luger inscription

[sonderverband]

My friend's Dad got ahold of this luger somehow. Look at the inscription on the handle! Here are the possibilities as I see them:

1) Oberscharfuhrer. Most likely as it's an NCO rank.
2) Oberschutze. Unlikely to have a luger.
3) Otto Schumaker.... or some other O. Sch name.

Thoughts?

[busterz111]

could be a school marking maybe a marksmanship type of thing for HJ or Infanty Officers school.the O being East.

[sonderverband]

Not likely. It's scratched in. My officially marked luger has the info STAMPED in.

[Johnny Peppers]

That is an early pistol. Is it commercial or military? The military frowned on anything other than official markings on their pistols.

[sonderverband]

I haven't seen the dates or codes.

Military regulations weren't really of any interest to frontline soldiers.

[Johnny Peppers]

I haven't seen the dates or codes.

Military regulations weren't really of any interest to frontline soldiers.

How many military Lugers have you seen personalized by the German soldier? It just wasn't done while in service.

[phild]

As suggested above it is early, pre 1914 W/O the lug. If it was brought back from WWII it was almost certainly privately owned...for sure if that wood bottom mag is matching the pistol.......

I assume that you have not examined the pistol personally? I think that the other characteristics may go a long way to tell the story of the marking.

One thing I feel pretty safe in saying is that the marking is not any rank abbreviation.

[Craig W.C. Brown]

Officers were required to purchase their pistols and since they were private property could do anything they wanted to with them. I have a WWI Walther M6 and a P.08 both marked to officers.

[Erich B.]

That's my guess--a privately owned P.08 with the owner's initials.
Erich

[GWA]

It's a lousy photo but given the location on the rear grip strap it is probably a provisional Reichswehr (pre-1922) unit marking to a school.

[sonderverband]

Thanks guys! I hope I can get it!

[Johnny Peppers]

Officers were required to purchase their pistols and since they were private property could do anything they wanted to with them. I have a WWI Walther M6 and a P.08 both marked to officers.

That's interesting. Could we see pictures?

[MikeP]

That pistol is about 100 years old.
Lord knows what that inscription is.
Unusual, though.
Period after O as well as Sch.

Somebody spent a bit of time "scratching" that stuff.
A very neat job.

As always, never say "never, always or ever" regarding these things.