Shooter Grade 3rd Reich Luger 1936

[Dutchman]

In 1998 I walked into the dealer outlet store for Southern Ohio Guns in Lebanon, Ohio with some money to spend. On a table at the back were some handguns, some Lugers..... I knew nothing about Lugers though I have a 1st edition book on Lugers by Fred Datig so of course I knew something that really was next to nothing but hey, they were real dadgum Lugers. Never owned one, never shot one and this one was ??? I think maybe it was $240 or something close.

S/42 - Mauser Oberndorf

It had no magazine. It had some weird plastic grooved grip panels that were loose on the right side. It was mostly matching numbers, a few parts replaced. It had some light pitting in the grooves but not on the lands.

Vintage Industries cataloged a black plastic grip set for the BYF41 Luger. I could live with that and I bought two modern magazines, one Triple K and one Meggar. Both 8 rd.



There are two problems evident in this picture. First one is the extractor. It wouldn't close on a loaded cartridge because the tail of the extractor had never been *hand fitted* to where it cleared the bolt body. The second problem was that little hole in the far right of the photo.



In that little hole was supposed to be a pin. That pin extended down underneath the toggle and served as a *keeper* for the middle toggle pin. The pin was .052" and since I had a lathe I could just whip one out. Yesterday I couldn't spell Luger gunsmith and there I was fixin' one.

How I discovered that missing pin was at the shooting range when the toggle pin dropped out on the ground and I had some choice words for Herr George Luger. This event marred the top of the frame when the pin wiggled out and interacted with the frame in an ugly manner. I picked up my broken Luger and sulked home to ponder the origin of the universe. I took my Buck honing stone, a very fine Arkansas stone, and dressed down the damage to the top of the frame rail and dressed the head of the toggle pin, oiled it and put it back together. I lathe-turned the little .052" pin and tapped it in place. Bingo! A functioning Luger once again.



The take-down lever and the safety arm are both mis-match but function fine. The trigger and ejector are both original *straw* color (from tempering process).



I handloaded a mess of 9x19 with 124 gr FMJ and a stout load of Unique. How was it to actually shoot a Luger? Trigger pull is not overly light but it is crisp. It shoots FAST and felt recoil is LESS than other 9mm pistols. I was shooting an Inglis Hi-Power and a Star B that day and the Luger had less felt recoil with the same ammo. I was not only impressed with the Luger I was glad I was able to figure out and fix it and shoot it. There have been no failure to feed or fire since then.

Only problem is it empties the magazine too dang fast!

Dutch

[Dutchman]

These were the type of grooved plastic grip panels that were on it. I'm told they indicate VOPO East German police. At least it was spared going to Russia post-war.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Great post.
Thanks.
Curious though. Are the Lugers finicky about boolit nose shape or length?

[HWooldridge]

The father of one of my childhood friends had been in the war, first in Sicily and then Europe until the end of hostilities. He had a big stash of Nazi memorabilia, including several Lugers, and let us shoot one of them - I remember it was comfortable in my teenage-sized hand and accurate. They lived on a small farm outside of town so we blew through boxes of ammo, shooting at anything that would stand still. All that stuff disappeared after the old man passed away - no idea who got away with it.

[dverna]

Nice story and happy ending.

[schutzen-jager]

yes they might be VOPO grips which also explains the mismatched numbers from when East Germany rebuilt them post war - most Vopo grips had a circle on upper half - if they are black widow grips + not VOPO they are valuable + desired by collectors - not all P08 had that retainer pin in toggle link - enjoy it - historical piece of history -

this is the first one i got over six decades ago + the only one i'm keeping as i'm going thru my estate downsizing - BYF 42 last year of manufacture - all matching with correct FXO magazine - found under seat of car traded in at FORD dealer at worked at in 1966 - it was in a P38 holster - contacted vet owner + he thanked me for telling him + told me to keep it - some experts think that the grips are not original, but owner told me that they were on it when he claimed it off surrender pile in Austria - still shoot it once a year, very accurate + functions perfectly -

[Handloader109]

