M1900 Russian Luger 12662 Pictured With Unidentified German Maker Commercial Holster
The following is a discussion of an unmarked and unidentified early pre-WW1 unknown maker, black leather commercial holster, shown above, of single piece, wrap-around construction with a full cover flap, closed toe, single wide belt loop with a holster body magazine pouch attached to the holster body front. The holster body lacks a pull-up strap not needed because of the holster body entrance lip which has an unusual, shallow shape or contour, almost certainly for easy insertion and removal of a Luger by exposing most of the grasping surface of the grip. Additionally, the lack of a pull-up strap, a feature of commercial German Luger holsters since 1899 suggests possible non-German manufacture or alternately of German manufactur per customer request.
Based on the pliable, thin soft leather used, which is similar or common to other early period German commercial holsters, that the possibly non-German made holster was made for a M1900 Luger. This is somewhat substantiated by internal impressions of the forward fluted edge of old model Luger dished toggles, evidence of long-term storage.
1900 Russian Luger Holster Speculative Association
As of this writing, although no German or non-German made holster has been associated with the rare M1900 Russian Luger variation, of which only a handful have been identified, yet enough made to warrant a holster unless being an individual commercial offerings it is, nonetheless, pictured with multiple views of the subject holster with M1900 Russian Luger 12662. View 1. View 2. The number of Russian Lugers produced, which could be in the many hundreds, is addressed in The Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols by †Görtz/Sturgess © 2010 – 2011 Volume 3, Chapter 11 – Manufactures & Contracts Russia – Old and New Models.
Pictured is a top and in profile view of the subject old model holster body brass stud and surrounding leather. It has a unique feature pointed out by a recognized holster collector and repair professional, similar to another holster in the collection, being a pre-1925 P08 commercial holster, which involves the installation of the holster body brass stud to a cover flap installed Loading tool pouch. The vertical slit in the leather above the stud is deliberate, put there to allow the machined stud to utilize a larger diameter base to be inserted into the small diameter leather hole.
Another interesting feature of the pre-1925 P08 commercial holster, also pointed out by the same holster collector and repair professional is the steel belt buckle, which is a casting vs. the typically encountered military Luger holster metal belt buckle which is made/shaped by using a wire rod. Pictured side-by-side are the two styles of metal belt buckles for comparison.
The Process
Once inserted, the brass stud is secured to the holster body by circular stitching. On the holster body inside is a thin, circular piece of leather covering the lower anchor base of the brass stud and stitching, probably glued, serving possibly two purposes:
- to further strengthen or anchor the brass stud to the holster body to resist the stress associated with lifetime operation of securing the cover flap or cover flap strap to the holster body via the stud and,
- prevent the metal-to-metal contact during the insertion and removal of the pistol and the potential of rubbing against the pistol while holstered.
Also pointed out by the same holster collector and repair professional who describes the method as seldom used on pre-WW1 or any German holsters, commercial or military, that utilize this brass stud and leather slit method of installation.
This is interesting that this method of holster body brass stud installation was not more widely used as this same method was used on most all early brass stud and slit closure holsters, including the subject holster where the cover flap or cover flap strap used this method of closure with a hole and leather slit closure to allow the cover flap or strap to effect closure with the added leather slit allowing the leather to momentarily widen or expand when forcing it over the brass stud then come back together around the smaller brass stud shaft.
The subject black dyed holster is pictured with two other similar holsters and are discussed in and pictured in Fig. 19-82, with the subject holster outlined in red The Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols by †Görtz/Sturgess © 2010 – 2011 Volume 3, Chapter 19 – Accessories, Page 1228, in a section titled Miscellaneous Military Types.
Miscellaneous Military Types
Many military style P.08 and Parabellum holsters remain unidentified, and without any markings or documentation cannot be positively linked to any particular contract or country with any certainty, and attempts so to do are purely speculative. Out of many such, a selection of three holsters for 120 mm barreled Parabellum pistols is illustrated, chosen for their ostensible similarities, though not of German or any other identifiable military pattern, but all having the spare magazine in an open topped pocket on the front of the body and one-piece wrapped body construction: French commercial holsters are often of this general arrangement, but the barrel length of the Parabellum carried in these has no French military or trials associations. They have differing closures; up-strap and stud, down-strap & stud and P.08 strap & buckle, but distinctly German manufacturing and stitching characteristics and military quality finishing, but without further evidence, no positive conclusions as to provenance can be drawn. One of the patterns illustrated, with up-strap & stud German Police style closure, has been associated with the small batch of early Mauser assembled P.08s (with 3xx v serial numbers and DWM marked toggles) reputed to have been supplied to Peru in the early 1930s; since, however, these pistols have 100 mm barrels, and this pattern of holster is dimensioned for a 120 mm barreled pistol, this attribution cannot be regarded as conclusive.
THE BORCHARDT-LUGER PISTOLS CHAPTER 11 – MANUFACTURERS & CONTRACTS Source information.
Russia – Old and New Models
These Old Model Russian pistols are among the very few survivors from the 12xxx commercial serial number block, the half dozen or so (9) known having serial numbers distributed across the 12xxx range. It is not known whether a larger quantity of pistols, occupying more, or even almost all, of this block were supplied to Russia (see Fig 10-12). The 11xxx block appears to be totally empty, with no known genuine examples of Old Model pistols in this range. This might suggest a quantity of up to possibly around 2000 forming the Russian shipment, but the complete absence of 11xxx serial numbered guns suggests that this block may have been deliberately left unused for unknown reasons. Apart from the crossed rifles cipher, these pistols are completely standard Old Models, without any Cyrillic safety marking, unlike the Old Model Bulgarian M1903 pistol.
Of the 9 M1900 Russian Lugers identified by the Land of Borchardt since 2002, only two are documented in The Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols recognized as original are serial numbers 12662 and 12821. [1]
(Return to forwarding link in above paragraph.)
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