ForgottenWeapons

New Book Review: "Third Reich Lugers" by Tom Whiteman (ad-free)

Added 2022-09-06 12:01:02 +0000 UTC

Available directly from Legacy Collectibles:

https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/accessories/collector-books/081022-1.html

or on Amazon:

Tom Whiteman (of Legacy Collectibles) has just recently published "Third Reich Lugers: An Illustrated Collector's Guide to German Military Lugers from World War II". The full title pretty much says it all here; this is not a history of the Luger or its development - it's specifically a collector's guide. That means it includes the specific sort of data one needs to properly authentic or evaluate a Luger - proof marks, acceptance marks, serial numbers, and variations in finish and construction.

The book is just over 300 pages, divided into chapters for each major variant form 1934 until 1945. Note that it DOES include Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe, police, and civilian-production pistols, but DOES NOT include foreign military contracts. Each chapter includes a table of data and a specific look at the army, navy, air force police, and commercial sub variants for that chapter. It does also include loading tools, imagines, and holsters. It also includes Whiteman's entire database of Krieghoof Luger data at the end, which will no doubt be a valuable resource for advanced collectors.

The cover price is $70, with a Kindle version available on Amazon for $30. I would consider this a must-have for anyone planning to buy a WWII German Luger; the price is essentially free when you consider the potential savings the first time is lets you recognize a good deal or avoid a bad one. It is a much more accessible book for this sort of thing than Sturgess & Görtz, and more comprehensive than Jan Stills (and not wildly out of print, like Stills' books).