The Receiver, also known as the Barrel Extension, has the matching serial number "6902" on the left side and it retains 95% of its original blued finish. The Barrel witness line at the rear lines up exactly with the witness line on the Receiver (also referred to as the Barrel Extension). The Front Sight is the standard fixed front sight that is staked in place to the front sight dovetail. The bottom of the Barrel is serial number matching and is marked "6902," over the muzzle diameter of the barrel at production in millimeters, "8,82." The bore still has a mirror finish on the lands with darkening grooves and the rifling is still very strong. The right rear of the barrel also has an additional barrel eagle proof mark. The left, rear of the barrel has the Erfurt crown proof mark. The Barrel on this Erfurt Model of 1914 Luger is its original 4-inch long barrel and it retains 95% blued finish with wear noted around the muzzle. This Luger is in the –a suffix, so it was probably manufactured in the summer of 1914, just prior to the outbreak of the war.
In 1914, when this particular Erfurt Luger was manufactured, the serial number range ran from approximately 504 to 9448b. Approximately 453,000 Model 1914 Erfurt Lugers were manufactured. Approximately 7,000 Erfurt Lugers were manufactured with a 1914 date, of which this pistol is one, 80,000 with a 1916 date, 180,000 with a 1917 date and 175,000 with a 1918 date. With the stock lug and hold-open device now standard, the model was changed to the Model of 1914. Approximately 12,000 Erfurt Lugers were manufactured with a 1913 date. Additionally, all Lugers delivered after August 4, 1913, were to have the stock lug added. Approximately 10,000 Erfurt Lugers dated 1911 were manufactured and approximately 21,000 were manufactured with a 1912 date.īy directive on May 6, 1913, all Model 1908 Lugers were to be produced with the hold-open device and all existing Lugers were to be retrofitted for the device. Most of these Lugers later had the hold-open device added. The first Lugers manufactured at Erfurt in 1911-1912 did not have hold-open devices or stock lugs. Erfurt did not manufacture Lugers in 1915 as production was temporarily shifted to other weapons demands. Erfurt manufactured the standard military model Luger from 1911-1914 (known as the Model 1908) and from 1916 to 1918 (known as the Model 1914). Although DWM easily met the pre-WWI military demand for Luger pistols, the German military wanted to ensure that the military supply of pistols was not affected by the fluctuations inherent to commercial production.
#Erfurt Luger Serial Numbers license
Luger production at Erfurt was under license from DWM and Erfurt Lugers are identical to DWM Model of 1908 Lugers. Erfurt only manufactured Lugers for the German military. The first Model 1908 Lugers were manufactured in early 1911 and Luger production continued through November 1918, when the last Erfurt-manufactured Lugers were produced. Funds for production was allocated on Januand tooling up for Luger production began. The Erfurt Arsenal was a Prussian government-owned arms factory that manufactured ammunition and rifles at Erfurt in Thuringen. To augment DWM production, the German military ordered the establishment of Luger production at Royal Arsenal at Erfurt in January 1909. Initial Model of 1908 Lugers did not have chamber markings but the year of manufacture began to be marked on the chamber in 1910. Although the German Army tested the Luger design as early as 1901, it did not officially adopt the Luger as the standard Army sidearm until August 1908, which gave the weapon the designation Model of 1908.
The first German military organization to adopt the new Luger design was the German Navy, which approved the Model of 1906 pistol on May 12, 1905. Initial military production of the Luger pistol, in 9mm Parabellum caliber, was limited to the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). The German Army ultimately settled on the Borchardt-based Luger design for its armed forces. The famous Borchardt design and the Mauser C96 pistol are both examples of this interest at the turn of the century. The end of the 1890s and early 1900s saw great international military interest in semiautomatic weapons, particularly handguns. The Royal Government Arsenal at Erfurt only manufactured about 7,000 Model 1914 Lugers in 1914, by far the fewest number produced during Erfurt production during the war. This is a very rare and fine condition, all matching WWI German Model 1914 Luger manufactured by the Erfurt Arsenal in 1914, the first year of WWI.