scored a German Luger

G

GaryED50

New member
stopped by my local pawn shop and found a DWM P08 frm 1914. in good to very good condition all numbers match
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will huh? a first world war P08

Gary
 
It's been dip-blued and the "X" above the serial number on the cannon appears to indicate it is a Russian capture. All-in-all a very nice find of a storied and long serving gun that ought to be a heck of a shooter.
 
That is a great find , congrats . I went to 2 pawn shops today hoping to find a keeper but it did'nt happen this day .
So 124 gr is not recomended for a P38 but is ok for a Luger ?
 
"So 124 gr is not recomended for a P38 but is ok for a Luger?"

Where did you get the idea that P38s shouldn't use 124gr???
 
Both the P.08 and P.38 were designed to shoot 9mm Parabellum, or "Luger" ammunition. This consisted of a projectile of 115 grains. The cheap Winchester white box closely approximates this original loading and is what I shoot and recommend.

I have seen many P.38's with cracked slides and just as many P.08's with broken breach blocks and extractors as a result of shooting unsuitable ammunition.

Original DWM 9mm ammunition data:

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That is a strange conclusion, trigger643.

The 8.0 in your bullet chart is the weight, 8.0 grams, equalling 123.4 grains.
Which agrees with US Army reports from 1903 comparison of the new 9mm with the 7.65s they had bought a thousand of in 1900.

Loads were not "hot" as we so often read is needed by the Luger. Two were shot in the U.S. tests with the 123 gr bullet at 1040 and 1090 fps from the 4" barrel.
 
The original loading for the 9mm Parabellum (Luger) was a 124gr bullet, at 1050fps mv.

Later, the load was changed to a 115gr bullet at 1150fps.
 
In a Word...

"LUCKY"!

Have a smith completely detail and lube it.

Standard 124gr is correct, NO high velocity or +P or +P+ EVER!

May want to reload some 125gr lead or semi-jacketed lead for easier shooting,

Afterall, it ain't a "teenager" [aka:you going to serve "Gramps" straight likker?]

Enjoy!
 
Enjoy that Luger. They have always been interesting to me. I've owned a couple. In fact, a Luger was the first pistol I ever bought, a very long time ago. Much more recently, I owned another for a short time. Neither of mine were very nice, or reliable. My personal best for Luger functional reliability was almost a hundred rounds before a jam. I'd always heard that the Luger required warmer ammo, and initially tried Winchester 124 grain NATO ball ammo in my latest Luger. Total Jammamatic. The Federal American Eagle 124 grain ball set the reliability record. This particular load is the lightest factory loaded ammo I can recall chronographing. It averaged just over 1000 fps out of the Luger and some other ~4' barreled pistols. When in original condition, using the ammo they were designed for, the Lugers must have been fine, reliable, pistols.
 
I've fired quite a lot of PMC Bronze 9A through my '37 P08, no issues at all. This is 115 gr, 1150 fps at the muzzle according to manufacturer specs. Also some Speer Lawman 115 gr that's a bit snappier and spec'd at 1200 fps, again no issues. I personally wouldn't shoot hollow-points or +p anything in mine, otherwise you're probably fine with any cheap round-nose FMJ, with the understanding that it's an old gun and could break, so you take your chances. The P08 is really nice gun to shoot, and very accurate. :)
 
A friend has one of those 1923 Finnish Lugers with Tikka 9mm barrel and the funky square front sight. Kind of torques him that the only thing we found that was fully reliable was my then-standard IDPA 145 gr subsonic. Going to be tough on him, I don't load that any more.
 
to Viper99

I paid $1,700.00 in total. I consulted a couple of gunsmiths before buying and both said the price was reasonable

Gary
 
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