Seeing as how most of you on this board appreciate the fine craftsmanship of Smith & Wesson handguns, it occurred to me that some of you might also appreciate the European version of fine craftsmanship typified by Luger pistols. Once upon a time when Lugers were more plentiful and considerably cheaper than they are now, I had a fairly nice collection of them. Over the years, my affections changed and I disposed of most of them in trade. I did keep one of my Lugers as a representative sample of the breed. If you have one or more of the Parabellum pistols, bring 'em out, photograph them, and post them here!

This one, made by Mauser in 1936, still has its original 1936-dated holster. It was a WWII souvenir bring-back.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

What a beautiful piece or ordnance.
Unless you go Korth, they just don't make 'em like that anymore.

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The Last Standing Knight

I also like the Walthers. I had a PPK and the machine work on the inside parts was as pretty as the outside. Don

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"Don't worry be happy"

The Luger really has got an aura about it. Let's face it, as a military arm it is a dubious proposition with its required hand finishing and doubtful resistance to dirt. But just the same we all love 'em. Go figure.

When Mr Sturm and Mr Ruger introduced their .22 Standard
semi-auto pistol in 1949 I don't think it a coincidence the outline looked familiar except for the toggle bolt. And it was named a "Ruger" (Luger) not a Sturm.
I've only owned one Luger, sold it and didn't look back. Same with the Walther P38's. All Nazi marked WWll. All inaccurate.
I only keep the shooters.

Being of our age John, we were exposed to many of these in the WWII movies and books we saw. I never had a Luger, but I did have a P-38 for a short time. It was fun to shoot and never failed, but there are so many better available.

At one time, long, long ago I had
1. Luger
2. P-38
3. PPK
4. Sig-Sauer M38
5. Mauser 1910/1934
6. Colt SSA
7. Colt M1911
8. Webley Mk IV
9. Webley Mk VI
The craftsmanship was awesome.
I always want a Mauser M1896 with this collection but never quite was able to get one.
Jimmy

This is when I just brought it home, its almost a Luger.

All Lugers are a work of art. I have a '42 BYF Black Widow. Never shoot the old safe queen but get her out every once in a while to admire or show to friends. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Picked up this Artillery a few years back. I believe it has a 1916 chamber date. All matching except the magazine. I took it down to the firing pin to examine the serial numbers before I purchased it.

I have a Mauser Banner that has never been photographed by me. Some day. It is a beauty.

Enjoy,
bdGreen

Rimfired: I have a bringback P-38 with the papers and for the fun of it I went thru our LED course of fire (75 feet max) and qualified with it.It was accurate enough for me. I also shot my 1938 S/42 Luger at a bowling pin match and did pretty good. So I disagree with your statement
of them being inaccurate. I think it's the shooter more than the gun.

I wish I had several of them. I picked up a nice BYF 41 a few years ago, all matching with one matching mag. They're neat pistols!

Lugers are really neat. I have a .30 caliber version and I used it to shoot some 8" steel plates a couple months ago. Very fun and everyone looked at me like I was crazy! But they all sure wanted to give my Luger a try! Click on the below picture to see the video:

mm6mm6-

Nice shooting, in the video! Is that gun one with a barrel a bit under four inches? Made to comply with provisions of the Versailles Treaty?

I think they were sold here as the 1920 model? Stoeger brought some in before WW II broke out.

Have you tried it on small game, with softpoint or JHP bullets? I'm not sure what's available, but if you get one up to about 1200 FPS, I bet it'd do the job on animals to at least coyote size. But will the 93 grain (or so) bullet penetrate well?

T-Star

That video does show that the Lugers will put them on target if the shooter does his/her part! Thanks for sharing the video. Your .30 caliber pistol is a fine example!

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Bob,
Respectfully, I was just referring to the ones I owned. Not all of them. I think I'm gonna cry, you calling me a bad shooter.

A Luger is something I think every WWII affectionato should own. Mine is a 9mm that I have been able to establish thru the Luger forum was used by the police in Berlin. Sorry, no photo. Despite its lousy sights, it is fairly accurate, but mine tends to mangle the brass such that it is then unusable.

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Quoth the raven:
"Nevermore"

My BYF-41 Black Wodow. Holster is a repro.

