[ Portuguese Navy Luger ]
Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and I am here today at Morphy's
taking a look at a very rare Portuguese Naval Luger.
Now the nation of Portugal first started investigating automatic pistols
around the turn of the century, as did most countries in Europe and really around the world.
They set up a commission in 1904 of a couple of Army officers
to investigate the different options that were available.
Those guys came back recommending the Luger,
and so the Portuguese government didn't buy any - or anything else for that matter.
They instead set up another commission in 1907 to do the same thing.
Those guys also came back recommending the Luger.
And in 1908 the Portuguese Army placed an order for 5,000 Luger pistols.
Specifically these were 7.65mm pistols with 120mm barrels.
And I have a separate video about all of the Portuguese Army Lugers
if you're interested in following that track.
Now the Portuguese Navy used a few of these army pistols for a brief time
until in November of 1909 they placed an order themselves with DWM for Luger pistols.
Curiously, they decided to choose all different configuration options from what the Army had.
They went for 9mm instead of 7.65, and the 100mm (or 4 inch) barrel instead of 120mm.
They ordered 350 pistols, they were delivered in 1910,
there was a little follow-up order, final delivery was in August of 1912.
And the Portuguese Navy had acquired a total of 650 of these Lugers.
So let's go ahead and take a closer look at them.
Those of you who are familiar with Lugers will immediately recognise
the 100mm barrel and the 9mm bore size.
These have a DWM logo on the top of the toggle.
And then there are two different crests you may find on the top of the chamber.
The first 350 guns were purchased while Manuel II was in power,
and so they will have a crown over an anchor to reflect their royal ownership.
The second batch of 300 were purchased after Manuel II had been thrown out of power,
and so those will have an "RP" over an anchor for Portuguese Republic.
These were made in their own unique serial number range.
So this is number 139, ... the first batch of course went from 1 to 350,
and the second batch went from 351 to 650.
I think this barrel is actually a Portuguese replacement from some point,
but it is also numbered 139.
And then you'll find the last couple of digits of the serial number
in all the normal places, like the back of the toggle here.
Everything on this particular pistol matches,
with the exception of the grip panels and the magazine.
As far as configuration goes, these are the "New Model" of Luger pistols.
So they have the checkered toggles, they have a coil main spring inside,
and the other improvements and modernisations that DWM made.
They all have grip safeties, and they do not have slots for shoulder stocks.
The one other marking that will be found here
is this little tiny combined "MP" for "Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa", or Portuguese Navy.
This was applied as an approval stamp by Portuguese inspectors
who were at the DWM factory in Berlin.
It's about 2mm tall on this first batch.
Second batch: some of them will have a similar stamp that's about 3mm tall,
and some of them actually don't have that stamp, but all of the first batch do.
Of course the extractor doubles as a loaded chamber indicator on the Luger,
and these are marked "Carregada" in Portuguese - loaded.
Although they do not have a marking on the safety area.
When the Navy ordered these pistols, they ordered them with a bunch of accessories.
They ordered holsters, double mag pouches, lanyards,
three magazines per gun, in addition to the pistols themselves.
And this whole total package would cost them 91 Reichsmarks per gun,
which interestingly is about double what the German government
was paying for a P08 Luger at the time, which was 46 Reichsmarks, 46 marks and change.
I don't know if that German price included all the
sort of accessories that the Portuguese were ordering though.
But you order a small batch, you are definitely going to pay a higher price.
The Portuguese Navy did end up acquiring a few more guns.
They bought another 156 sporadically through the late 1930s.
Those were purchased from Mauser,
and they came straight out of Mauser commercial production.
So they ... don't have their own specific serial number range,
they're just whatever Mauser was making at that time.
And I don't have one of those here to show you, so we'll cover that another time.
Very cool to get a chance to see this, far rarer than most of the Army contracts.
Only 350 of these royal ownership Portuguese Navy Lugers were ever made and purchased.
Hopefully you guys enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.