1917 DWM P08 Luger

Nice one Matt. I have that Luger magazine you gave me a while back, if you want it it's yours.

Very cool.

Nice looking Luger. Is it all matching? Looks like it.

The only one I have is a 1917 artillery model that is a combo of two pistols. It shoots nice but the long barrel is a bit cumbersome.

Bitrclngr

Glad to hear you got another Luger (and a fine looking one at that)!

Bitrclngr said:

The P08 Luger was one of the first handguns I ever owned. I learned how to shoot pistol in large part with my first one. Seven years ago I sold it because I needed money. In the last couple of years I started to miss my Luger so I decided I would find another. This last January I attended a local auction and won this 1917 DWM. The pistol shoots fantastically well and brings back good memory's of my first Luger.
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Very nice.

What you have there is a 1917/1920, "double date" Erfurt arsenal police rework of a DWM Artillery Model.

After WW1, the Germans were prohibited from having pistol barrels longer than 100mm (4"). As a result, the Artillery guns were rebarrelled to the shorter length, and the toggle replaced with one with the rear sight notch, since the original tangent sight got chucked along with the long barrel. The clearance cut on the top, front of your upper receiver is the giveaway there.

During police service, it was found that officers would sometimes attempt to dissassemble the gun with a round in the chamber, resulting in accidental discharge if the sideplate was removed. Thats were the riveted spring on top of the sideplate was added to prevent this.

The serial numbers were force-matched at the arsenal.

The unit markings on the front strap indicate it was issued to the Schutzpolizei, Breslau, 1st garrison- or Breslau State Police.

Interestingly, your left hand grip panel is relieved for the police conversion magazine safety as well, but the actual safety interlock is not fitted.

If only they could tell stories.....

From some of the info others have given, I’ll have to pull mine out and compare them. I have the brother (or maybe cousin) of your Luger. It’s the same, double date, 1917/1920 DWM.

Wyman

Thanks for posting photos of your luger and congratulatiosn on finding such a nice one. Most of the folks have given you good information and there is little to be added. However, it is not a converted artillery luger. Yes, there is a relief notch on the top of the frame that appears to be for the lang visier, but after sometime in early to mid 1917 all frames were manufactured with that cut. Thanks again for posting.

drk1 said:

Thanks for posting photos of your luger and congratulatiosn on finding such a nice one. Most of the folks have given you good information and there is little to be added. However, it is not a converted artillery luger. Yes, there is a relief notch on the top of the frame that appears to be for the lang visier, but after sometime in early to mid 1917 all frames were manufactured with that cut. Thanks again for posting.

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Well, not all post '17 DWM receivers were cut-

I believe you may be thinking of the late '17 Erfurt produced receivers?

Im perfectly willing to conceed that some of the DWM artillery receivers were never finished as long-barrelled models (there was a war on after all), however I dont know that there is any way to disprove if a particular gun was converted either.

Certainly they went to extraordinary trouble to shorten the C96 Mausers, and, as Erfurt already had the 4" Luger barrels and toggles on hand this would have been the easiest way to bring old Artillery models into compliance.

Bitrclngr
Glad you have it back, great piece of history.
I studied from these books before buying mine, Luger Forums has plenty of very well informed members as we do here, I was able to trade some emails with Mauro many, many years ago, but did not to get me one; college, a baby girl, you know the tune.
So when I got one went to Swiss connection.
Lugers are very pick about magazines, provably you know that, some people had luck with Megcar others not.


The Parabellum is Back! 1945-2000 Hardcover – 2010
by Mauro Baudino

The Luger Pistol (Pistole Parabellum): THE SWISS VARIATIONS 1897-1947
Datig, Fred A.

That is a beauty, I love the double date German Firearms.. Is there any guestimate as to how many rifles and pistols were double dated???

Again that is nice.. I like the police markings alot

I was jonesing out on this question so doing a little digging, Seems like there are at least 100,000 rifles that would be double dated.

From below link:

---------The First World War shed light on weapon systems such as heavy artillery, airplanes and tanks. However, the rifle’s significance for large, battle-ready armed forces persisted. For this reason, the victors not only strictly limited Germany’s control of modern high performance weaponry, but also its possession of small arms. The 100,000-man army of the Weimar Republic was only permitted 84,000 rifles and 18,000 carbines. At the behest of the Allies, 6 million rifles in Germany were destroyed.-------

https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/rifles

But what I did not know Is how many rifles were destroyed after the war.

And another thing that dawned on me that any WW I era German Rifle that was not double stamped with the "1920" stamp, that was later brought back into the German army system (I.E the ones with the "s/42" stamped sights all must have been hidden from destruction and later "found"..

Real nice forgotten weapons link

https://www.full30.com/watch/MDA4NzE5/what-is-the-german-1920-double-date-stamp

Dang/God bless you Bitclingr I have to add one of these to the must have list...

If I wanted a Luger that was a good shooter, but I didn't care much about matching numbers or appearance, about how much would I have to pay?

Tallball said:

If I wanted a Luger that was a good shooter, but I didn't care much about matching numbers or appearance, about how much would I have to pay?

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Around here, a "shooter grade" Luger will set you back $6-700. The problem is finding a knowledgeable and fair seller who realizes that his gun is not a unique, one of a kind, unicorn, collector grade antiquity. Many folks think the name alone is worth $1000.....

My advice is be patient and inspect in person before buying. Point out to the seller if the gun has been refinished, has mismatched numbers or aftermarket grips and magazines. All of these will deduct from the value. Also, perform a function test and inspect the bore as well.

With its original finish, arsenal-matched numbers, and excellent condition, I would put the OPs gun in the $900-1000 range. Some collectors arent keen on the Arsenal reworks, and the magazine with its aluminum baseplate is a later production item, but overall it is a fine, though not particularly rare, example.

Nice gun.