Well, I'll be. I thought this one was pretty easy and lots of people would know it.
It was standard issue, Army and Navy, in both world wars. Not our Army and Navy -- those of Germany, and quite a few other countries.
It's a Luger combination tool, supplied with every military and most civilian Luger pistols. The Luger magazine is difficult to load; you can do it without the tool, but it's tough on your thumb. The tool has a hole in the middle, which fits over the magazine-follower button to pull it down. There's a lip machined into the inside of the hole so it hooks on the button and won't slip off. Then you push on the bent-over end to lower the magazine follower so you can insert cartridges.
The screwdriver end is used for removing the screws that hold the wood or plastic grips; those are the only screws in a Luger. The screwdriver end is used also for removing the firing-pin spring retainer, which has to be rotated 90 degrees to remove.
The Luger shown in the photo is my moderately rare 1900 American Eagle, manufactured in Germany in late 1900 or early 1901. 1900 was the first year of manufacture for Luger pistols, and Lugers manufactured in the first two years differ in many details from those of 1902 and later.
__________________
-- Carl
|