german luger questions

[CTGregory3]

I have a German luger. I have been doing research on it. Can any on tell me what (S.D.IV. 1219) Means?


The Luger that I have is a 1918 DWM , Has S.D.IV 1219 on the front grip strap. I can't seem to fine any books to say what this means. Can anyone tell me ? Plus is there a book you know I can look at about this? I thank people that have answer me some on this. What I do know is the date of the gun and DWM ( Deutsche Waffen) is on the Chambers. All parts are 64 which is the serial number and the full number is 6364. It is a 4" barrel . It has Gesichert on the side of the Thumb safety. Which means Safe. Beside the Serail number on the bottom of the barrel. It has 8,82 on it and I read it is the calibra in millimeters. Under the barrel on the facing of the gun is a small letter. It looks like a small b in cursive writting. I don't know what that means yet ? It has the only 2 proof marks on the barrel. One is like a lobster that is the proof mark of German military proof stamp. It is in a few other places. The other on the barrel , I'm not sure what it is yet. It has no Grip safety on it. The toggle knob is flat and checker. The magazine is the only thing that does not have the same serial number on it. So I'm trying to fine out what is ( S.D. IV. 1219) ?*
For the gun lovers. I have the 22.in conversion kit to it all so. ) This thing is nice. I don't have the box it came in. I just have the barrel, the magazine and the Breechblock. They all have the serial number 6153 ( 53 ) on it. The Breechblock has EE on it with a circle around it. Meaning Erma. The barrel is the part that is different. The bottle square on the left side has the serial number on it and then the proof mark of Nazi police acceptance Mark. It is a bird on the x with L next to it. On the bottom of the spuare of the barrel it has The B and U with the crown on it. Meaning Commercial and 5.4mm next to that. Not sure what the 5.4 MM means. It might mean the size. Then the right side of the square barrel it has 5.41 on it.

 

[falmike]

Check out this page

http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/police_unit_marks.html

Maybe unit marking plus unit's weapon number?

 

[Jim K]

The little mark on the front below the serial number is a suffix letter, which is part of the serial number. German military serial numbering started each manufacturer each year with 1, went to 9999, then 1a to 9999a, 1b to 9999b and so on.

The 8.82 is the bore diameter of the barrel in millimeters, as measured by a plug gauge; the caliber is 9mm, what we call 9mm Luger or 9mm Parabellum (a DWM trade mark).

The front strap marking is a police property mark. S.D. IV 1219 is the Schutzpolizei (ordinary police - the "cops"), Düsseldorf, Fourth precinct, pistol number 1219.

 

[unspellable]

SN

The chamber date is the first four digits of the serial number. Say the frame is marked 978a. 978a would appear on a frame every year so there would be a number of frames carrying that number. By today's viewpoint this is a bit unfortunate since parts got swapped around a lot.

Check with the Pistolabellum forum, lots of knowledge there on the variations.

 

[Jim K]

"The chamber date is the first four digits of the serial number."

That is not really true, though as I said above, serial numbers started over for each maker each year. So unique identification of a Luger would be something like "German P.08 (Luger) pistol, made by DWM, dated 1918, serial number 1234b." Any less complete ID would not be unique.

I was told that one time a Luger was reported stolen in New York state, as "German luger 1234." Registration files turned up several Luger pistols with that number and (being NY) the police threatened to jail all the owners for "forging" serial numbers and having stolen property. Things finally got straightened out and, AFAIK, no one went to jail, but the incident does show the need for a full description. To cap things off, the stolen "Luger" was actually a Japanese Nambu.

Jim

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

Bravo Jim K....

Great info. I was waiting for the Officer and how many kids he had....

The knowledge base here is amazing sometimes.