Luger marked 1945

[AZartman]

Is it possible to find a LUGER marked 1945? Or would this be a repro? Thanks! I have no knowledge of firearms of WW2. If I can get my hands on it I will post pics.

Alex

[GWA]

Alex, I think that the only possibility of such a dated Luger would be a Krieghof and many feel that 1945 HK's are spurious.

[theinglebaby23]

No. The last shipment of lugers went in '44 to Portugal. As far as anyone knows that was the last. Esp. since the war was winding down, they wouldn't have produced any more because of how difficult they were to manufacture compared to the P-38.

I have seen lugers that have been shaved, stamped and reblued to look very authentic, so be careful.

Rich

[AZartman]

Thanks for the responses. I will try and get some clarification and hopefully some photos.

Alex

[gew98]

Az ; The german military last procured the P08 pistol in 1942. So any german military P08 marked with a date after 1942 is spurious. The luftwaffe did receive some P08's in 1943 from parts assembled at berndorf. These pistols I have seen have no date , only the code "42" on the breech. They also utilised alot of armorer's parts on hand. Some I have seen had few serials ..... but most parts had the early E/63 , or the E/655 along with many bearing S/42 or simply a small #42 to show they were originally supplied as spares.

[AZartman]

This forum never ceases to AMAZE me. Thanks again for the great info!

Alex

[GWA]

The German military did not produce Lugers. Mauser was the primary source of Lugers up until 1942. Krieghof was also a producer of Lugers. Krieghof, I believe, produced Ligers from 1936 through 1944. Most or all Krieghof pistols went to the Luftwaffe.

A very few 1945 Krieghofs have been reported, many collectors believe that the 1945 dated pistols are phony. There are also a number of postwar Krieghofs that were assembled at the Krieghof plant for occupation G.I.s. These latter pistols are well documented.

Alex, if your 1945 dated pistol is coming from an original source, it is most important that you keep close notation of names, dates, units, etc that are assosciated with the gun.

[Matt Weber]

Luger production did not cease in 1942! It ceased at Mauser in 1942, but was still in production at H. Krieghoff until the end of 1944!

To answer your question, yes, it is possible to find a luger with a 1945 chamber date. However, these will HAVE to be Krieghoff production (NOT MAUSER!!). These were produced at the end of 1944 it is believed. The estimated production of these, was only about 200 pieces with serial ranges "13000-13200".

These are very scarce to put it mildly. I personally have never held one of these in my hands! (I have held 1943 and 1944 dated Krieghoffs though! but never a 1945 dated one!)

I know it's a long shot, but does anybody have a 1945 Krieghoff that they would like to post photos of it up here?

Matt

[R_Hessian]

True

Well I have posted this once before but here it is again; In 1999 I had the chance to buy a 1945 KH p08 for $3,000.00 at a local gun shop, the gun was original. At the time I had just left the Marines and did not have the extra 3K.

I didn't want the P08 to go to any of the local Luger fellow's as most that I encountered need a punch in the nose more than 1945 HK P08. I did call a old fellow who lived about 60 minutes from me and told him about the gun. He is a luger EXPERT and has a VERY advanced collection of p08's, he had always been very nice to me and I felt he should have it.

Once I told him what I had found he had is wife drive him up that same hour to the shop, within 10 minutes of looking at it he put out $3,000.00 and went home.

He called me the next day and told me how happy he was etc., he then asked me to come down to his home for lunch. When I went to his house for lunch ( wife was a great chef. ) he asked if I liked p38's to which I said sure.

I was presented with a large selection of p38's and he told me to pick one as he wanted to thank me for calling him about the 1945 HK P08.

I selected a early ac 1941 with matching magazine.

So, yes I had a chance to get one but had to pass and yet was rewarded by a very happy collector.

Robert

[Alan Smith]

Interesting comments, supra, about how "many" collectors consider the 1945 dated Krieghoffs to be phony. Like Robert, I too have an "advanced" collector friend with a 1945 dated Kreighoff (that he paid $5,000 for several years ago). I won't name the friend, but he lives in Ohio and some of his guns are pictured in the major reference books. Also, let's be clear here - just b/c a big price was paid by a so-called "advanced" collector does not give an item any legitimacy.

In any event, I'm quite sure that there are fakes of 1945 Krieghoffs, particular any of the guns that ever came thru the hands of a VERY well known dealer who lives in Arizona.

None-the-less, I had never before heard the assertiong that all 1945 Krieghoffs are outright fakes. Interesting assertion, that will cause me to ask more questions.

[Craig W.C. Brown]

The standard work on Krieghoffs is Randall Gibson, The Krieghoff Parabellum, 1980, followed by Jan Still, Third Reich Lugers. Gibson reports 1945s in the SN range 13,00-13,200. For more up-to-date thinking on these I'd consult with the folks on the NAPCA (National Automatic Pistol Collectors Association) website and/or those on Jan Still's website.