Third Party Press

German re-issued Steyr m1912

8x57mauser

Senior Member
Picked this up a little while back. Had been wanting one of these German conversions, both for their relative scarcity and for the fact that they utilize the more readily available 9mm Luger round. The few that I saw in my search were either not matching or had some other issue. This on retains about 40-50% finish but the bore is pristine and all numbers are matching. All parts are the correct Steyr K marked parts. German Eagle/N on the left side frame and the barrel, the correct dot delta is stamped right next to it, and on the right side of the frame is the Eagle/L to indicate police use, also has the 08 stamp on the left slide to indicate the conversion. The pistol itself is a 1919 production of which all guns were for the Austrian military, previous years the production numbers were split between Bavarian, Romanian, and Austrian contracts. Has the W(eagle)30 stamp to indicate acceptance into the Austrian military in 1930. Overall very pleased with the gun. There is a unit marking on the lanyard ring but i'm not sure what unit designation it is. It reads LGK. ST. on one side and 299 on the other side. Enjoy!

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I think the unit marking is for post-war Austrian police; the M12s remained in Austrian police service until replaced by Hiighpowers ca. 1950 or so.
 
Yes it would appear to be so. The LGK for Landes Gendarmerie Kommando, haven't been able to figure the ST yet, the number must be a weapon number


I think the unit marking is for post-war Austrian police; the M12s remained in Austrian police service until replaced by Hiighpowers ca. 1950 or so.
 
It turns out that that its not W(eagle)30 for acceptance into the army 1930, but its HV-30 for Heeresverwaltung that is stamped over a W(eagle)19 army acceptance for 1919 when the pistol was manufactured.
 
Anybody else out there have one of these Nazi reworked m1912 Steyr-Hahn pistols? Supposedly 60,000 were converted, which is 12x more than the entire Chilean contract for Steyr-Hahn and you see those all the time. Same if you look at about 75,000 produced during WWI for the Austrian military. or even when you compare it to the nearly 300,000 pistols made total. these Nazi reworks seem to be rather scarce.
 
The 60,000 number seems to be based on the notion that Mauser is alleged to have made 60,000 barrels. The P.08M12s were supposed to be issued only to the Pol in the Ostmark; that's a lot of cops, more than were there and the number seems excessive even if it includes spares. This statement about Mauser making the barrels and the number allegedly made has been circulating for some time and I have so far been unable to trace where it started and what the basis for it is. Recent research by Mötz & Schuy indicates the barrels were in all probability made at Steyr (which makes more sense IMO than Mauser). Vienna proof house records checked by M&S indicate just under 14,000 P.08M12s were passed through there beginning in 1940 and ending as late as 1945.
 
The 60,000 number seems to be based on the notion that Mauser is alleged to have made 60,000 barrels. The P.08M12s were supposed to be issued only to the Pol in the Ostmark; that's a lot of cops, more than were there and the number seems excessive even if it includes spares. This statement about Mauser making the barrels and the number allegedly made has been circulating for some time and I have so far been unable to trace where it started and what the basis for it is. Recent research by Mötz & Schuy indicates the barrels were in all probability made at Steyr (which makes more sense IMO than Mauser). Vienna proof house records checked by M&S indicate just under 14,000 P.08M12s were passed through there beginning in 1940 and ending as late as 1945.

Interesting, thanks for he info. I do remember reading so replace that people were speculating the barrels were in fact made by Steyr not MO. It would make sense to rework the pistols where they already were instead of shipping them all to Germany and back.

The 14,000 number seems more realistic as you just don't see them turn up. I have two, that one I posted and another I'll take pictures of and post that is a papered bring back. I bought it from the vets brother and supposedly the gun was picked up in Belgium in late 44 early 45, but who knows if that really is the case. What is interesting, and why I am going to post pictures is that there is no eagle/L, just the 08. And where the eagle/n normally appears on the frame and barrel there are very clear e/623 gun is pretty rough, it spent most of its life here in Florida and the humidity has not been kind to it. But the price was rig and it was papered so I grabbed it. But it has issues, broken main spring and the slide won't lock back on empty.
 
Entirely possible the piece was picked up in Belgium; police units were moved around and one or more could have been moved out of the Ostmark into Belgium.
You might want to post the e/623 piece on Still's forum; there are a number of Steyr folks over there and Mötz occasionally contributes. Somebody there might also have a replacement spring.
There's a lot we don't yet know about German M12s; they just haven't pulled the kind of intense scrutiny that P.08s have.
 
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Anybody else out there have one of these Nazi reworked m1912 Steyr-Hahn pistols? Supposedly 60,000 were converted, which is 12x more than the entire Chilean contract for Steyr-Hahn and you see those all the time. Same if you look at about 75,000 produced during WWI for the Austrian military. or even when you compare it to the nearly 300,000 pistols made total. these Nazi reworks seem to be rather scarce.


Mine is 1914 dated in the u block originally produced as part of the Romanian contract run. It also has later Third Reich Police markings as well as property stampings showing use with the post-war Austrian Police.
 
Steyr 1912

I have seen one of these in private hands, but only one. They're interesting, thanks for posting.
 
What does the this part mean?

HV-30 for Heeresverwaltung that is stamped over a W(eagle)19 army acceptance for 1919 when the pistol was manufactured.

HV-30. Who is accepting it HV-30? The one I am looking has this HV-30 stamped.

Thanks,
D.
 
My 1914 Steyr 08 9mm Austrian Police Issue….
 

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What does the this part mean?

HV-30 for Heeresverwaltung that is stamped over a W(eagle)19 army acceptance for 1919 when the pistol was manufactured.

HV-30. Who is accepting it HV-30? The one I am looking has this HV-30 stamped.

Thanks,
D.
Originally these pistols got a proof stamp when they were made. They usually read "Wn" followed by a two digit number, meaning the acceptance year. For example Wn19 for Wien (Vienna) (19)19.
The HV stamp is a repair stamp by the Austrian Army in the inter war period. HV means HeeresVerwaltung, again the two digit mean the year, hence the meaning of HV30 means HeeresVerwaltung (19)30, the year it was repaired/overhauled. These were on M.95 and M.1912 pistols stamped in the same location as the original Wn acceptance, in most cases therefore covering the original stamp.
 

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