The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - P08 Luger serial # has three digits..not four

James K · April 28, 2012, 05:37 PM

OK, that S/42 really had me going as the gun is clearly marked as DWM. Is there a date on the top of the front receiver ring?

The B in the unit mark is for Bavaria, which at that start of WWI was a separate Kingdom, though in a mililtary alliance with Prussia, the leading German state. "Germany" technically did not yet exist as a unified nation; it was still made up of several smaller states.

B. 4 R. M.G. 75 indicates the pistol number 75 of the machinegun company of the 4th Bavarian Regiment or, in the order on the gun, Bavarian 4 Regiment, Machinegun [company] # 75.

Jim

April 28, 2012, 05:37 PM	#8
James K Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 17, 1999 Posts: 24,383	OK, that S/42 really had me going as the gun is clearly marked as DWM. Is there a date on the top of the front receiver ring? The B in the unit mark is for Bavaria, which at that start of WWI was a separate Kingdom, though in a mililtary alliance with Prussia, the leading German state. "Germany" technically did not yet exist as a unified nation; it was still made up of several smaller states. B. 4 R. M.G. 75 indicates the pistol number 75 of the machinegun company of the 4th Bavarian Regiment or, in the order on the gun, Bavarian 4 Regiment, Machinegun [company] # 75. Jim