Third Reich Lugers | The Mystery of The "KU" Luger
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
- As a part of our brand-new series on Third Reich Luger variations, in this video, we discuss and hope to solve the mystery of the "KU" marked Lugers.
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Another great review thanks Tom. Hope you're having a great summer.
Die Abkürzung "KÜ" in Verbindung mit einer Seriennummer einer Luger P08 bezieht sich auf eine Waffenprüfung oder eine Überarbeitung in der Kriegs-Überwachungsstelle (KÜ) während des Zweiten Weltkriegs. Die Kriegs-Überwachungsstellen waren Einrichtungen, die für die Qualitätskontrolle und Überwachung der Waffenproduktion zuständig waren, um sicherzustellen, dass die hergestellten Waffen den erforderlichen Standards entsprachen.
Yeah. Your back !!! Nice to hear from you!! Thanks for your videos!!!
Thank you for this video. Just picked up my first Luger, and low and behold it’s an all matching Ku BYF 41. Great info.
Oldest luger I ever saw was a 1907 owned by one of my friends. and another one was a 1906 with Russian writings and crossed Russian rifles.
I have a Luger "Ku" found in the attic of my country house in Italy, it is in excellent condition, which corresponds to all descriptions and brands. I'm really happy !!!!
'Sorry' LOL Love it Tom ... a beautiful gun sadly missing from my collection. I guess 'Ku' will remain yet another Luger Variation mystery but thanks for the info you have shown us. Great Job Tom
I am loving the history of the Lugers you do a great job Tom
In one of my book said, Kustenfliegerstafflen; mens German Costal Flying Service; Ku .
It's not really a "U" but rather "ü" Umlaut. I wonder if these guns were made for the Küstenwache" (German coast guard). With "K" being capitalized and "ü" lower case, it appears that it is the short version, i.e. beginning of a word, rather than initials of some kind.
Richtig! Das ist ein kleines "ü", aber kein "u"! Bei deinem Deutungsvorschlag "Küstenwache" stellt sich die Frage, ob diese Bezeichnung bis 1945 von offiziellen Stellen verwendet wurde. Vielleicht ist es auch ein Namenskürzel für einen kleinen Büchsenmacher-Betrieb (wie eine Hersteller- oder Meistermarke), der den Auftrag hatte, die restlichen Waffenteile - zu ein paar hundert - fertigen Pistolen zusammenzubauen.
@@moc6897 Das es die ersten zwei Buchstaben fuer einen kleineren Betrieb sind ist auch gut moeglich. Seltsam das niemand irgendwelche Fakten hat.
@@moc6897 Translation for the 'lazy' - Right! That's a small "ü" but not a "u"! With your suggested interpretation "coast guard" the question arises as to whether this term was used by official bodies until 1945. Maybe it's also an abbreviation for a small gunsmith business (like a manufacturer's or master's brand) that was commissioned to assemble the remaining gun parts - into a few hundred - finished pistols. Thank you mo c
@@spangy8405 Sank Yoo werry mudge my friend! Apreciate your help!
Not sure about the coast guard sounds nice and i suppose a possibilaty but they are in beutifull condition ie didnt look to have much corosion for pistols that spent there working life near the sea still very nice and interesting thanks gyes 👍👍
Years ago I bought a Mauser from a C&R seller. After getting it home I gave it a detailed once over. The furniture was in mint condition. Upon further inspection I found a swastika on it. I thought this is a piece of history. So I kept it like it was.
I'm Irish and as a young man Luger's where handed out like Sweet's, I remember a British officer getting so excited when he caught me with one. He told me I had ten seconds to run, which I did he knew the value of the gun. Eire32
English: The abbreviation "KÜ" in conjunction with a serial number of a Luger P08 refers to a weapon test or a revision in the War Monitoring Center (KÜ) during the Second World War. The War Monitoring Bodies were institutions responsible for quality control and monitoring of weapons production to ensure that the weapons produced met the required standards.
I did learn something today. Thank you Tom.
I think Your Kreighoff theory is correct. They were the ONLY Contractor that made such precision in their machining that they had TOTAL parts interchangeability between models. Goering went to them for the Luftwaffe po8,s.
Thanks, Tom. Beautiful pistols. I did learn something today. Kurt
Are you the mysterious "Kü"? 🤨
Great show and thanks for the info my friend 👍👍👍👍👍
If they all have Luftwaffe stamps, maybe they were marked for a Küstenfliegergruppe?
Great video! I have a Ku Luger I inherited and knew it was rare but didn’t know the story.
I learned something today!
lovely tom
When as a dealer, I only remember 21$ Lugers. Presumed most assembled by Slaves (and sabotaged). I was demonstrating one to a client, and it went off while closing the breach. Lost that sale.
