1906 Swiss Commercial

This is a 1906 Model Swiss Commercial Luger, with a 120mm pencil thin 7.65mm barrel built by DWM (Deutsche Waffen-und Munitionsfabriken) in Berlin and delivered to the Swiss in 1922. This is the new model frame without a stock lug and displays the smaller trigger guard and the narrow trigger along with the flat breech block and self-retaining extractor. (661)

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The DWM Monogram (Deutsche Waffen-und Munitionsfabriken AG) on the 1st toggle link and the Swiss Cross in Sunburst over the Chamber. There are no proof marks other than the Swiss Cross that appears on the left side of the barrel; two digits of the serial number are on the rear toggle link along with the "U" sight. The finish is 99% Blued and 99% straw blued and model has a hold open latch. This Luger has all matching numbers.

Serial number placement is in the commercial ("hidden") style. The serial number appears on the front of the frame, on the bottom of the locking bolt, on the trigger, on the bottom of the barrel, and on the bottom of the side plate.

The period of this Lugers delivery was during the tenure of Colonel Mühlemann but the military proofs do not show up on the receiver. This is one of the first clues to making the gun a commercial version.

The very last of the DWM produced Swiss Lugers were produced in 1923 and these are in the 90000 serial range. 1923 is the year that Georg Luger died and 1923 was the last year that Deutsche Waffen-und-Munitionsfabriken existed before being taken over in 1924 by Berlin-Karlsruher Industrie-Werke-Aktiengesellschaft (BKIW) and all Lugers were manufactured with only four digit serial numbers. This was the last order until 1931 when Mauser filled the final order. The 1923 DWM/Swiss Luger is extremely rare because of the very few delivered.

The Swiss Geneva Cross appears only once on the left side of the barrel. There are no DWM export proof marks normally found on export guns and the rear sight has been changed from the standard "V" to the Swiss "U" shape.
While not specifically identified by "Bobba" in his book Parabellum the circle "N" is most likely a Swiss Inspectors proof mark.
From the serial number on the frame it suspected this Luger started out a "708" and when the order was accepted the commercial 5 digit number was added and then carried to the barrel and all the other serial numbered parts. Below: This Luger is very clean and well maintained.

Early models were rust blued, a very time consuming process. Once the gun was assembled and inspected it was then disassembled, polished and the bluing process begun. These guns have the deep rich color of the blue. One of the features of this gun is the non-standard '06 front target sight.
The Grip Safety is the wider version that was an adjustment from the 1900 models. DWM manufactured the rear toggle with the "V" rear sight. Beginning in the 1900 series the Swiss began to modify the rear sight by opening it up to a "U" configuration. Those so modified by the Bern plant from Lugers supplied "in the white" from DWM never showed the spot bluing from those modified in local armories.	The rear sight of this Luger still shows the witness mark of the original "V" machining. The fact that the front sight is changed from the standard and the rear site is modified further indicates this was a special order Luger for a Swiss shooter.
The Swiss were the first to adopt the Luger for military use. On May 4th, 1900 the Swiss Parliament adopted the Federal Military Department's request for the adoption of the Borchart-Luger (as it was then known), The Armée began issue in 1901 with guns supplied by DWM. DWM also found the Swiss commercial market to be lucrative as the testing of 1899-1900 included several military school and shooting clubs so the weapon was becoming well known even then.

More Pictures for you to enjoy. We strive to provide you with pictures rather than assign subjective percentages of color, bluing, or use.

There are those that hold that the wood bottoms with the discs are only Swiss military but they were available from DWM until 1923 and a lot of people just got them to dress up the gun. They are entirely non-functional.