Springfield Armory Production

[Cosine26]

For John Beard and Rick The Librarian
The latest issue of the Martial Arms Collector has notes on the Production figures for Springfield Armory for FY 1910. An item of interest is that the SA production covers :
321 Luger pistols, cal. 7.65 mm repaired.
Any ideas why SA is repairing that many Lugers. Maybe during pre M1911 trials?
May be a strange entry for this forum, but I know that both of you have extensive knowledge of SA and both read this page

[Rick the Librarian]

As I recall, the "American" Lugers made up for the trials were in .45. These must have been something else.

Found it ... I looked in Scott Meadows' U.S. Military Automatic Pistols, 1894-1920 on page 364. 1000 Luger pistols were ordered from Deutsches Waffen (DWM) in 7.65mm and was field tested in 1901-1902. In the book follows some 10 pages of detail notes on who the pistols were issued (units) and how the tests came out. For a variety of reasons, the Model 1900 was not adopted, the small caliber being one. Of particular interest to me was the note that 305 were sent to the Manila Ordnance Depot and issued to cavalry troops in that department.

50 of the 1000 purchased were "traded in" to DWM for 9mm models.

In the end, the pistols (including later models in 9mm, 11.35 and 45 were not adopted. There is a notation for June, 1910, that the 780 remaining Model 1900 (7.65mm) pistols were sold at public auction that year to Francis Bannerman for $10.00 each. It mentions the remaining pistols, including the 9mm models (maybe that's where the "321" came from) were cleaned and repaired (apparently the 780 sold to Bannerman were not) and sold to individual officers and authorized personnel.

If anyone is interested in the U.S. trails of the Luger, I'd highly recommend consulting Meadows' book - there is an extensive coverage of the trials and correspondence, as well as reports on these pistols.

I imagine any 7.65mm Lugers with U.S. markings existing today would sell for considerably more than $10.00 today!! LOL!

[Cosine26]

Thanks for the response. I thought that it might be something like that.
C.O.

[Rick the Librarian]

I found the notation for "321" pistols in the section, too, as well as a copy of the Bannerman ad, offering the pistols for sale - at $18.45!

As a former (retired) librarian, I get a real RUSH when I can find the exact reference AND the answer! You made this old librarian's day!!

[Fred]

I'd be interested in what stamps if any there are on these that would identify them for collectors.

[Rick the Librarian]

If you can borrow or buy a copy of Meadows' book he goes into great detail. The most obvious is the U.S. "great seal" on the top.

[Richard H Brown Jr]

One wonders if the remaining Lugers were sold off, "lost", or stuck in a crate and put deep in the bowels of the Armory Hill. I'd like to see a archeological "dig" of all the storeage vaults under the armory. There's go to be all sorts of goddies down below.

RHB

[louis]

I was reading a story about capt crunch the military's gun eater. What was interesting about it was that they receive crates from the army and sometimes they are surprised at what they find and most of the time they turn them over to some other branch because it may be historical or rare weapons. I would really like to be there when they open those crates

[John Beard]

For John Beard and Rick The Librarian
The latest issue of the Martial Arms Collector has notes on the Production figures for Springfield Armory for FY 1910. An item of interest is that the SA production covers :
321 Luger pistols, cal. 7.65 mm repaired.
Any ideas why SA is repairing that many Lugers. Maybe during pre M1911 trials?
May be a strange entry for this forum, but I know that both of you have extensive knowledge of SA and both read this page

Rick the Librarian has covered the subject well. I have no information on the matter. The SA 1910 and 1911 annual reports make no mention of repairing any Lugers. So the effort was either an oversight when preparing the report, or the effort was minimal involving little expenditure of funds.

J.B.