Krieghoff and DWM were taken over by a pair of Jewish Brothers after the War, which were given the sole contract to refurbish service Lugers and build new ones from previously made components. Estimates were between 4-5000 units total, and they were not assembled by the original German factory workers, which will explain each inconsistency and flaw with these examples.
I always get so fascinated with the weapons and the video in general that I forget to leave a like, I didn’t this time .
The fact that so many of the Ku Lugers appear to be in such pristine condition suggests that they were either never issued, which would be odd, or alternatively, that they were put together from spare parts after the war. If I had to guess, I'd say post-war assembly seems the most likely.
Incorrect...
@@edwardtakacs6877 Possibly, but how would you know? You appear very certain. So when were they assembled (from essentially but not exclusively Mauser parts) and by whom?
@@haroldgodwinson832 Send me your email address...and I will email you the excellent article thread, from Jan C.Still's Lugerforums...it is very long...then you will see...
Edward
@@edwardtakacs6877I’m interested in that thread as well.
Hello from Fresno California love this channel!
We know that the Luftwaffe did have repair facilities known as Luftzeugamt or LZA. Another current theory suggests that a Luftwaffe repair facility was located at the Sagen-Kuper airfield (umlaut not on my keyboard!) and that these pistols were assembled there. Ku used to indicate LZA Kuper.
The Umlaut is on your keyboard, just type ALT-129.
Thanks
You are CORRECT...Kupper it is...many collectors already know this information...
@@VR-ym8ys didn't work
@@VR-ym8ys may also not work, if you have Cyrillic on your PC, the letters for sh, sht and c are displayed instead of the German umlauts. Is a bit annoying if you happen to Be a Bulgarian that uses German, that problem is only for PCs running Windows not on Android/Linux devices. But you can just write ae, oe and ue!
Several Lugar authors have also advanced the theory that the ku's were assembled at Luftwaffe depots as the german air force had a significant need for guns, and maintained their own Armorers. -Hallock & Kant
Krieghoff opend a factory in Küfstein Austria in 1938. Küfstein in short is Kü. This factory still exists today by the name Voere.
what about the Flak-Brigade Küste (Flak-Brigade VIII) theory? Although to me 5000-8000 lugers sounds excessive for a brigade of only 3 regiments...
A bit of googling and i found out there was a Ku collectors club. In 2012 their theory was:
● Armorers from either the Army or Luftwaffe on
temporary assignment produced and tested the
Kü Parabellum pistols
● Surplus parts from Army armorer replacement
stocks were used in this project
● The assembly location and organization is
unknown, but could relate to the “Kü” marking
Theres also the Küstenfliegergruppe (German equivalent of RAF Coastal Command), of which there were 10 consisting of 30-40 aircraft each, each with a crew of 3-4. That accounts for 1600 lugers for the flight crews
This hurt to watch. In 2015 the gun shop near my house had a nice Ku for $999 and I've kicked myself hard for not buying it. Very interesting video.
you did good
And are there Lugers that have no serial numbers on them or dates? Lots and lots of variations of these pistols.
As a child, I had one of these that was assembled by Marx Toys.
You were a very lucky boy indeed. I had a hollow translucent yellow plastic luger that was crap. I filled it with water, pulled the trigger on it and it quit squirting. 💦☹🥵 Wonder how many boys got duped by a luger squirt gun?
Check the font on other German small arms from that era and see if any match the size and style.
What's the Waffenampt number on the inside of the grip panel?
Since I have never seen any authentic capture papers with the KU Lugers I think they are a post war thing. tt is possible that at the same time as France was putting together Grey Ghost P38s after the war that they were also putting together spare parts Lugers and using them wherever or simply selling them.
I have never seen a Russian capture Ku either
Hi There , Alan from England on the Line . ‘ KU ‘ is often found on Dutch Military Equipment. Could they have a Dutch connection I.e Made in Holland , issued to Dutch Troops , A Long Forgotten Dutch Contract ?? Just Thoughts . Stay Safe 🇺🇸🇬🇧
I believe what is now CZ made Mauser rifles mid war. Maybe Lugers too?
Something with Coast(al)... = Küsten... would make sense because they had a lower priority and were issued with the "leftovers", obsolete or old equipment.
Front line troops (or the SS) would get the newer equipment.
It is a "ü" not a "u" and it being Kü instead of KÜ kinda hints at it being an abbreviation, not an acronym.
The wide variation between examples definitely screams parts bin guns.
Would comparison of the oddball fonts be a direction to pursue? I am curious if the same size fonts were used by one of the manufacturers and could possibly point at who assembled them.
