First, to start with: I am not much of a handgun collector (I only have around 25 M1911(A1) pistols of various manufacturers, several Liberator pistols and maybe 20-30 other revolvers and pistols) and never bothered that much on Luger pistols since the few I have are more or less ones that I ran into. My main interest are sniper rifles of all nations, the US rifles starting 1903, plus I do have quite some German WWII rifles with a greater focus on K98k rifles (plus a bunch of items which I ran into and mainly bought because they are rare and/or of special interest to me for technical or historical reasons).
Recently I stumbled across a Luger pistol which caught my interest for being marked with a Deaths Head. It was priced in a region of a normal wartime Luger as well as from initial comparisons with other Deaths Head stamps it appeared nothing recently applied, so I thought I would not risk much in buying it.
As I had mentioned above, my background is much based on what is known and common in the world of K98k rifle collectors. With the K98k rifle there had been great research and documentation on SS production/usage already been done. The probably best and most recent research on these rifles was published by Michael Steves and Bruce Karem in their three volumes (of four books total) "Vol. 1 - Karabiner 98k", "Vol 2 - Karabiner 98k I" and "Vol 2 - Karabiner 98k II", as well as "Kriegsmodell". To summarize it in very few words, the SS rifle production can be split between the early years where they did not have access to newly manufactured parts/guns and had to re-use and "produce" their own weapons, based on old guns which were on stock, and the later production where they were "officially accepted" (Hitler ordered that the SS divisions to be armed according to the Army table of equipment and organization on 10th January 1942) had great access especially to the production at Steyr and Brünn from which they were delivered newly made parts to produce guns themselves. I'm now referring not to the later production rifles with newly made parts, but to the early conversions that were outcarried.
Many Gewehr 98 as well as even Kar98a (small ring action rifles!) were converted to K98k rifles by the SS. All of these conversions have in common that after the barrel shortening they were (again) and this time commercially proofed on the underside of the barrel shank what was and still is a requirement per the German proof laws, as well as that the original receiver markings were scrubbed and the barrel shanks were stamped with various Deaths Head configurations. The commercial proofs on the underside of the barrel start from mid to late 1936. There are variants of the Deaths Head stamps on the barrel shank which not only differ by the "item" above the Deaths Head (could be a +, a "lazy S", gullwing, SS, SS2, 01 or even a =), some even carry more than one Deaths Head stamps. However, there are patterns that these guns follow, like for example all known SS K98k Sniper rifles based on these Gew98 to K98k conversions carry the SS2 marked Deaths Head, plus particular Deaths Heads appearing in certain periods or with certain proof dates. There is an excellent writeup with timeline from one of the book authors published in their forum in a thread: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?35803-Lets-talk-SS-Deaths-Heads .
To get back to the Deaths Head marked Luger pistols: from researching on this forum and other sources it appears that one stronger believe in the Luger collecting community is that Deaths Head marked Luger pistols are associated with the WWI period, since many of the guns that had turned up appear with certain manufacturers/years. From what I was able to understand there however has not been any research or particular comparison with these pistols to K98k rifles from the SS been done, and seen what could vice versa be applied. I truly admit that the amount of Luger 08 pistols with Deaths Head that turn up are extremely limited compared to the number of K98k rifles with Deaths Head what makes serial studies tougher, but at least these pistols should not only be compared with other Luger 08 pistols, but also SS K98k rifles.
Based on all the above thoughts I therefore looked at the pistol that I have acquired in greater detail and compared it with the Gew98 to K98k rifle conversions. The pistol has scrubbed manufacturer and year markings, the barrel is not serialized and obviously a replacement barrel, as well as the pistol features commercial firing proofs. The Deaths Head stamp was applied where originally the manufacturing year would had been applied and is the Deaths Head with the "Lazy S". I then compared the Deaths Head stamp on the pistol to SS conversion rifles with the same Deaths Head stamp, both by size and form. The result was that the size is identical, and as good as it can be told it appeared also the shape (the stamp jumped when applied to the pistol, making it a partially double struck stamp, as well as it seemed the stamp was flat whereas the pistol in this area is beveled resulting in a not fully applied stamp). Next I compared the shape of the commercial firing proofs, and this time I included a commercially manufactured DWM 1920 Luger pistol that I own. The result was quite astonishing in that both the crown on the 1920 Luger is different (more narrow) than the crown on the SS Gew98 to K98k conversion, which is identical to the Deaths Head on my Luger pistol. The same applies to the letter N below the crown which is of a different font on the 1920 Luger, whereas once again it is identical on the SS Gew98 to K98k conversions and the Luger pistol of mine.
One could now argue that anyone with access to a SS Gew98 to K98k conversion could get identical stamps being made, but reproducing a firing proof stamp would be considered as falsification of documents since these are protected governmental insignia and you'd get a lot of years in prison for simply owning a stamp like this here in Europe. So I would outrule that. I also do not think anyone here would question the applied proof stamps. The pistol is all matching numbers. Several numbers have been newly applied with an identical font stamp which is also to be found with SS conversions of Gew98 to K98k. The only mismatching part is found on the inside and according to US websites named "Hold-Open Latch with Spring". This part also carries an Imperial German proof stamp.
There is no documentation on the SS having reworked pistols. On the other hand, there is also no reason why they should not have reworked pistols. There are Luger holsters which are documented with pictures to have been Deaths Head stamped and carried by SS, so the SS must have had Luger pistols in a time frame where they did not have access to newly manufactured Luger pistols, so they must had used pistols from old stock.
