The LOC pistol. An example of Nazi chicanery.

[ccdjg]

This LOC pistol is an interesting pop-out pistol rarity that appears to be an exact copy of the German JGA Dolla Mark II, except that it has a ‘LOC’ medallion set into the grip, and it is impressed on the base of the grip with “Made in Japan”.








It is very rare and was only available in the USA in about 1938-1939. There has been much debate about the truth of the “Made in Japan” mark, and there are two schools of thought. Firstly, the statement could be true, and the pistol is a Japanese copy of the Dolla Mark II, or secondly it was a German-made Dolla MK II with fake markings, intended to deceive the US Customs at a time when Nazi German imports were banned. If the markings are true, then that would make it the only the second spring air pistol known to have been made in Japan. The pros and cons of these two schools of thought are discussed in detail in the Vintage Airguns Gallery here :

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....ols/#post-4077


Although the weight of evidence tended to favour the second theory, the alternative interpretation could still not be completely discounted. Now, a new piece of evidence has now come to light, thanks to the sharp eye of forum member Bruce (Buck25), which more or less clinches the ‘fake Nazi marking’ theory. An example of the LOC pistol has been found, which, despite being marked ‘Made in Japan’, has small stampings of the Nazi Eagle, in stylized form, on the cylinder, trigger guard, trigger and grip.









This Nazi eagle was used extensively on guns, both for secret coding and as proof marks. Here are some examples:





The question now is, why this particular gun stamped in this way, when all the others reported to date were not?

[Garvin]

The cheeky bleeders! Would the eagle motif not tip of the US Customs though? Or were they not looking very hard...?

[MDriskill]

VERY interesting!

I guess the next debate is whether our customs guys were Nazi sympathizers, or merely hugely incompetent...

[Faerie]

I'm somewhat suspicious about the rather crude nazi eagle being stamped in various places, and nowhere near as neatly as I'd expect on a German gun, however cheap.

As a subscriber to Ian McCollum's "Forgotten Weapons" channel I've seen a lot of disassembled or field stripped German guns, and the Germans seem to have been keen to put the serial number of guns on all the major parts/assemblies in the manner that this mystery pistol has the eagle stamp. It makes sense to serial those parts on a firearm but not on an extremely cheap air pistol, and even less sense to stamp those parts with a mark that means almost nothing. Somehow it just doesn't ring true, if you see what I mean ?

[ccdjg]

I'm somewhat suspicious about the rather crude nazi eagle being stamped in various places, and nowhere near as neatly as I'd expect on a German gun, however cheap.

As a subscriber to Ian McCollum's "Forgotten Weapons" channel I've seen a lot of disassembled or field stripped German guns, and the Germans seem to have been keen to put the serial number of guns on all the major parts/assemblies in the manner that this mystery pistol has the eagle stamp. It makes sense to serial those parts on a firearm but not on an extremely cheap air pistol, and even less sense to stamp those parts with a mark that means almost nothing. Somehow it just doesn't ring true, if you see what I mean ?

I suppose the marks could be fakes, but you would have to ask why would anyone bother? I could understand such faking on iconic firearms like luger and mauser, as the Nazi connection would increase value, but not on a humble air pistol that 99.999% of collectors would never have heard of.

If these pistols were first shipped out to Japan in large batches, either complete or as parts for assembly in Japan, perhaps one example per batch was marked to satisfy the German export controls. I just don't know.

[ogilkes]

Its an intriguing possibility. But I am a mite bit suspicious of he 'eagle' stamp on an airpistol. Why do that if the intent is to fool US customs? Given that stamping anything with an eagle or a swastika (look at the vast amounts of so-called Burghof silver and table linen now on sale to collectors of such stuff) until more evidence emerges needs to be treated with a very large grain of salt.

[nishijin]

Once upon a time, there was a very lucrative fakes market coming from the Soviet block, modifying both genuine Leica and Zorki/Fed to look like the very rare Nazi-emblazened Leica cameras of the era. Even in the 2000's and 2010's you would find people buying awful knockoffs thinking they were buying the genuine articles.

My money would be on something like that. The stamping looks too hooky.

[slow_runner]

This LOC pistol is an interesting pop-out pistol rarity that appears to be an exact copy of the German JGA Dolla Mark II, except that it has a ‘LOC’ medallion set into the grip, and it is impressed on the base of the grip with “Made in Japan”..

The question now is, why this particular gun stamped in this way, when all the others reported to date were not?

Perhaps it is the original sampler offered while the effort to fool the USA border was planned and agreed?