While I’m not a huge collector of pre WWII handguns, there’s no way my Luger collection was complete without one of these. The 1900 American Eagle is the quintessential parabellum, in my opinion. Its got the 4.75“ pencil barrel, original grip safety, old style machining and springs, and dished toggles with the toggle lock on the right side. Its got that classic look that most picture when they think of the German Luger.
At the risk of embarrassing myself amongst Luger experts, I’ll try to give some brief history below on likely the most iconic handgun in history. The Luger was designed in part by Georg Luger and patented in 1898. It was produced in numbers starting in 1900 by DWM and a few others. The design is based in part on the earlier Borchardt C-93, but was much more compact and practical. The first country to adopt the Luger was Switzerland, who adopted it for their army in 1900 and it was not succeeded until nearly a half century later by the Sig P210. In 1902, Georg Luger helped develop a new round for his pistol, aptly named the 9mm Luger. This new round helped catapult the Luger pistol into much more widespread use throughout the world. While its thoroughly outdated today, the Luger remains one of, if not the most iconic autopistol of all time. The design was well known for its accuracy and precision. Unfortunately, it is also well known for being finicky, especially when dirty, and being time consuming and expensive to manufacture.
Besides the new 9mm caliber being introduced in 1902, the Luger pistol itself underwent some design changes in the early 1900‘s. The original 1900/1902 design had some weaknesses that needed to be overcome for the pistol to gain trust and popularity on a more global level. The old model extractor and leaf springs did not have the durability and longevity that DWM had hoped for. DWM changed the thin spring steel extractor to a new thicker bar steel extractor with its own small coil spring. Furthermore, the large leaf springs were replaced with more durable coil springs. These changes also required changes to the frame and toggle assembly themselves to accommodate the new parts. That’s why the appearance of the breechblock and toggle assembly looks a bit different on the early models. In addition to these necessary changes, the dished toggle knobs were gone by 1903 to a much easier to machine square toggle knob. The toggle lock was then deemed unnecessary and gone by 1904. Other changes to the original design included a more narrow trigger guard, but a wider trigger (go figure) and the eventual elimination of the grip safety. All these changes took place between 1902 and 1908, so there are several “transitional” models that were built during that time span with some old and new features.
I realize none of those multiple changes has anything to do with the 1900 American Eagle. I went through all of that simply so the reader can appreciate the subject of this thread for its compliance to the original design. The 1900 has the original leaf springs, thin extractor, flat toggle, dished toggle knobs, grip safety, pencil barrel, etc. Its chambered for the difficult to find and expensive 30 Luger, as this pistol was built prior to the existence of the 9mm round. The 9mm was introduced a couple years after its production, which is a testament to the age of this example.
DWM imported this same basic pistol to a few countries in 1900, each adorned with a specific crest on the top of the chamber. Naturally, the American imports had the beautiful American Eagle stamping. DWM manufactured approximately 12,000 1900 American Eagle Lugers. 1000 of these were “trial” guns and tested by the US military for possible adoption. As history has shown, the United States did not adopt the Luger in 1900 or at any point during its history. As stated above, the Swiss did adopt the gun in 1900. It wasn’t until the 9mm round had been developed and the necessary changes to the design had been made that Germany finally adopted the Luger in 1908, hence the popular P08 moniker for the gun from that point forward.
I found this beautiful example in a local shop after passing on the exact gun at a gun show in October. The FFL holder who had it wasn’t as forthcoming as I would have wished and I’m always extremely careful with Luger purchases. Apparently, the owner of the gun finally sold it to my local shop after it failed to sell at the gun show. As fate would have it, I happened to stop in. It wasn’t even on the shelf yet, but the shop owner knows I like this sort of thing and showed it to me. It took me a few minutes to realize it was the same exact gun I had almost bought in October. Once I did, I was in total shock and disbelief. Unlike the gun show, I was able to take the gun apart and make sure everything matched and look at the internals. Once it checked out, I was sold. I got it for $3800 OTD, which was $200 less than I would have gotten it for at the show. I’ve always been lucky with finding cool stuff, but for this gun to sort of come back to me was nothing short of astonishing.
As you can see, it’s in stunning 95+% condition. There are a couple small spots here and there as well as some minor handling marks, but the overall condition of this Luger is truly outstanding. The grips have no cracks or chips and still have sharp checkering. The bluing looks great and there is very little holster wear on the high edges. All numbers are 100% matching to include the grips, although the commercial guns were generally not numbered as extensively as military examples. In typical commercial fashion, it is stamped GERMANY on the front of the frame. This example is not proofed. My research indicates that some 1900 American Eagles were proofed, but most were not. The wood base magazine is correct in style and could very well be original to the pistol. They were unmarked, which is typical for commercial Lugers. The strawing remains in nice shape throughout the gun. Upon fieldstripping, the internals were clean, albeit dry. I oiled the gun inside and out, as it had been sitting a while. I’m not sure of the history other than it was in one family for many decades. They obviously took very good care of it.
Build quality of the Luger is incredible. They are very tight and precisely machined. I'm always in awe when taking them apart and this example is certainly no exception.
At any rate, I hope you enjoyed my amateur history lesson. For all you Luger guys on the forum, what do you think of my latest?
Thanks for reading and please enjoy the pics.
