LUGER

B

BigG

New member
Ok, somebody asked me about my Luger on another thread, but I think it deserves a thread of its own, so here goes:

The Luger I have is a WWII era produced by Mauser marked 1938 on the receiver ring and stamped with the nazi eagle proof marks. The toggle is marked S/42, IIRC, nazi code for Mauser. It is not a collectors item, but it is the original 9mm and the mechanical excellence has to be seen to be appreciated, even in a hurriedly produced army pistol.
The Luger is from the dawn of automatic pistol design, being derived from the Borchardt pistol which was produced in the waning years of the 19th century. I believe the Borchardt is the first with the detachable box magazine carried within the handle that characterizes all automatic pistols today. Also, the mag release is that type which was made world standard by the Colt gov't model some years later.

Yes, the reliability is not what you'd want given some of the excellent modern pistols, but the accuracy is truly astounding. A 50 foot target containing 50 hits from 115 grain ball ammo can be covered by my palm. The fixed sights are dead on, by the way for 115 gr ball. It is much easier to shoot accurately than any 1911 or Glock I've shot. It has the most natural pointing quality of any pistol I've fired.

It rides good in a 45 Auto shoulder holster or Mexican style. Of course, with a striker (being the metal is over 60 years old, I'd hate it if the "tit" sheared off the striker!!) it's kinda iffy carrying cocked and locked! :D

Who else has a/or likes Lugers????? ;)

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Be mentally deliberate but muscularly fast. Aim for just above the belt buckle Wyatt Earp
"It is error alone that needs government support; truth can stand by itself." Tom Jefferson
If you have to shoot a man, shoot him in the guts, it may not kill him... sometimes they die slow, but it'll paralyze his brain and arm and the fight is all but over Wild Bill Hickok
Remember: When you attempt to rationalize two inconsistent positions, you risk drowning as your own sewage backs up.
45 ACP: Give 'em a new navel! BigG
 
I have a WW2 Byf luger. Its a wartime captured pistol. I also have the medals and jacket buttons that were on the former owners uniform (he didn't need them anymore).
Its a really cool piece of history. Maybe I'll post a pic later.
BTW, it was captured by my Dads uncle.
 
BigG,
I have a 1942 Mauser Luger, BYF, coded on top of the receiver. It has the eagles with the swastikas and military proof marks on the side. All the serial numbers match and the magazine is supposed to be correct for this pistol. It has some holster wear on the sides but otherwise is in very good shape. The checkering on the wood grips is still
very sharp.

I bought the pistol from a collector and I consider it a collectible but to some bigger dog it might be a shooter. I'm proud of it.
I haven't fired it yet, maybe one day I'll break down and take it to the range. Mainly I just like to fondle it and admire its beauty. It's a 9 millimeter.
 
I have basically the same weapon as you, BigG: same marks, etc.

Mine has all matching numbers except magazine (and the trigger), but has been arsenal refinished. Its just a shooter, but like yours, a very accurate shooter.

I wouldn't worry too much about brittleness, etc., as parts are readily available, many of them repros (made recently), but some of them authentic. I've had to replace the "trigger bar" on mine (the piece in the slide against which the trigger lever presses). Springfield Sporters, SARCO, Gun Parts and others are sources for parts.

Its one of my favorite guns.
 
Greg G:

If your gun has been arsenal refinished, its probably a "shooter" not a collector, and it'll have only limited value. (How to tell: check to see if there's pitting inside, under the grips, etc. If the pitting is blued, too, then its been arsenal refinished.) If not, that's great.

There are a lot of charlatans at work "restoring" Lugers to make them look authentic. I saw a Nickel-plated "presentation" gun at the last gun show that the sellor was trying to foist off as some kind of SPECIAL luger. Somebody had just taken an Artilerry version and plated it: the Germans NEVER did that. I also saw a completely refinished Navy version at a pawnshop recently. Beautifully reblued and polished, but they had -- when polishing -- removed all of the proof marks, etc. The gun looked great and would probably make some shooter very happy. (It sold quickly, for about $100 more than it should have.)

Mine had quite a bit of well-blued pitting in typically non-visible areas. It doesn't any longer.

The grips on yours are probably NOT authentic, as that late in the war I think they were issuing them with plastic grips (I may be wrong.) If they are authentic, they will be serial-numbered to match the gun. So will the magazine.

With all original, not refinished, matching grips, mag and extra magazine, you may have a reasonably valuable gun. If you had the matching holsters, you could be talking big money for the complete set.

Valuing/pricing Lugers is a real art, and I've learned just enough to know I'm never going to try to buy a collectible, except from a very reputable dealer.

Mine looks outstanding, but its worth maybe $450, at most. It does NOT have original grips -- but had authentic, ugly almost orange plastic grips from that period when I bought it.

I replaced those with aftermarket wood grips from CDNN. I have a period-appropriate magazine, but the serial number doesn't match; I also have several aftermarket mags. Magazines are a real pain, as many of the aftermarket mags simply don't work.

