Luger 1916 with "red nine" on grips.

[Carfin LEWYS]

Hi,

What is the signification of this "Red Nine" on the grips of a matching DWM 1916 Luger P08, please.
Thanks for replies.
Best regards from Alsace , France.
Carfin.

[Wagriff]

No doubt, intended to differentiate as with the broom handles, between the 30 caliber models and the 9mm's. But, I have Never seen this done before and very much would question it's authenticity...

[gel65]

Paint looks old possibly training purposes or possibly the regiment I have never seen this before

[relicz]

Have seen this done on artillery models and as stated common on broom handles.

[Pryo]

Ive seen this before, while I am no expert, your 9 looks much different than the one I have seen. I believe it is probably a variation since they 9's were supposedly put there by soldiers, though Im not sure. They are famous for the broom handle, but my expert friend says its not done by the military or factory. I have heard many other theories, but none I believed



Sorry for the Ipod photos, these were taken about 2 years ago.

[António Fragoeiro]

No doubt, intended to differentiate as with the broom handles, between the 30 caliber models and the 9mm's. But, I have Never seen this done before and very much would question it's authenticity...

I agree, would love to know more about this.

[Pryo]

Im guessing to distinguish it from the .30 luger, but I didn't think they were war issued, I only knew them as commercial and police lugers.
Here is one theory red 9 artillery luger

[lithgow]

All the German military/naval Luger types were in 9mm Luger-I suppose a few .30 cal examples may have ended up in use as a result of war emergency needs but you would think that they would be the ones to be marked to show a non standard calibre round. It should also be noted that the conical projectile 9mm Luger round is not the same as the round nose 9mm Parabellum that won't feed correctly in the P08 types.

[Carfin LEWYS]

Hi,

Thank you for replies.
I know the story of the C96, but never for P08 Luger.
I purchassed this P08 last week in France, in a familly who disencumber all the military items from the grand father.
The grand Ma (98 years old) tell me that this LP08 was a WW1 trophy of his father & that the pistol was ever in the familly.

Do you want more pics ? & what for pics ?

Best regards from Alsace , France.
Carfin.

[habicht]

Normally the nine branded into Luger grips is only seen on 1917 dated LP08(artilleries) not P08s. This is the first P08 I have seen with the "9 grips". The theory is that it happened as a result of an army directive in 1917 regarding the new 9mm Mauser C96. The first 9mm Mauser production did not have any unique marking and consequently the army complained about the possible confusion at the front where 7.63mm Mausers had been in wide use since 1914. At that point Mauser began branding the grips of the new 9mm production with a red nine. An army directive ordered all the earlier issued 9mm C96 pistols to be branded at the unit level with a 9.

All of this coincided with the widespread issue of LP08s to all infantry companies. The belief is that the army directive was misinterpreted by some companies or perhaps those companies had also received 9mm Mausers. As the Luger grips were branded at the unit level with a unit manufactured branding iron thus they vary widely in appearance.