Rugers Standard Model 22 auto internal design is actually borrowed from the Japanese Nambu rather than the Luger pistol. But he did borrow from the Luger to improve that skinny grip frame on the Nambu. The grip appeared on his hand drills before the pistols were made.

I was heavy into Lugers for many years but gotten rid of most. Have dumped some recently including three Artillerys, a 1915 DWM w/holster and 1937 Mauser that went away. I traded the last one for a Semmerling LM-4. That's gone too.

Still have a few left including one Artillery. Also the first Luger I ever bought. Price was $100.
BYF41 matching w/holster. But that's a 1971 price. Choice was that or a '69 mfg Browning HP from a retiring Sgt.. I think I grabbed the right one.

I've had several over the years but the only two I have left are a 1915 DWM and a 1917-1920 Erfurt rework.

I'd really like to have one that isn't as nice as mine for a shooter. I've never shot the one I have for fear of breaking a firing pin and suddenly that nice, matching Luger is just a non-matching shooter.

Steave,
I'd be willing to exercise your Luger until you wouldn't mind using
it as a shooter. I mean, you know, anything for a forum member!
TACC1

LOL, thanks for the generous offer!

Here's mine-a later, post-war Mauser Interarms with the Swiss pattern frame. I recently shot it (with the help of my 12-year-old) after letting it sit in the safe for 25 years.
Bob

Very nice!

I do see some differences between the Mauser Interarms and the standard German P.08. The obvious difference is in the shape of the grip frame. Also there is a track for the thumb safety and the trigger does not have the frontal curve that in the P.08 limits the trigger's return travel. Also, the Swiss pattern incorporates a grip safety.

Looks like your daughter knows how to shoot! Great photos, by the way.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I've got one of the Stoeger .22 LR "Lugers" does that count?? Probably NOT.

Seriously... Had a friend years back in NJ who had a hell of a collection of Lugers. He was collecting them as a kid in the early 60's by having his older, LEO Brother buy them. Kept every one too.

Recall fondly shooting an 8" model with a shoulder stock out to 300 yds once. And shot his shooter grade 9mm 4" DWM a lot....... tough sights, tougher trigger, but it was accurate.

FN in MT

How does the curve at the front bottom of the grip strap limit trigger travel? I may learn something new today...I'd never thought about that.

T-Star

Way back around 1978, I met a guy who turned out to be a huge drug dealer...He had an enforcer called "Ajax" (I.E.-stonger than dirt)...I was surprised to discover he carried a 4" Lugar as his weapon of choice.

I'm pretty certain I've shown this one before here on the Forum. This may appear to be a common VoPo mongrel Luger but originally really was Manfred Von Richthofen's Luger...I mean his own personal Luger! He had the left grip customized with his nickname as may be seen.



Anyway, I took part in an impromptu internet match on a private firearms forum. The match called for 10 shots at 50 and 100 yards with a pistol chambered for 9mm for a mystery handgun prize. Could be offhand or rested. Strangely, my 100-yard group was only 1/2-inch larger than my 50 yard group. Was still just good enough for me to squeak through to a win, partially because few other members entered. The prize was a rather nice Nagant revolver that I've actually had a lot of fun playing around with.


50 yard group. That pesky ol' spongy Luger trigger pull helped with a couple of fliers.

100 yard group


Anyway, not too bad for a mangy old Luger with such a pedigree.

That frontal curve on the trigger limits the trigger's return travel. After the trigger is pulled, it goes forward on release, and that curve contacting the inside of the trigger guard stops the forward travel at the ideal point for another pull after reset. Your Swiss pattern postwar Mauser does not have that frontal curve on the trigger, so something must stop the forward travel of the trigger internally - probably a hidden internal frame contact point on the trigger.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Parabellum Mauser

I have had two in the long past. The first one my uncle gave me, he took it off a kraut. My ex wife took it along with my audie murphy colt and others.
The 2nd one is a 1906 german commercial in 7.62 with a super rare ideal holster/stock. I had a old friend of some fame, col. gary kubacheck that was a pioneer of radar in the A.F. that sold it to me cheap for some reason. I sold it to fiance a lawyer for said ex,s and my divorice.