(Each Luger was, in effect, partially handmade, and many parts had to be hand-fitted to the gun. If you get replacement parts, today, that same hand-fitting is generally required [as I have found a number of times]. One of the reaons that the Luger was replaced by the P-38 was that the P-38 was designed for better production efficiencies and didn't require the same meticulous hand fitting.)




[This message has been edited by Walt Sherrill (edited January 12, 2000).]
 
Here is my Luger.
View

This should not be construed to mean that I support anything NAZI, neo or otherwise.
 
Walt,
I don't think my Luger is arsenal refinished but the grips and magazine may not be original to that pistol. I don't have it in front of me, but I don't recall the magazine having a serial number on it. The grips have some kind of number printed on the inside surfaces but I don't recall them looking like serial numbers. The guy I bought it from is a collector and is my boss's brother so I have some trust in what he has told me. He said it hasn't been re-blued and that the eagles on the receiver are stamped prior to blueing and the one on the barrel is stamped after and the barrel eagle hasn't been blued over. Also, he said there was no cold blueing on it. I paid him $750 for it and he said I could probably get more for it if I sold it. He said he would buy it back for $750 if I ever decided I didn't want it. I probably wouldn't buy one from someone I don't know as ,like you said, there are a lot of "fakes" out there and I would be afraid of getting screwed. (I'd like to have the Luger that Nobody has. Nice pistol)
 
Hi, Greg,

They were still putting wood grips on even the late guns but with BYF 42 plastic is more common. If the checkering is still sharp, however, you probably do have post-war replacement grips.

Hi, Nobody,

I can't tell if the picture is blurred or if the gun has been heavily buffed. If the latter, the value is considerably reduced.

The Luger is very desireable as a collector's item. As was noted earlier, though, it is very accurate and none too reliable. Part of the problem is that very grip angle that most people like. But that angle grew out of design requirements, not a desire for human engineering.

The gun is not especially prone to breakage, and such parts as ejectors are much more often broken in trying to remove them than in actual use.

It is difficult to get a really good trigger pull on the Luger; the mechanism just won't allow it.

Jim
 
I have a 1914DWM Luger that I have shot fairly frequently with no problems. They are beautifully made but have one serious flaw. They are not very reliable. I would hate to bet my life on one.

[This message has been edited by Hard Ball (edited January 18, 2000).]
 
Jim,

How much does it hurt me if the grips aren't original? They are worn smooth about an eight of an inch in along the front strap on each side, but mostly on the left side. You can run your finger tips along the interior of the grip panels and feel the edges of the checkering and a good bit of it still feels sharp. They look pretty old but I know that doesn't mean too much. Also, were the original grips serial numbered to match the gun?
 
The grips sound like original. As I recall, some but not all grips were numbered. Maybe someone more expert in Lugers can answer that one.

Jim
 
A 1938 gun is PRE WW-II. Mauser made a pretty good pistol, but it was not quite up to the early pistols in quality.
If you stay away from 115 grain bullets in your ammo and use 124 grain with round nose or flat point, it is perfectly reliable. The firing pin has been known to fracture, allowing it to fire. For that reason, it should be carried with a dry chamber, never loaded and locked.
Don't worry about the value of your pistol. You paid the current asking price.
 
Walt: Re: the tit-shearing comment.

I wasn't worried about being able to get spare parts as much as spare cojones!! ;)
LOL :D

------------------
Be mentally deliberate but muscularly fast. Aim for just above the belt buckle Wyatt Earp
"It is error alone that needs government support; truth can stand by itself." Tom Jefferson
If you have to shoot a man, shoot him in the guts, it may not kill him... sometimes they die slow, but it'll paralyze his brain and arm and the fight is all but over Wild Bill Hickok
Remember: When you attempt to rationalize two inconsistent positions, you risk drowning as your own sewage backs up.
45 ACP: Give 'em a new navel! BigG
 
It's good to see one of the all-time great handguns being remembered here!
My P-08 was a 1917 DWM, a bit rough when compared to prewar or between war examples, but totally reliable with hardball and extruded magazines (those WWII ones with the aluminum base). As someone else said, the accuracy at long range was quite good, and they do point remarkably well. An old guy walked into the sporting goods store where I worked and said he'd "picked this up in France in 1918 and didn't need it anymore, was it worth $75.00?" The year was 1969.
I'd say there will be 'Lugers" shooting somewhere in the world for a long time to come.
 
I think I'll always have a soft part for ol' Georg's design! Welcome aboard, Mr. Australoamerican! There will be Lugers shooting as long as they make nine mike-mike, IMO! They newer wear out unless they are allowed to rust into nothing. That is a crime! :o

------------------
Be mentally deliberate but muscularly fast. Aim for just above the belt buckle Wyatt Earp
"It is error alone that needs government support; truth can stand by itself." Tom Jefferson
If you have to shoot a man, shoot him in the guts, it may not kill him... sometimes they die slow, but it'll paralyze his brain and arm and the fight is all but over Wild Bill Hickok
Remember: When you attempt to rationalize two inconsistent positions, you risk drowning as your own sewage backs up.
45 ACP: Give 'em a new navel! BigG
 
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