Below is my meager Luger collection...
1923 American Eagle, 1935 Krieghoff, 1940 Mauser Police, 1900 American Eagle, and 1975 Mauser Sport Parabellum
At the risk of embarrassing myself amongst Luger experts, I’ll try to give some brief history below on likely the most iconic handgun in history. The Luger was designed in part by Georg Luger and patented in 1898. It was produced in numbers starting in 1900 by DWM and a few others. The design is based in part on the earlier Borchardt C-93, but was much more compact and practical. The first country to adopt the Luger was Switzerland, who adopted it for their army in 1900 and it was not succeeded until nearly a half century later by the Sig P210. In 1902, Georg Luger helped develop a new round for his pistol, aptly named the 9mm Luger. This new round helped catapult the Luger pistol into much more widespread use throughout the world. While its thoroughly outdated today, the Luger remains one of, if not the most iconic autopistol of all time. The design was well known for its accuracy and precision. Unfortunately, it is also well known for being finicky, especially when dirty, and being time consuming and expensive to manufacture.
Besides the new 9mm caliber being introduced in 1902, the Luger pistol itself underwent some design changes in the early 1900‘s. The original 1900/1902 design had some weaknesses that needed to be overcome for the pistol to gain trust and popularity on a more global level. The old model extractor and leaf springs did not have the durability and longevity that DWM had hoped for. DWM changed the thin spring steel extractor to a new thicker bar steel extractor with its own small coil spring. Furthermore, the large leaf springs were replaced with more durable coil springs. These changes also required changes to the frame and toggle assembly themselves to accommodate the new parts. That’s why the appearance of the breechblock and toggle assembly looks a bit different on the early models. In addition to these necessary changes, the dished toggle knobs were gone by 1903 to a much easier to machine square toggle knob. The toggle lock was then deemed unnecessary and gone by 1904. Other changes to the original design included a more narrow trigger guard, but a wider trigger (go figure) and the eventual elimination of the grip safety. All these changes took place between 1902 and 1908, so there are several “transitional” models that were built during that time span with some old and new features.
I realize none of those multiple changes has anything to do with the 1900 American Eagle. I went through all of that simply so the reader can appreciate the subject of this thread for its compliance to the original design. The 1900 has the original leaf springs, thin extractor, flat toggle, dished toggle knobs, grip safety, pencil barrel, etc. Its chambered for the difficult to find and expensive 30 Luger, as this pistol was built prior to the existence of the 9mm round. The 9mm was introduced a couple years after its production, which is a testament to the age of this example.
DWM imported this same basic pistol to a few countries in 1900, each adorned with a specific crest on the top of the chamber. Naturally, the American imports had the beautiful American Eagle stamping. DWM manufactured approximately 12,000 1900 American Eagle Lugers. 1000 of these were “trial” guns and tested by the US military for possible adoption. As history has shown, the United States did not adopt the Luger in 1900 or at any point during its history. As stated above, the Swiss did adopt the gun in 1900. It wasn’t until the 9mm round had been developed and the necessary changes to the design had been made that Germany finally adopted the Luger in 1908, hence the popular P08 moniker for the gun from that point forward.
I found this beautiful example in a local shop after passing on the exact gun at a gun show in October. The FFL holder who had it wasn’t as forthcoming as I would have wished and I’m always extremely careful with Luger purchases. Apparently, the owner of the gun finally sold it to my local shop after it failed to sell at the gun show. As fate would have it, I happened to stop in. It wasn’t even on the shelf yet, but the shop owner knows I like this sort of thing and showed it to me. It took me a few minutes to realize it was the same exact gun I had almost bought in October. Once I did, I was in total shock and disbelief. Unlike the gun show, I was able to take the gun apart and make sure everything matched and look at the internals. Once it checked out, I was sold. I got it for $3800 OTD, which was $200 less than I would have gotten it for at the show. I’ve always been lucky with finding cool stuff, but for this gun to sort of come back to me was nothing short of astonishing.
As you can see, it’s in stunning 95+% condition. There are a couple small spots here and there as well as some minor handling marks, but the overall condition of this Luger is truly outstanding. The grips have no cracks or chips and still have sharp checkering. The bluing looks great and there is very little holster wear on the high edges. All numbers are 100% matching to include the grips, although the commercial guns were generally not numbered as extensively as military examples. In typical commercial fashion, it is stamped GERMANY on the front of the frame. This example is not proofed. My research indicates that some 1900 American Eagles were proofed, but most were not. The wood base magazine is correct in style and could very well be original to the pistol. They were unmarked, which is typical for commercial Lugers. The strawing remains in nice shape throughout the gun. Upon fieldstripping, the internals were clean, albeit dry. I oiled the gun inside and out, as it had been sitting a while. I’m not sure of the history other than it was in one family for many decades. They obviously took very good care of it.
Build quality of the Luger is incredible. They are very tight and precisely machined. I'm always in awe when taking them apart and this example is certainly no exception.
At any rate, I hope you enjoyed my amateur history lesson. For all you Luger guys on the forum, what do you think of my latest?
Thanks for reading and please enjoy the pics.
Below is my meager Luger collection...
1923 American Eagle, 1935 Krieghoff, 1940 Mauser Police, 1900 American Eagle, and 1975 Mauser Sport Parabellum