Could it be a typo. Fat thumb. If you are looking at the letters on a keyboard that are near the k such as the p the u or the l does that give any clues?
Only half-joking when I suggest Kübel (bucket/bin) as an explanation: those pistols that were assembled from parts tossed into the Schutt-Kübel (rubbish-bin). Who knows? 🙂
Or Kü for Küchenchef? They have to be armed too!
The KÜ means to my knowledge that the Luger was made from spare parts of the Mauserwerk/Mauserfactory.
Luftwaffe Inspected Ku marked Luger. This is one of the approx 5,000 that were produced with the Ku suffix, and one of only 2,700 that were produced with '41 date on chamber and 'byf' code on toggle.
A Luger like this costs more than $5,000
It is interesting that on these pistols there is already a place for a lanyard on the lower part of the grip, which is also not typical for the Nazi era made P08 pistols.
Kü , not Ku.
These "KUs" have "umlauts" upon the "U" (those little dots above the letter), which sounds rather like "E" in English, thus, K EEEUU, but the "E" is deep in the throat. Ü almost sounds like an English "E" blended with "U" at the same time.
Could it be Kurz as in short because it isn’t an artillery luger? Although kurz is without the unlaut
Yea, Kilo Uniform. They come right after Juliet Tango, that's why they used those letters next. It's in all the school books, I mean, the alphabet, ya know.
AS a Kansas Univ. alumni, I like to thing Germany is a fan of KU and college basketball. these were made for fans of James Naismith and the university he was coach at. if you don't know he invented basketball. hey with a lack of any other explanation, why not? a man can deam cant he? oh we just won the NCAA this past season.
Kupper...near Sagan/Zagan, Poland...this factory was near the Luftstalag where all the Allied prisoners escaped...
Hence the movie, "The Great Escape"...
The Kupper Factory blued and assembled the Parabellums for the Luftwaffe...
It is no longer a mystery...MANY collectors are now aware, and have been, for quite some time now...
What makes a black window Luger a black widow Luger?
Black hand grips basically besides the the dates and time when the black grips were being made for use to back up production of the brown ones.
Try this !! czcams.com/video/EwICEuSy95s/video.html
German Coastal Flying Service "Kustenfliegerstafflen"
"Ku Luft" Contract
?
4:27 "Krieghoff überarbeitet" (refurbished)? Just a guess. The "ü" is lower case.
German Coastal Flying Service "Küstenfliegerstaffel" >> KU
Is the story true the first design of luger was in 45acp?
No, at first it was 30 caliber. Then police and military people said we need bigger caliber so they went to 9mm. But only the US said we want 45 caliber, so they made perhaps 2 45 caliber prototypes, but the US went with Colt (good decision). Many 45 caliber replicas have been made but I think there were only 2 made by DWM in Germany
Just something else we can't own in the KU, erm I mean UK 🇬🇧
The P38 was "an improvement." Really?? In what way was the P38 an improvement? It was certainly cheaper and less time consuming to produce but "improvement"; I don't think so.
The Luger was state of the art in 1900, but over the years the German army clamored for something cheaper and more reliable. When Walther came up with the P.38 design , it was tested by the military and they overwhelming voted to replace the Luger with the P.38 and Mauser had to switch over production. It was cheaper, more reliable, interchangeable parts (which was a weakness for the Luger), less jams, easier to clean, faster to produce (by far). While the Luger remained the favorite souvenir for the GI's in WW2, it was not as popular with the German soldiers.
Is there another luger history book out there that isn’t so expensive, as third reich lugers is goong for around $350.00?
👍👍the name is Parabellum
I've always thought that "ku" was an abbreviation for "kustenartillerie" ... 🙄
ihave a mauser 08 witha seldom 0,2,5mm 0 on barwel not a overstamp just a singel 0
if its KZ is it made in the camps?
But theory says it could be the same for these, Just they lost the paper work in a bombing.
It is marked Kü. , not KU , = Komplett überholt = complete reconditioned
aber warum ist dann das ü ein Kleinbuchstabe? Es scheint fast so, dass das Kü die anfangsbuchstaben von irgendeinem Wort oder irgendeinem Namen sind.
You don’t say „U“ more like „EU“
promosm
But it's not a KU... it's KÜ that's different
Between 1850 and 1950 Germans were one of the three largest immigrant groups. But they all assimilated completely, so now not even a gun collector of German guns can say a single word in German or even understand that an ü is not an U.
I like people explaining the KU Luger or why Porsch( )? are fast cars and Nik( )? build quality sneakers. It always adds that little🤏 extra information about the people you listen to. 😉