I would kindly ask for opinions to this pistol, knowing the discussion will be controversial. My goal was to also share as much information as possible that lead to various thoughts not to get approvals by members here, but to give a broad basis for a detailed discussion and to allow why I think in particular ways and I'm really keen to hear from Luger experts what they think and why they think this way. I am not trying to get an approval from experts here, but to hopefully close a link between the research on the K98k rifles and the Luger pistols for benefit of all collectors.
Recently I stumbled across a Luger pistol which caught my interest for being marked with a Deaths Head. It was priced in a region of a normal wartime Luger as well as from initial comparisons with other Deaths Head stamps it appeared nothing recently applied, so I thought I would not risk much in buying it.
As I had mentioned above, my background is much based on what is known and common in the world of K98k rifle collectors. With the K98k rifle there had been great research and documentation on SS production/usage already been done. The probably best and most recent research on these rifles was published by Michael Steves and Bruce Karem in their three volumes (of four books total) "Vol. 1 - Karabiner 98k", "Vol 2 - Karabiner 98k I" and "Vol 2 - Karabiner 98k II", as well as "Kriegsmodell". To summarize it in very few words, the SS rifle production can be split between the early years where they did not have access to newly manufactured parts/guns and had to re-use and "produce" their own weapons, based on old guns which were on stock, and the later production where they were "officially accepted" (Hitler ordered that the SS divisions to be armed according to the Army table of equipment and organization on 10th January 1942) had great access especially to the production at Steyr and Brünn from which they were delivered newly made parts to produce guns themselves. I'm now referring not to the later production rifles with newly made parts, but to the early conversions that were outcarried.
Many Gewehr 98 as well as even Kar98a (small ring action rifles!) were converted to K98k rifles by the SS. All of these conversions have in common that after the barrel shortening they were (again) and this time commercially proofed on the underside of the barrel shank what was and still is a requirement per the German proof laws, as well as that the original receiver markings were scrubbed and the barrel shanks were stamped with various Deaths Head configurations. The commercial proofs on the underside of the barrel start from mid to late 1936. There are variants of the Deaths Head stamps on the barrel shank which not only differ by the "item" above the Deaths Head (could be a +, a "lazy S", gullwing, SS, SS2, 01 or even a =), some even carry more than one Deaths Head stamps. However, there are patterns that these guns follow, like for example all known SS K98k Sniper rifles based on these Gew98 to K98k conversions carry the SS2 marked Deaths Head, plus particular Deaths Heads appearing in certain periods or with certain proof dates. There is an excellent writeup with timeline from one of the book authors published in their forum in a thread: http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?35803-Lets-talk-SS-Deaths-Heads .
To get back to the Deaths Head marked Luger pistols: from researching on this forum and other sources it appears that one stronger believe in the Luger collecting community is that Deaths Head marked Luger pistols are associated with the WWI period, since many of the guns that had turned up appear with certain manufacturers/years. From what I was able to understand there however has not been any research or particular comparison with these pistols to K98k rifles from the SS been done, and seen what could vice versa be applied. I truly admit that the amount of Luger 08 pistols with Deaths Head that turn up are extremely limited compared to the number of K98k rifles with Deaths Head what makes serial studies tougher, but at least these pistols should not only be compared with other Luger 08 pistols, but also SS K98k rifles.
Based on all the above thoughts I therefore looked at the pistol that I have acquired in greater detail and compared it with the Gew98 to K98k rifle conversions. The pistol has scrubbed manufacturer and year markings, the barrel is not serialized and obviously a replacement barrel, as well as the pistol features commercial firing proofs. The Deaths Head stamp was applied where originally the manufacturing year would had been applied and is the Deaths Head with the "Lazy S". I then compared the Deaths Head stamp on the pistol to SS conversion rifles with the same Deaths Head stamp, both by size and form. The result was that the size is identical, and as good as it can be told it appeared also the shape (the stamp jumped when applied to the pistol, making it a partially double struck stamp, as well as it seemed the stamp was flat whereas the pistol in this area is beveled resulting in a not fully applied stamp). Next I compared the shape of the commercial firing proofs, and this time I included a commercially manufactured DWM 1920 Luger pistol that I own. The result was quite astonishing in that both the crown on the 1920 Luger is different (more narrow) than the crown on the SS Gew98 to K98k conversion, which is identical to the Deaths Head on my Luger pistol. The same applies to the letter N below the crown which is of a different font on the 1920 Luger, whereas once again it is identical on the SS Gew98 to K98k conversions and the Luger pistol of mine.
One could now argue that anyone with access to a SS Gew98 to K98k conversion could get identical stamps being made, but reproducing a firing proof stamp would be considered as falsification of documents since these are protected governmental insignia and you'd get a lot of years in prison for simply owning a stamp like this here in Europe. So I would outrule that. I also do not think anyone here would question the applied proof stamps. The pistol is all matching numbers. Several numbers have been newly applied with an identical font stamp which is also to be found with SS conversions of Gew98 to K98k. The only mismatching part is found on the inside and according to US websites named "Hold-Open Latch with Spring". This part also carries an Imperial German proof stamp.
There is no documentation on the SS having reworked pistols. On the other hand, there is also no reason why they should not have reworked pistols. There are Luger holsters which are documented with pictures to have been Deaths Head stamped and carried by SS, so the SS must have had Luger pistols in a time frame where they did not have access to newly manufactured Luger pistols, so they must had used pistols from old stock.
I would kindly ask for opinions to this pistol, knowing the discussion will be controversial. My goal was to also share as much information as possible that lead to various thoughts not to get approvals by members here, but to give a broad basis for a detailed discussion and to allow why I think in particular ways and I'm really keen to hear from Luger experts what they think and why they think this way. I am not trying to get an approval from experts here, but to hopefully close a link between the research on the K98k rifles and the Luger pistols for benefit of all collectors.