Thread: Stoeger Luger
View Single Post
 
Old 08-02-2020, 01:26 PM
2152hq 2152hq is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 7,745
Likes: 1,638
Liked 9,146 Times in 3,378 Posts
Default

Mitchell's Arms Lugers were made by a Huston Tx firm named Aimco.
Aimco was mainly in the oil rig and related machinery biz.
Michell Arms was the company that had the guns built and marketed them.
Aimco was the company that built the guns.

** The firm of 'Mitchell's Mauser's' has nothing to do with the production of the Mitchell Arms stainless steel Luger pistol nor the later Stoeger Luger pistol.
Entirely different company that dealt with the importation and 'restoration'/refinishing of mostly WW2 arms and reselling them.
That.s another story for another thread! ****

Mitchell Arms was staffed with a number of former High Standard employees.
H/S had gone thru a period of layoffs and changes in management. Lots of people left the company over disputes about where H/S was headed. Many of them were designers, R&D, lower managment, ect.
This Mitchell Arms Co & Luger project started in 1991 or '92 IIRC.

Mitchel also began making a few other stainless steel offerings that looked quite similar to pistols that High STandard made (hmmm..)
That's another story and lawsuit..

Mitchels lugers were primarily investment cast stainless steel parts,,that was 'the way' to built a firearm at the time.
There were some problems,,a Luger is not an easy handgun to make and be a reliable firearm.

Some complaints from collectors of course of it not being exactly like a 'Luger',,well of course it wasn't,,it was the 1990's not 1908. Labor and mfg' were a bit different now.
Making Oil Rig apparatus and making Lugers is quite different especially when it comes to the final finish collectors were looking for.

I recall that there were cracked and broken investment cast parts. Triggers especially for some reason. It wasn't hard to get replacements at the time. But for a new firearm, the word was that they were 'hot and cold' as far as quality.

These pistols were marked 'Mitchel Arms Co ,,mfg'rd by Aimco, Huston Tx',,no mention of it being a 'Luger'.
That Luger trademark name still being a copyright(?) of Stoeger Corp from back in the 1920's when they were sole US importer.

Well a couple yrs later,,maybe 1995?,,along comes said Stoeger Corp and buys the rights to market the pistol from Mitchell Corp.
Now Stoeger changes the markings and plants 'LUGER' proudly on the pistol.
It's still the same stainless steel investment cast pistol made by Aimco in Tx.

Planning on boosted sales from the Luger name alone, but quality now begins to fall pretty quickly.

The worst part was the sloppy polishing. Heavy soft wheel buffing really sunk the pistol IMO.
Poor fitting of the parts,,investment parts need to be machined and fitted. The 'investments' generally give you a good start, but you need to work it over from there.
Many parts lacked anything but what was minimum necessary to make it work. No extra fitting or polishing. Investment cast surfaces were plainly evident on the exterior of many parts.
Poor heat treating started to become more of an issue as parts breakage increased.
On top of that getting replacements was a tough issue.
The shop I worked in at the time decided not to take any of them in for repair any more.
I know that the Stainless steel Michells and Stoegers were made into the late 1990's probably later. I was never interested in them enough to keep track.

I know some people that have one or have owned them and were perfectly happy with them, especially the earlier Mitchel branded guns.
One reported issue was the magazines (often also heard with orig Luger pistols too).
The MegGar replacements have worked very well for me in any original Luger. We used them in repairing them back then and they seemed to work fine.

I still see the pistols around at shops and shows (pre-CoVid) once in a while. Buyers still are leary of them from what I see.
Once you get a bad rap,,it's difficult to shed.
Just like people..
Reply With Quote