New Member

[Akabaron]

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new guy needing help. Recently bought this luger and know nothing about it. Is it commercial? anyone know what year? I do know it looks like the barrel has been changed due to different serial number. Any history on this firearm would be grateful. I know nothing about lugers. Thanks

[HerrKaiser]

It looks like it was an artillery Luger at some point and went into police service. Maybe the date was removed at that time, as it has a lot of military style numbering and military proofs on the upper receiver. Makes for an interesting shooter if nothing else. Welcome to the forum!

[Edward Tinker]

Welcome to the forum - it is interesting that the receiver had the date scrubbed off, because it started as a military pistol. After the war it went into police service, you can tell by the sear safety and the magazine safety (see the FAQ for further info on those).

[Akabaron]

Im suprised you both can tell by looking at it. I have no clue. Would like to know what the year was born in and everything else people can tell me by the pics. I havent shot it yet but the guy i got it from said he shot it probably 30 yrs ago. What would something like this go for price wise? Thanks for the replies so far.

[HerrKaiser]

As a shooter that shoots, $900-$1100 or so. I can tell you the upper receiver was born sometime between 1913 and 1918 or so. Anything beyond that would be a complete guess due to the re-work scrubbing a date off.

[Akabaron]

Any reason they would remove the date?

[HerrKaiser]

Re-work into a commercial style gun post-war, part of the conversion process into a police gun maybe? If it were not for the mismatched barrel as a value killer, this would be an interesting gun in several respects. And to pre-emptively answer, no, a rework would not place a mismatched barrel on it this way.

[Akabaron]

What does the 883 number on the barrel mean? My artillery had 882 on it. Are they both 9mm luger? Thanks

[ithacaartist]

8,83 is the land-to-land measurement of the bore.

I notice that the barrel extension seems to have been heated, likely when the barrel was changed. Since this was born an Artillery model, the rear toggle link was also changed to this one, which has the rear sight,

[Doubs]

The receiver left the DWM factory as an Artillery Luger with an 8 inch barrel and tangent rear sight mounted on the barrel. The date that was scrubbed could have been any year between 1914 & 1918. Following the WW!, the conversion to a short barrel and scrubbed date took place at a company that reworked Lugers for the commercial market or possibly by Police facilities. There's no way to know for certain now.

The flat spring riveted to the hood is a sear safety with a pin that fits into a hole in the sear bar to prevent accidental firing if the upper assembly is removed. Without the sear safety, if there is a cartridge in the chamber, the sear bar can be pushed and fire the cartridge. That is a Police modification. At one time it was also fit with a magazine disconnect for Police use but the Police later had that feature removed.

Looking closely, IMO the only non-original parts on that Luger are the short barrel and the added rear sight and sear safety. Other than the barrel, all other parts are matching. The rear sight has been fixed to the rear toggle link which was smooth when it left the factory. It's possibly been silver soldered to the toggle link but I can't see it clearly enough to be certain. The notch in the rear sight appears to have been hand filed.

It's an interesting Luger with apparently quite a history.