newbee with Bulgarian contract

[luigi]

Finally found my first luger pistol and this site was recommended as the place to go. I am not a "collector" but I wanted a "shooter" to take to the range. I believe this is a P08 DWM 'Bulgarian Contract' luger that is obviously a mixmaster and has been scrubbed/polished. You can barely see the outline of the Bulgarian crest on the toggle. 4 digit s/n 4433. There are holes for lanyard ring and safety is reversed. I ran about 40 rds of 9mm thru it at the range this morning, with barely a hickup. I have posted on a couple of site trying to find the year of mfg? If is it possible to estimate the year I would greatly appreciate it.

thank

[Lugerdoc]

Your frame and toggle assy appear to be from a M1908 Bulgarian contract. The receiver however would have originally been marked DWM on top of the chamber, not seriallized on the left side, but Bulgarian proofed on the right side. TH

[Dick Herman]

I have one of these, a Md 1908 Bulgarian Luger. Mine has been similarly sanitized. The only remaining markings are the serial numbers and the Cyrillic marking on the extractor. The frame and small parts are one set of serial numbers while the receiver and toggle train are another set. The barrel is not marked. In the proper light the shadow of the Bulgarian logo can be seen.

I bought mine as a shooter and have had excellent service. Years ago when I first acquired mine, Ralph Shattuck told me that these guns were sanitized by the Russians for sale and foreign aid around the world.

[Ron Wood]

Ralph was wrong...the Russians didn't do it...It was the good old USA. At the time these Bulgarian Lugers were being imported, Bulgaria was a Communist country so commerce with them was illegal. Importers removed "country of origin" markings to salvage the parts.

[lfid]

if the safety lever two digit serial does not match the frame / receiver last two digits I think it is likely the frame and receiver were renumbered as part of the scrubbing done at the time of importation

it is not unusual that a new barrel was installed when scrubbed

nice find and excellent for shooter !

these bulgarians have many potential battle experiences - lots of strife in that area before 1900-20

lots of info on web -ex:
http://www.landofborchardt.com/bulgarian.html

thanks for sharing pictures
Bill

[Sergio Natali]

Surely it has ben heavily refurbished, but I think it's somehow still visible he Bulgarian crest on the toggle, if I'm not wrong.

Sergio

[luigi]

Thanks guys!

I really appreciate your responses and your help. So the receiver was sanitized/scrubbed and could have been renumbered or it may be just a mismatched receiver and frame from a later DWM. Either way all the parts are in good working order and the pistol functions better than my expectations.

I bought a reproduction black holster from Numrich and am now on a quest to find Mec-gar magazines that are actually in stock!

It is refreshing to find a site where knowledgeable collectors do not "draw and quarter" new members on their first luger.

[luigi]

So would the year of mfg be 1908? ( or is there any way to know?)

[Thor]

Here is the top section of a 1908 I restored a few years back. Also a close up of the front toggle Lion Marking, too cool.

[Lugerdoc]

Thor, Beautiful restoration. One rarely sees these with all marking intack. I don't know if it was to disguise the country of origin, as mentioned by Ron w. above, but a friend who worked at Golden State Arms (Interarms West) in the 1950s, told me that these pistols arrived disassembled in 55 gal. drums full of cosmoline. His job as a teenager, was to clean & assemble them on Saturdays. His pay was his choice of one of them for his days work. TH

[John Sabato]

For those kind of wages, I would have stood in line as a teenager for that job. I guess the gun laws in The Republic of Kalifornia have changed a lot since then. Teenagers can't own handguns...

[lfid]

Thor,
that is a wonderful looking Bulgarian restoration !

for those of us who have the typical scrubbed example with the markings removed and contours/edges altered , can you make these into the same level of restoration ?

that would seem to require adding steel to the surfaces and then remachine and then remark same symbols in same places etc

thanks
Bill

[luigi]

Originally Posted by luigi

So would the year of mfg be 1908? ( or is there any way to know?)

?

[spacecoast]

Here are a couple pictures of my original 1908 Bulgarian, #993C. We've only been able to locate a total of 53 of these pistols out of the original 10,000 that are completely or largely intact (including book references such as Datig and Jones). These are being tracked at http://luger.gunboards.com/showthread.php?36871-1908-Bulgarian-census

I believe these pistols were manufactured in the 1910 to 1912 time period, and were heavily used in the 1912-13 Balkan Wars as well as WWI and WWII. Mine came through a Detroit gun shop in 1968 and I have the receipt from that sale. Fortunately none of the markings were removed and it was not parted out.

Thor - would you mind posting the serial number of your restored Bulgarian so I can add it to the list?

[Thor]

spacecoast, see your PMs

[spacecoast]

Got it yesterday Thor, thanks very much. I appreciate the help and yours (maybe better described as the one you restored) is on the list at

http://luger.gunboards.com/showthrea...lgarian-census