[Douglas_Jr]

Hi folks,

As I had promised to my mom, I was a good boy during this year and she allow me to write to Santa to ask the present that I REALLY wanted. Well, on the Xmas morning when I woke up and I run to the Tannenbaum, I found my present there, and my wish finally comes true: it was there.....

Ok, folks, Xmas tales apart, last week, short before the holidays, a dream of mine (since I was gun-fanatic kid, I mean, around 12...) finally came true. After a long wait and search I finally buy a original, matching and beautiful Navy Luger!

My Luger ( is what John Walter and Joachim Görtz call in his book ("The Navy Luger", HandGun Press, 1988, p.54) "Second Issue": no grip safety, adjustable sight (100-200m), long frame, 6" barrel, no date over the chamber.

According the same authors (sorry Mr. Still I don´t have your Book on Imperial Lugers...), those were made between 1914-1916 and its serial numbers are continuous after the First Issue (those with grip safety) and mine has serial number "25xx b". The Imperial Navy proof are stamped on the left side of the receicer (two crowned "M", which is not visible in the pictures).

The authors´ estimation about the production of this Issue is around 8,000 guns. Later guns (made between 1916 and 1918) has the short frame (same as the Army P08), are dated and has slightly diferent marks. Besides that mine is marked in its rear grip "W.K. 10232", - "Werft-Kiel 10232" ("Kiel Shipyards gun # 10232").

This particular gun shows its age with a beautiful greyish tone, but it has NO rust/pitting at all. The only exception is the area below the wooden grips, which is expected (mainly if you remember that this weapon saw service on board or in "salty" areas).

How I got it? Well this is another story, that I will tell you after the pictures... (BTW: sorry for the photos - which were made in an attempt to make a decent wallpaper -, but I took them in a hurry while a friend visited me with his digital camera. I will provide better ones later.)

Douglas.

 

[Douglas_Jr]

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[Douglas_Jr]

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[Douglas_Jr]

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[Douglas_Jr]

Well,

Hope you all have enjoyed the pictures. But let me tell the story behind my Luger...
Where I live was a fairly common destiny for lots of German imigrants who left the Europe right after the WWI, and many of their descendants live here up today.

A month or so ago, a friend of mine told me about an old gentleman who is his neighbour, and whose great-grandfather had saw service in the German Armed forces during thw WWI. Better: he heard that this old gentleman still had "some stuff" from his great-grandfather. So, it was surprisingly easy to make an apointment with him.

After being introduced by my friend as "a serious militaria collector" (he was exaggerating...), and some cups of cofee, he started to talk that he was looking for someone who could "take care" of his things, since he had no one interested in doing so in his family. Of course I volunteered myself to do it.

The he left the room, just to return some minutes later wit a beautiful wooden case. He opened the box and there she was: a Navy Luger, with this loading tool (marked to the Imperial Navy), a spare magazine (no matching, but who cares?) and the Militarpass of his ancestor. No import marks, of course. You all can figured out the rest of story.

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He told me that his great-grandfather had brought the gun with him right after his discharge after the Armistice - remember that the Germany was in chaos, specially the mutined Navy - and it was kept in his family since then. Altough I can not stablish a definitive proof that this gun was really from this sailor, the story is fairly good:

The Militarpass shows info that this man was in the "3. Kompanie - I Werft-Division", that was an unit that regularly received Lugers during the war (see the above mentioned book, p. 67-112). This unit was compound by deck and engine-room personal (lower deck), and he was a NCO who served as master stoker, or something like that. He was in the reserve in 1914 (last stamps on his book) but according his great-grandson, he was recalled to the service at the outbreak of the war. The medals and the cap tally did not come along with this rig but they surely served very well for the photographic purpose.

I must say that I paid a very good amount of money, not because its rarity but mostly for its "emotional" value and I respected that. Besides that, it was a dream that I owned since I started to read about Lugers.

Hope you had enjoyed.

Best to all,

Douglas.


The Navy Luger in use:

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[Jan C Still]

Douglas
Thanks for a very interesting story and presentation.

You report the serial number as "2.5xx b". Is the "." a typo?

Jan

 

[Douglas_Jr]

Mr. Still,

My mistake. The dot (".") is a typo error. I edit the message to supress that.

Douglas.

 

[Guest]

Douglas: It looks nice! Somebody paid a lot for that Luger....Oh well. Jim

 

[drbuster]

With the long frame and unrelieved sear bar, I believe this Navy is referred to as a model 1908 Navy. Very nice piece and a great story. I bet there are many potential "finds" yet to be realized in South America. Good hunting, Douglas.

 

[Douglas_Jr]

Thanks for your comments!
It was a great find indeed. I´m still enjoying this baby.
All the best,

Douglas.