Hoping to gain some knowledge on this 9 mm I picked up today. I have ZERO knowledge on the Luger platform. What I think this is a standard Luger that had a custom barrel installed. I may be wrong as I really don't know how to ID a Luger or a copy and nowhere on the gun does it say Luger. The barrel reads "Barrel by J. Dewey" and on the rib near the front sight it reads "Dewey Gun Co." I found one other on the internet that has the name J. Dewey on it but it has no rib. I can find no reference to Dewey Gun Co on the internet but I do get a lot of results for J. Dewey cleaning rods. Someone spent some time with this gun as the finish and engravings are very nice. Any info on the J. Dewey or Luger Identification would be great!

John Dewey was the gunsmith and did a lot of Luger custom work in the 60's.
He was originally in Ct. (Roxbury?). Later moved his shop to Clinton Corners, NY. Gun writer Mason Williams backed him financialy and in print when at the NY location IIRC.
His rebbl'd Lugers and other handguns used to be some what common.

John Dewey's son and grandson are the gun cleaning co owners/operators. I don't know if John Dewey ever had anything to do with that operation.

Your Luger is a military, not commercial, Luger from World War I and was made by DWM, Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (SP?). The date of manufacture should be stamped on the receiver ring, into which the barrel is screwed. Most of the parts will have the last two digits of the serial number stamped on them and if original, they should all match.

Thanks for the info! I thought the scrolling on the top was Dewey's Initals but now that you point it out it is DWM engraved on the top strap. It does have the last two digits of the serial stamped on every part. I would like to know around what year the frame was made as there is no year stamped on it the Serial is 9x98.
I find it interesting that it has a vent rib, but as described there must have been many different Dewey variants.

Does it have a adjustable rear sight???


Cooool first target Luger I've ever seen......................

Yes, adjustable rear sight.

gosh, COOL pistol. i'd love to show at our local steel challenge with that. it drives 'em crazy enough that i shoot my (gasp) 586 4" revo... would love to hear the reaction to that one. nice buy.

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why? why not?

The year of manufacture may have been ground off when Dewey refinished the pistol. There may be records by SN somewhere, but I don't know them. All I can say is that it's WW I vintage, probably somewhere between 1913 and 1918. The complete serial number, four digits and a lower case letter, will be stamped on the front edge of the receiver, forward of the trigger and under the barrel, jusst forward of the takedown lever.

I think I hear some milsurp collectors firing up the tar boiler and gathering some bags of feathers.

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Release the Kraken

Cyrano, Thank you for the information!! The history in these old guns is what sparked my interest in S&W. Yes the serial has a letter and nuber exactly where you described 9689A.

Similar to cutting the barrel of a 6" pre 27 to 3.5" or Nickel plating an old Model 28.

Nice looking gun, looks like Dewey knew what he was doing. I would assume the barrel would be an accurate one otherwise he wouldn't use it. This gun is screaming for a range report. Would be interesting to see a pic of how the rear sight to see how he did it. Anyone know someone that does work on Lugers? Have a mis-matched serial numbered gun (my Dads war souvenir) that is a great gun to customize. Larry

That is very cool!

I would have already put a couple hundred down range but spring break got in the way. I hope to have an update by next week.

https://www.google.com/search?q=john...oxOnMykUTdM%3A

There are a few John Dewey custom Lugers mixed in the photos on this page. Some showing the adj rear sight assembly. Looks like a 'Micro' Adj on most with maybe a custom made base.

He did nice work. Follow your passion, live your dream.

How about posting a good close up picture of the rear sight both with the bolt closed and open? With the bolt open, it should really be interesting.
Never mind, the link provided by 2152hq has a some great pictures of the sight with the bolt open and closed. It is an interesting pistol and I would also like to see the range report.

I have some down time this week so I dug a little deeper into the info member 2152hq provided. Several searches later I finally came up with an article in a 1963 Gun magazine.




They also had some good deals on Lugers at the time