This came into my possession about 44 years ago, I was 14-15 years old at the time. I was visiting my Grandparents and had gone to the lake with my Grandpa to check on some property they had there. A friend of his had property directly behind and happened to be there so we walked over to visit. The conversation ultimately ended up about guns and he mentioned that he had a Luger. My ears perked up, I had been reading about Lugers for years and was familiar with and handled/shot them in the past. I started asking questions and he said that he had it with him and of course I asked if I could see it. To my surprise it was a 1900 American Eagle, the first of the commercial Lugers. He checked it to make sure it wasn't loaded and handed it to me. I immediately noticed that it had a problem, the upper would move back and forth a bit riding on the frame. Anyone that had been around Lugers and their disassembly/assembly would know immediately what was causing the problem(coupling link not installed correctly to mainspring), maybe he thinks it's broken and would want to sell it. So I asked him if he would be interested in selling it, he thought about it and said that 200 bucks would buy it. Of course I didn't have the 200 but the owner said the price was good until I did got the money together. A few weeks later the Luger was mine along with all of the ammo you see in the pics plus some.
This one is still in the same condition as the day I got it. It's all matching, original finish, fair bore but was still good enough for half-dollar groups at 15-20 yards. The only thing not original is the Marbles bead sight and the trigger serration. I would prefer that the trigger had been left alone but it is what it is. I think the 7.65mm Luger is the caliber for Lugers and the lines of a 4.75" barrel, long frame, dished toggles and grip safety on these pistols can't be beat.
This one is still in the same condition as the day I got it. It's all matching, original finish, fair bore but was still good enough for half-dollar groups at 15-20 yards. The only thing not original is the Marbles bead sight and the trigger serration. I would prefer that the trigger had been left alone but it is what it is. I think the 7.65mm Luger is the caliber for Lugers and the lines of a 4.75" barrel, long frame, dished toggles and grip safety on these pistols can't be beat.
That is a very nice piece of history.
