The M1906 Russian Contract Controversy Strikes Again

[Imperial Arms]

Hi Albert! Hope you are doing well. Guess you are right, some people never learn. Why would the Bulgarians order a Luger with an obscure chamber marking when they already had both 1900 and 1906 model Lugers with a nice Bulgarian crest? Doesn't make much sense to me, but then I don't know why the Russians chose crossed rifles either.

P.S. If we are going to start up this old friendly discussion again, let's start a new thread and not hjack this one.

Hi Ron,

I wonder if amnesia is slowly creeping up on you since the past discussion on this controversial contract Luger. In regards to the different chamber emblem on the M1908 Bulgarian Infantry Officers Luger, the order was likely placed by Tsar Ferninard I who was the Chief or Honoury Guard of the 54th His Majesty the Tsar of Bulgaria's Minsk Infantry Regiment (54-i Pekhotnyi Minskii Ego Velichestva Tsarya Bolgarskago polk) which was part of the Russian 14th Infantry Division, 8th Army Corps, 1st Brigade with its headquarters in Kishinev till 15th October 1915. This connection and Bulgaria gaining its independence in October 1908 from the Ottoman Empire makes more sense than compared to a M1906 'Russian Luger' which has no strong meaning/explanation for the crossed rifles (Infantry insignia) on the chamber.

It has also been reported and observed that Bulgaria received a number of deliveries from DWM starting in 1903 with the M1900/03 Bulgarian Luger, and it is safe to say that the M1908 Infantry Officers Luger was probably a special order by the Tsar for some of his important officers which logically explains its different markings and caliber after 1906. So far, all the 'hot air' about the fake M1900, and the M1906 Russian contract is hearsay. In my opinion, the Russians would have had no reason to order a Luger for its national army with obscure crossed rifles on the chamber (plus with Bulgarian safety markings) which ironically has confused Luger experts for many, many years, and no one on the 'Russian side' can give a sensible explanation to this day for such an odd occurrence. This kind of mystery is similar to searching for answers for some illinesses - if a doctor or a scientist cannot give a cause for the illness, just leave the case open or give it an unknown.

By the way, based on some 'detective work' that I had conducted on a deluxe factory engraved M1849 Pocket Colt revolver that was found last year in France, an authority of the subject shared some information with me that the cased Gustave Young deluxe engraved Colt Dragoon revolver serial #12406 in the national Metropolitan Museum (having been offered $6 million before its donation to the museum in 1996) is not one of three presentation revolvers from Samuel Colt to the Sultan of Turkey around the outbreak of the Cremean War in 1853 as documented in one of Wilson's books on the subject of Engraved Colt revolvers. It appears that the truth gives a different sequence of events. Even past and present books written by various authors, including his holiness Geoff Sturgess, continue to make mistakes.

Albert