1923 DWM COMMERCIAL LUGER $950 should i buy?

Lugers for $19.95 and GI 1911A1s for $24.95 in the ads in the back of 1950s magazines. (or maybe it was the other way around, I don't remember exactly anymore).

Amazing how the last generation's left over junk is our priceless collectible, isn't it?

And Lugers aren't, and never were junk. Not the pinnacle of development today, more like an evolutionary dead end, mechanically. But there is a special thing about them.

Still one of the most widely recognized pistols of all time, and if someone put one in a popular video game, they might even stay that way for another generation!
:D
 
I remember watching at a gun show as a friend looked at a near new 1860 Army Colt. The owner was a man who believed nothing made after 1900 was worthy of even discussing, let alone collecting. My friend eyed the Colt and remarked, "When you've seen one piece of war surplus junk, you've seen them all." The owner nearly had apoplexy on the spot.

Jim
 
I have to agree that it is very difficult to value a Luger based on some photos on the Net. It's the same thing with buying a Luger on the Internet. There are some very reputable dealers but you tend to pay a premium for the reassurance of their expertise. And, they do make mistakes from time to time. I hear time after time from some of the experts that the very best way is to purchase a Luger is in person. They even admit that they have been burned on occasion when buying online, and these are experts. I waited for years until the right one presented itself locally.

I'd have to say that 44 AMP's 1936 Mauser would be a good gun for lots of folks. It's a shooter so if a part breaks you aren't agonizing over it. You don't need cotton gloves to handle it. Plus, it still bears all of it's history. I found a Luger that was affordable to me ($850) that I look at similarly. A 1938 S/42 with 95 percent original finish, all matching except the hold open lever, and the knob on the takedown lever was broken off which I have since replaced with an unnumbered part. The grips were aftermarket as was the mag. I have since replaced the grips with very nice WWII originals and have obtained a period correct mag. I have maybe $1100 into the gun which some might consider too much for a shooter, but it's a darn nice shooter. By examining the gun in person I was able to assess what I would need to put into the gun to make it right. Even the best and most complete Internet photos don't tell the whole story.

So, intending to only own one Luger, I ended up with exactly what I wanted. A shooter in mostly original condition in overall excellent condition. Paying the premium for a collector grade gun wasn't what I wanted. I think that is the first question that a prospective Luger owner must answer: will the gun be shot?

The Luger has been a grail gun since I was a kid (I'm 56) since I first saw one watching Combat in the Sixties. At first after finally obtaining one, the search over, it was sort of a letdown, but I got over that really quickly. But I have one grail gun left, a Broomhandle, and that search has begun.
 
I've never shot a Broomhandle in .30 Mauser, so, I cannot say, for certain, BUT I did own a Bolo Broomhandle that had been converted to 9mm Luger for many years. I only shot it once. Standard AmEagle red box 9mm ball.

It was the MOST PAINFUL 9mm I have ever fired, and I've fired a LOT of different ones.

When you do get your grail Broomhandle, if you plan to shoot it, WEAR A GLOVE!!!!

Seriously, the odd, small grip shape, combined with the large slot for the stock really bites your hand (at least in 9mm). Be warned!
 
Thanks 44 AMP. I have read that they are not the most pleasant shooters. Ergonomics were not the concern of the day.

Many of my grail guns have been a direct extension of being a yute in the 60's and 70's (I'm 56). I collected Model Replica guns. I've since acquired real versions of those replicas: Luger, PPK, P38, HSc, 1911, M1934, S&W Model 19. Only two left to go, the Broomhandle and the MP40. With an affordable MP40 in 9mm on the horizon it will be a race between that and the Broomhandle (probably a Bolo). I will own it more to own it than shoot it.
 


from that list, I only skipped the PPK and M1934 (no real interest)

One thing I have learned about my "grail guns", MR Spock was right when he said "you may find the having is not as pleasurable a thing as the wanting".

I have learned a number of valuable things by having them, though.

and, Whoever said the Broomhandle was "not the most pleasant" shooter, must have been an Englishman!

No one else could get away with that kind of understatement! :D
 
Straight case: Clean and load.

Assuming you have carbide dies, and you are including the flaring of the case mouth as part of "load".

I load a number of bottleneck cases. And several strait cases, and those called "strait" but that are actually tapered.

And while I don't load for .30 Luger, I don't see it being any different than any other bottlenecked case.

If you have to trim (and deburr) every time, you aren't doing something right. CHECK length every time, sure. Trim only when needed.

Yes, straight cases are so much easier, that's why the die sets have 3 (or 4) dies, instead of the 2 used for bottleneck cases.
Click to expand...

Carbide dies in a progressive press. One pull of the handle equals one live round, when loading straight-walled cases.
Even if the bottleneck case doesn't have to be trimmed and deburred with every loading, there's still the additional step of lubing the cases, and that lube has to be removed at some point.
And, I still haven't found a source for .309"-.310" bullets, so there's lubing, sizing and cleaning the bullets. too. Apparently, plenty of people are happy loading .308" bullets for the .3095" barrel, but I'm a kill-joy in that respect.
 
The C96 was a primitive pistol that happened, through the magic of the Mauser name, to continue in use for decades after its contemporaries had either been radically improved or tossed into that famous "dustbin of history."

It should be significant that the German military wanted nothing to do with it until they were forced by military necessity to buy some.

Jim
 
I think a lot of the German military's reluctance came from the fact that the pistol was an officer's weapon. And the peace time selection was made to go with your parade uniform, no officer would want to drag that heavy hunk of C96 in the stock around during normal duty. That attitude changed once you were in the trenches and actually needed firepower.
 
I know of no indication that the German army's order for Mausers was motivated by any idea of its being superior in the trenches to the standard P.08. It was simply a matter of requirements exceeding supplies of handguns and the military falling back on a source of supply they would otherwise not have utilized.

The same thing happened in the US and Britain. The US bought many thousands of "Model 1917" revolvers, and Britain bought thousands of Spanish revolvers in .455. France, too, bought revolvers and pistols from Spain. Every nation needed handguns, lots of them, the bottom of the barrel was scraped clean.

In the WWI era, the handgun was not exclusively an officer's weapon. Pistols (in all armies) were issued to machinegunners, squad leaders, platoon leaders, messengers, military police, drivers, and many others, including the remaining cavalry units which hadn't "got the word" yet. In the US later, it was to give pistol carriers a more effective weapon that the M1 Carbine was adopted.

Jim
 
I think a lot of the German military's reluctance came from the fact that the Mauser Broomhandle is a painful piece of crap to shoot!

And they didn't call it Kuhfusspistole because it was graceful or well balanced.

With the stock on it, its another matter. It just about works its way back up to tolerable. If the stock were more rigidly attached, it would be even better, but I've never seen one that while secure, wasn't wobbly.
 
As someone said yesterday, you learn something new every day on this site.

I hadn't known that the Germans called the Mauser broomhandle the "cow's foot pistol" but somehow it seems appropriate.

Jim
 
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