Before last week, I’d had only seen pictures of these in very informative Luger books. I had never once saw one in person. The Mauser Sport Parabellum is an extremely scarce sporting version of the Lugers that Mauser built in the 1970's.

How rare? We are talking under 100 units. According to my sources, Mauser built about 80 of them between 1975 and 1976. I’m not sure how many are left some 40 years later, but certainly less than the total built. They were never intended to be exported to the States either, so whatever examples are here were all privately imported one by one. I’d venture to say you could count that number on one hand, so you won’t be finding any at your local shop or show.

As you can tell by the pics, this model varies quite a bit from a standard Luger P08. The most notable difference is the 4.5" heavy match grade bull barrel with the thick barrel crown. This adds a good 6oz to the weight of the gun and also gives the Sport a very balanced feel, while keeping muzzle rise in check. The second big difference is the target sighting system. The rear sight is large and fully adjustable. Being attached to the back of the toggle means it has to hang off the end of the gun in an odd fashion. However, it works very well and I thinks it adds to the pistol’s exotic character. The front sight is a ramp with a dovetailed post and works together with the rear sight to give a great picture on target.

Another big difference that doesn’t really show itself outwardly is the special adjustable match trigger. Right now, its set at about two pounds and very crisp. It can be adjusted via two small internal screws, but I think I will leave it right where it is. The trigger is nothing like any other Luger I own or have handled. It feels on par with many of my other high end target pistols. Once last difference between the Sport model and most of the other 1970‘s era Mauser Parabellums is the lack of the grip safety. Since I hated the grip safety on my standard Mauser Parabellum, this change is very welcome for me.

Visually speaking, this gun is stunning. The pictures don’t begin to do it justice. The glossy bluing is ocean-deep to the point where its nearly to jet black. The strawing is very evenly done and looks great. The walnut grips are nicely checked and feel perfect in hand. I’ve always loved the grip angle of the Luger and that of other pistols that share it.

This example was built in 1975, as can be seen in the pics. Condition wise, this pistol is like new. I don’t have the original box, but it did come with the green Mauser seal of authenticity, which was signed by the master gunsmith. The green seal was exclusively for the German market. The standard 1970's Mausers came with a blue seal as more of a marketing gimmick. They were not signed.

From a quality standpoint, I'm very impressed. It compares very favorably to the standard Mauser Parabellums built during the same time period. I'm not going to say build quality and fitting is quite on par with my older Lugers, but its not that far off. The quality of the finish exceeds that of any Luger I own, as does the quality of the trigger. Mauser definitely put plenty of extra work into these special sporting pistols and it shows.

I’m certainly looking forward to getting this to the range. The fixed barrel, large target sights, and the amazing trigger should make this one very accurate pistol.

Thanks for reading and please enjoy the pics.

Awesome!! One of the best treasures I have seen for sure. Thanks for sharing

That is a real beauty. I would love to have one!

Bob

That is an awesome gun, the Luger looks good with a heavy barrel. It also has a nice deep, blue on it. Never knew this existed, you have some nice guns. Your thread on Glock talk has pics of guns that we dream of owning. Thanks for sharing this one, Larry

That's a beauty for sure. I probably won't find one at the local pawn shop, but you never know for sure. In case I do run up on one, what should I expect to have to pay for it?

Interesting. Way Cool. I have never actually seen one.

Absolutely beautiful Sir! Thank you for your photos and knowledge, I know it takes a lot of time and truly appreciate your willingness to seek the knowledge and share it with us.

Very nice! The Luger enjoyed some use as a target pistol, in modified form, for many years, especially in Europe.
Mauser seems to have adopted the best features and modifications in creating their version of a target Luger.
Certainly this was a high point of all the various reiterations they came out with during this post-war production era.

Congrats on an excellent find!

Neat piece!!
I think one of the reasons that the rear sight is so bulky is that it must take a real beating flopping around on the end of the toggle.....

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

I have an old Gun Digest or two wherein they mention these, so I think they did intend to import them to the U.S.

Great looking piece, I'd like to shoot one with that heavy barrel.

Very nice indeed, thank you for sharing.

I would love to shoot that one. Very rare, nice catch.

Fascinating and beautiful pistol.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Guns this rare are worth what people will pay for them. Realistically, I'd say $4000-$6000, depending on condition. Obviously, if the gun is trashed, it would be less.

You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than you do finding one in a local pawn shop though.

There's actually one for sale online, which is amazing in and of itself...

Mauser Sport Parabellum Only10 MADE! : Semi Auto Pistols at GunBroker.com

It may take a while to sell at that price. Then again, some have very deep pockets.

I would like to see some detailed photos of how the match trigger is set up. Lugers always have had the most spongy triggers, with the elaborate system of levers that finally snake around to the sear.

Curl

Rare and beautiful ~ congratulations!

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John
S&WCA Life Member