Recently, the sn N1018 has surfaced which has the Krieghoff “gap” (shown below).
Rectangle Metal Bumper Fashion accessory Event


Among the other known Thaelmann manufactured VOPO, sn 72 exhibits a pronounced gap [2, p.323]. However, sn N1009 [2, p.311] and N1030 [2, p.325] do not exhibit the gap. In the case on sn N1009 the toggle train has been replaced by a byf-code toggle train. Could it be that the guns that exhibit the “gap” have used a machined Krieghoff toggle train? But others did not? An open question that adds to the mystery of this small batch of 1953 VOPOs.

For reference, below are examples of several HK Lugers exhibiting the pronounced “gap.” [Note: All correct HK lugers manufactured before 1945 had such “gap.”]
Camera accessory Cameras & optics Auto part Machine Engineering



References:
[1] The Parabellum is Back: 1945-2000, M. Baudino & G. Vlimmeren (2010).
[2] Police Lugers: German Police Lugers and their markings 1918-1958, E. Tinker & D. Gruber (2012).
[3] The Borchardt & Luger, Vol. II, J. Gortz & G. Sturgess (2010).
 
See less See more
2
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top