German Military testing of 7.65mm Lugers

[stallturn]

In Kenyons â??Lugers at Randomâ??, he states with regard to the 1908 Commercial/Military Luger â?? â??Manufactured by DWM for Military test/acceptance by the German armed forcesâ??.

Does anyone have any additional information about these â??testsâ??? Might some of these Lugers have been re-barrelled in 7.65mm by the military as late as 1913-14?

I have been told that the German Army did initially carry out some trials with 7.65mm Lugers, but all of these were fitted with a grip safety. I assume this was much earlier with the 120mm barrel M1900 version.

Is it possible that military testing of 7.65mm Lugers was taking place right up until the beginning of World War 1?

[Ron Wood]

It is exremely unlikely that any tests after 1902 were carried out by the military in 7.65mm. The increased caliber of 9mm was standardized for military weapons and the ammunition was in the supply system. Going back to 7.65mm would have little merit.

The tests ca. 1902 were conducted with a small lot of 1900 pattern Lugers with commercial range serial numbers and a variety of barrel configurations. These are usually referred to as the "Danzig Test" series because of the Crown/D proof on the left receiver, although it is more likely that this is an inspectors mark rather than the Danzig crest.