1917 German Luger

[BridgeTooFar]

Hello all. This is my first post, but I've been reading this forum for a while now.

I have a German Luger which my grandfather has now given me. He claimed that my great grandfather took it off of a German in WWII (not sure if that's true, but that's the story, anyway).

I will attach high res pictures, but the markings I can see are "1917" just behind the rear sight and in front of the ejection port; "8008" on the left side of the upper portion above the trigger/trigger guard; "8008" on the underside of the barrel with a script "a" below that and "8,83" below that (towards the trigger guard); "08" is printed all over the gun in various places; "DWM" in very fancy looking script on the top of the receiver; some funky looking Cyrillic looking characters on the right side of the receiver just above the trigger/ trigger guard).

It has a long looking barrel (probably about 9" or so long).

I'd just like some more information on this gun. I have a leather holster for it as well, but I'm not sure if it's original or not (it does not have a flap/cover like some I've seen that are original Luger holsters, but it does seem to be made to fit this particular gun/model).

Any information anyone might have about this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Beerme]

its an artillery luger
made by DWM(German Weapons and Munitions Works)
the barrel is 8 inches
serial numbers all seem to be matching.

can you take a picture of the markings on the right hand side of it, really close and clear pics
they may be proof marks they may be something else cant tell in those pics

also take one of the safety so i can see what that is on it

 

[BridgeTooFar]

Thanks for all the information that you've already given me.

There is no number that I can see before the "a".

I've tried to attach close-up pictures of the safety and right side markings. Hopefully they're clear enough as these are about the best ones I could get.

Thanks again.

 

[Jim Watson]

I think that 8008 a is the serial number, the standard was four digits and a letter after the first 9999 guns produced in the year.

8.83 is the bore measurement.

Looks like a very nice all matching Lange Pistole '08 = artillery model. I read that they were actually issued to the sergeant in charge of a machine gun team who would shoot it in the general direction he wanted the MG set up for, or pop off a few rounds towards the Frenchies while they fed in a new belt.

Dollar value is substantial, if it is not messed with, altered, refinished, overcleaned, etc.

 

[Beerme]

8008 is the serial number
the 8.83 is the bore measurement?
the way he described it a,8,83 seems like a regiment marking but hell i could be wrong

 

[BridgeTooFar]

Perhaps a bit of clarification as to the arrangement of those under-barrel markings -

Essentially, this is what they look like:

[muzzle end]

8008
a


8,83

[trigger/receiver end]

I hope that helps.

Edit: The formatting seems to be messing up how I'd formatted it. The "a" is centered directly under the "8008"; the "8,83" is centered under the "a" approximately 3/8" closer to the receiver/trigger guard.

 

[Beerme]

then yes its the bore measurement

 

[Jim Watson]

And the serial number is 8008 a
The little letter really does matter.

 

[medalguy]

And DO NOT clean it other than with an oily rag, DO NOT try to refinish the wood or any of the metal. It's a great piece. I have one very similar to yours but with a mismatched magazine and it's a great piece of history and fun to shoot occasionally. Mostly it's a safe queen.

 

[Jim K]

The markings on the right side are probably the German proof marks. There should be three: crown over B, crown/U and crown/G, the so-called "bug" proofs. The crown/B is the proof for a gun tested in the finished condition. The crown/G is the proof for rifled barrels. The crown/U is the definitive (final) proof. These are commercial proofs, not military proofs, even though the pistol was made on a military contract.

Just FWIW, the serial numbering system employed used the same numbers for each maker, used suffixes, and rolled over each year. So a Luger pistol must be identified not only by the serial number, but also by its suffix, the date, and the manufacturer. The full description should read "Pistol 08, Serial Number 1234b, dated 1914, made by DWM."

Jim