POTD: At a Time When Everything Needed a Stock – 1902 Luger Carbine
Sam.S 04.20.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! In case you missed it in yesterday’s Curious Relics article (Curious Relics #062: Too Many Toggle Locks – The Luger Pistol Part II) this is the 1902 Luger Carbine. These were made at a time when folks were putting stocks on pistols left and right. One train of thought was if you could have one weapon that could be a pistol and carried as a pistol but also be utilized like a rifle then it would be the gun to have. More than anything the truth of the matter was: if these pistols worked, these autoloading pistols, then they could be applied to a rifle or carbine. At this time there really were not much of autoloading rifles and the ones that did exist did not work very well.
“This is an excellent example of a very desirable 1902 Luger carbine that is complete with an original non-matching number shoulder stock. These carbines were an attempt by DWM to a produce a light weight rifle substitute. There were a total of 2,500 of this model ever produced in two serial number blocks with this specific pistol being in the first block of which only 1,100 total were made. The unique feature of these pistols is that they all have a 11 3/4 inch barrel, a small spring accelerator mechanism in the forearm that actually helps function the pistol during the cycling phase with the early features such the long frame, with the flat mainspring, grip safety, dished toggles, and recessed/flat breech bolt. These were also fitted with the early style three position rear sight (adjustable from 100-300 meters) mounted on top of the barrel in front of the receiver and a bead front sight mounted on a ramp on top of the barrel. The top of the chamber is blank and the front toggle has the DWM logo for “Deutsche Waffen und Munitions Fabriken”. “
Lot 446: Dwm Model 1902 Luger Carbine with Shoulder Stock – Exceptional Early Dwm Model 1902 Luger Carbine with Shoulder Stock. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/56/446/dwm-model-1902-luger-carbine-with-shoulder-stock.