This is my simple Luger collection. It's a WWII parts gun that an old friend of my dads sold me, that was a serious Luger collector and gunsmith, for significantly less then the sum of the parts is worth. She ain't real pretty, but it fires every time I pull the trigger and doesn't jam with the good magazine it came with.



A luger is something that everyone should at least get a chance to shoot.

DWM (Mauser) P.08

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Here is my post war Mauser in the P-08 pattern with a six inch barrel.

I've owned two of these well made firearms. One was WWII vintage and ran ok, but I ended up selling it.
The second one, was a big mistake on my part. My uncle gave me a 1902 Luger Carbine (.30 Luger Cal), complete with walnut butstock, which matched the forestock, and the whole shebang was in a fitted case. Now, he rest of the story..............................................
When I was in college, I sold this beauty to help fund my education. I had it for several years and enjoyed taking it apart and marveling at the precision machinery. Wish I still had it; oooh well!

Beemerrider

I've got some of those. I bought these at an auction cheap as "mismatching" Lugers. Much to my surprise, the P08 was mismatched but the Artillery however is completely matching except for the grips and magazine. Further the Artillery (unlike the P08) is completely untouched and unrestored and still displays strawing on the safety and trigger. Both guns were bringbacks and sadly someone in the past spruced them up with those classy Franzite grips. A correct wood base magazine came with the package but it is not numbers matching. I shoot the P08 as is and have a new set of nils grips (as of yet uninstalled) for the Artillery.

This is the only Luger that I have ever owned. It was found in the rubble at Berchtesgaden when the the 3rd Division liberated it in May of 1945.

Now that is a remarkable pistol with a great history. In spite of its condition, it would be a worthwhile addition to any collection.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I've never owned a single one...despite 40+ years of buying, selling, trading and attending hundreds of gun shows.

Did shoot an 8" in 9mm with a shoulder stock a few times. It was amazing the long range accuracy of that gun, with the stock mounted. We had an 18" square ,steel plate at 160 yds back then and it wasn't safe from that Luger.

So many models and variations available...glad I never caught the Luger bug.

My wife and I have a couple of Lugers. They are history that you can hold in your hand. Like the older Smiths, they will never be made again. The modern copies made by Mauser and the stainless models sold by Stoeger are copies; just copies.

Charlie

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SWCA # 2294

I'd always wanted to shoot one, and a while back, my local gun pusher had this one at a reasonable price. I was pleasantly surprised at the accuracy of the pistol. They are an example of fine craftsmanship in my opinion.

I have a "DWM" double date 1913/20. Feels really "just right" in the hand, lovely to look at, extremly accurate for about 20-25 shots. Then it has picked up enough carbon/unburned powder/ gunk in general, and I see why the German Army went to the P38.....All the nice things above don't meen much if you have a few Russians charging at you with bayonets on the end of their Mosins....And your luger won't go bang 'cause it's a little yucky.

We have a refinished byf 42 in our family. My Dad has it now, and he wants to CARRY IT again.....so I need to find a carry rig for his Luger....and buy a few more mags...

I might could help with the carry rig....the mags are EXPENSIVE!!!

I am gonna get Dad the carry rig and a mag for Christmas...he is 79 this year, carried a Luger as a Marine pilot during Korea until the CO made 'em ditch personally owned guns and carry issued Victory models....

I have a 1915 DWM that got Wolff springs and loves the Winchester white box ammo. I also picked up some Mec Gar mags for it and they work very well. The only guns at the range that get this much attention are a Tommygun and a Broomhandle Mauser!

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Always bet on stupidity.

A friend of mine recently showed me a prize in his collection. It's a 1914-dated DWM P.08 Luger formerly in the collection of the late Ralph Shattuck, a noted Luger collector. It's in as close to perfect condition as any I've ever seen. I didn't have my best camera available, so these pics were done with Canon "point and shoot" camera with the pistol simply placed on the hood of his car. I thought it was really notable for its excellent condition in spite of being nearly a century old. The pics don't do it justice, but may give you some indication of its fantastic condition.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I have several WWII military pistols , and my BYF '41 while in very good shape is probably the last pistol I own I would carry or stake my life on. Even with a fresh set of Wolff springs and a good magazine , it just jams too often with anything but FMJ.

Dick