1921 DWM Weimar Police

This is a Weimar period 1921 dated DWM military police Luger that is a full rig to include the 1921 all matching Parabellum in 9mm, two matching magazines, a 1918 dated holster, a lanyard and Weimar belt and buckle. This is a very unusual Luger with a collection of variations. (867)

The barrel length is 4" (100mm) and is chambered for 9mm. The serial number appears on the front of the frame, on the left side of the receiver, on the side plate sear and trigger. This Luger is all matching including the magazine, numbered for Police magazines. This Luger bears a stock lug which not all police models have. The extractor is marked "Geladen" on the left side and the safety is marked "Gesichert" with the safe position being downward.

The holster is unusual in that it permits the use of the lanyard which suggests this rig may have been employed by a mounted military policeman. The Weimar army was in the transition period between horse drawn and mechanical transportation. Proofed for the military police it is in excellent condition.




The magazines are both wooden based, both match the serial number of the gun but one is the early DWM crimped magazine and the other is the blued steel 1920 type with a wooden bottom.

The holster presents a dichotomy for the collector. Clearly it is marked with a manufactures cartouche (Gustaw Wagner, Wurzen 1918). The holster is not the standard military holster but appears made to someone's specifications with the more narrowly placed belt loops and open rear.
SEAR SAFETY: In this case you can see the sear safety probably fully installed at the original time of production. This was the invention of Ludwig Schiwy, a gunsmith and the owner of F.W. Vandry & Company, Berlin. It consisted of a spring-steel bar on the top of the trigger plate which springs down into a recess in the sear bar, locking the mechanism, if the trigger plate was removed.
	The holster was designed, with the open rear, to enable the lanyard be utilized. This was perhaps a rig for a mounted policeman

Both magazines match in serial number. One of the magazines (the blued steel) has the Roman Numeral II for the second magazine instead of the military plus or the later aluminum bottoms that indicated the number in western style, 1 or 2.

MAGAZINE SAFETY: The magazine safety consists of a "U" shaped leaf spring with two extensions, fitted into the left side of the frame under the grip. (Seen to the left with the hole drilled in the frame.) One of the extensions fits into the front and lodges behind the trigger while the other end fits through the frame into the magazine well. With the magazine in place the extension is pushed left and out of the path of the trigger.

Removing the magazine allows the safety to move to the right so the bar moved behind the trigger and prevents it from being pulled. This was patented by Carl Walther in October 1932 and installed in 1933. Unfortunately for the collector the magazine safety was considered a nuisance and mostly removed by unit armorer's in 1937. A 6mm hole has to be drilled through the frame left side just above and rear of the trigger axle pin (as above). Below you can see the front of the grip which was modified to accept the magazine safety.

The front portion of the left grip is modified to accept the magazine safety and this gives it the peculiar look. What it does do is authenticate the correctness of the gun as a fully produced piece.

The first proof on the left is the AYA4 Eagle is the 1920/21 Weimar Military Police Proof followed by the 1926 DWM Dove of Peace (straight wings) with the WaA4 early (1926) Waffen Amt followed by another Military Police proof. We know now that DWM was not authorized to produce 100mm barrels in 9mm and so they would "trick" the Versailles Control Commission by stamping the guns 1921 although they were produced throughout the '20s. One of the last of the DWM military Lugers.