P08 Artillery Pattern Luger 1917 DWM
Inspired by all the recent Luger talk, here is my 1917 DWM made Artillery type 'Luger'-these were adopted in 1914 as a light semi automatic carbine weapon for issue to NCOs of crew served weapons (field guns, heavy MGs etc) or specialist units like field engineers or later storm troops as a way of getting increased close range defensive firepower to such troops in the days before light MGs, automatic rifles or SMGs were introduced in large numbers-a particular problem for the Germans who never developed a truly portable LMG.
Issued with a detachable wooden shoulder stock, fitted with an 8" inch barrel and adjustable ramp rear sight marked to a highly optimistic 800 metres, it was otherwise the same weapon as the standard 4" barrel P08. Later in WW1 a special 32 round drum magazine was introduced to increase the available firepower but the whole rig was awkward and ill balanced and the concept fell out of favour with most armies after the war as other dedicated weapons came into service. Many of the Artillery pistols were scrapped under the terms of the 1919 Versailles Treaty or converted to standard P08s so the originals are relatively rare. Some did survive to see use in WW2 and small quantities were made for foreign contracts in the 1930s as a few small armies persisted with the idea of the dual pistol/carbine.
As I had mentioned in another 'Arty Luger' post, the wooden shoulder stocks aren't currently allowed into Australia as fitting it turns the gun into a semi automatic carbine-this may change in the future, at least for historic weapon types. This pistol has the wear to it as one would expect for an issue weapon and is matching except for the disassembly lever (annoyingly!).
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