My nephew now owns my dad's bring home Luger. I shot it once when I was about 14 or 15. My uncle and dad and I went shooting, which was the ONLY time I ever saw my dad shoot any handgun. We hunted shotgun and a bit with rifle, but the one pistol in the house stayed in their bedroom as I guess final safety. I guess my dad wanted to make sure he could still shoot it then, it was in the early 70's and there had been a few riots after Medgar Evers had been murdered. He never carried it as far as I know, but he worked in that area of Jackson. Was a matching gun, at least all I could observe without taking it all apart. At any rate, it wasn't difficult for a small teen to shoot either.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Definitely a VOPO pistol, because I've also got one! 1963 I was sitting at the NCO Club bar in Schweinfurt, Germany beside an SFC and the conversation turned to handguns. He turned out to be the NCO-IC of the Rod & Gun Club at Conn Barracks, about 5 miles from where I was stationed. He proudly announced that he had just obtained a Luger pistol, something that I'd been searching for during the preceding 2 years. Very scarce. I had visited the largest (one of only two) gun store in Frankfurt in search of a Luger, and was told by the young sales clerk, "G.I.s take them all home in ninezen four und five." Naturally I asked how my new friend had obtained his, and he said that a couple of enterprising young Germans had hijacked a truck load of them and crashed through a barrier into West Germany. The cargo was confiscated by the M.P.s and then divided up among the R&G Clubs for sale. Did I want one? Only $28.00. He explained that the numbers were mismatched, and the guns often far from pristine, and that they had been put together from left over parts and/or rehabbed captured pistols with the intention of issuing them to the East German Border Police (VOPOs). Picked mine up the very next day! It had black plastic grips with the bulls eye rondel insignia-- just too ugly not to be replaced with checkered walnut which are obvious replacements because of the border around them. It has no two matching numbers, and an electric pencil new serial number. Surprisingly, it functions very well, but shoots low left. I've also got several more Lugers of the same configuration (4" bbl.) but there is such an almost infinite variety and variation of specimens, some costing upwards of $20k, that I decided early-on that I would not be a Luger collector. Truly a work of art, though, and an amazing piece of engineering for it's time in history.

DG

[TD1886]

I got a few of them and my favorite one is the 7.65 more commonly known as the 30 Luger and it wears a six inch barrel. I find the Lugers amazingly accurate in both calibers, that is 9mm and 30 Luger. The 30 Luger get's some amazing velocities from that six inch barrel.

When I'm shooting my Lugers I'm extra super cautious and safe as they can be a dangerous pistol. Most of you know about the sear bar. The other thing is I had a Luger where the sear was very worn and it would do things such as when charging the weapon go off!!! So I'll tell you to make damn sure your pistol is pointed in a safe direction. The other thing that worn sear did was letting the pistol go full auto. When that happened I of course was aiming and shooting at the target. I wa say this, I was amazed how fast it emptied the magazine and also how very controllable it was. Again be very safe when shooting them and now I know why the Germans carried most their pistols in the holster with an unloaded chamber.

[schutzen-jager]

TD1886 Elmer Keith once published a statement that some early 20th century cowboys preferred the 7.65 over any .45, .44, +.38 because it would completely penetrate an oak wagon tongue while the other calibers never would - fwiw i have owned many WWI + WWII military ones + never had any mechanical problems with them -

[stubshaft]

Great story and a great pistol/

[6string]

Yes, the 7,65mm Luger is an impressive cartridge in it's own right. It's rewarding to load for, very accurate and reliable. Lyman/Ideal designed one or two molds for it.
Attached is a ballistic test done comparing the Luger to the .44 Russian (or 10,6mm S&W!).
I don't care much about such things generally, but the test (done over 100 yrs ago) is fun to check out.
I believe this test was done by DWM shortly after 1900. The test blocks, by the way, were 29.5" long.

[rintinglen]

In my very limited experience, involving one 1920 7.65 pistol and two 9mm Lugers, one Erfurt and the 1938 Mauser I have now, the 30 Lugers are more reliable. Both my Mauser and the older pistol tended to jam if not fed powerful ammunition, bordering on +P. Even then, they have to be kept scrupulously clean.

[wilecoyote]

In my very limited experience, involving one 1920 7.65 pistol and two 9mm Lugers, one Erfurt and the 1938 Mauser I have now, the 30 Lugers are more reliable. Both my Mauser and the older pistol tended to jam if not fed powerful ammunition, bordering on +P. Even then, they have to be kept scrupulously clean.

imho, the technical explanation lies in the fact that originally the Luger success was obtained with the .30 Luger, the caliber from which the 9 Luger was derived,
then the 9mm Lugers are to be considered adaptations compared to the original model and design_

[Dutchman]

Great post.
Thanks.
Curious though. Are the Lugers finicky about boolit nose shape or length?

I can only comment on how my Luger shoots with round nose FMJ 124 gr. Perfect functioning. If you look at historical loadings for the P08 9x19 Parabellum you'll see basically only two bullet profiles: round nose and truncated cone. In the bullet weights between lightest and heavy there's not much room for sexy bullet shapes if you want perfect feeding and firing. The round nose FMJ has a long history because its the best profile for functioning.

Dutch