“Der Luger”

In 1896, German gun designer Hugo Borshardt designed the first successful semi-automatic,  (self-loading") pistol.  Although it was unbalanced and cumbersome, it DID work, and open the door throughout the next 100+ years of "automatic" pistol-design.  (I don't have a photo of one to show you here, but it WAS pretty strange looking!

One of Hugo's employees, Georg Luger (I didn't misspell that---there really ISN'T an "e" on the end of his first name), was also a gun designer and thought he could "streamline and improve" the pistol, and Hugo basically told him to "go for it."  By 1902, Georg HAD improved it, and the rest, as they say, is"history."

The P-08 German "Parabellum" ("pistol for war"), is easily the most recognizable handgun in history.  If you showed one of these to a NON-gun person, who knew virtually NOTHING about guns....chances are, that person would STILL have seen enough old movies to look at it and say........"Oh yeah.......that's a LUGER."

Years ahead of anything else back then, the Luger was an extremely efficient pistol, elegant in design, although it's always been connected with the "sinister."  Mechanically, on its own merit, the P-08 is an engineering marvel............but to most, it'll always be "that NAZI gun."

Originally chambered in 7.65 (30 caliber), there were complaints from the field that the caliber was too weak, so it was eventually re-chambered for the 9mm (.355 caliber), that we all know today.

And whether you've actually GOT an old Luger, or a new Glock, or maybe a Smith & Wesson like this one.....when you buy 9mm ammo, it is still cased-stamped "9mm Luger"----------they still get the credit, as it was THEY who invented the cartridge so long ago.

The FIRST feature that most people notice about a Luger, is its gripframe, which is forged 55 degrees rearward from the lateral plane of the rest of the gun.  This was WELL-thought-out from a 1902 designed.   Look at the palm of your hand, the way the "natural creases " sweep back" toward the heel of your hand.  The Luger fits like it BELONGS there, and is thusly a very "natural" pointer.  You almost don't need the sights.

A "favorite drill" among Luger collectors is to look at a "target", such as the light switch on a wall........close your eyes......then raise the gun to where you "think" that light switch is...and OPEN your eyes again.  The sights will be RIGHT THERE!  Try that with most other pistols,  and you'll be all over the place with it!  Bill Ruger saw the advantage of that when he began his company here in America in 1949,  with his early "Mark I", four years after the war.   This 2nd pistol is a Ruger Mark II, in 22 caliber.

The Luger DID have a flaw that showed itself in extreme combat conditions.  It's engineering was so precise, that it was "finicky" when it got dirty, so the Germans turned to Walther, who built a 9mm with "looser tolerances", called the P-38.  The P-38 turned out to be a more reliable gun, and was cheaper to build than the Luger, which took 122 milling operations to build.

And the P-38 shoots just fine, as you can see.  But in the overall picture of things, the old P-08 Luger never left "center stage", and remained an "eternal symbol" of the  NAZI 3rd Reich.

As good as the 9mm was/is.......it was still no match in stopping power (or reliability) to our old G.I. 45 automatic..............

But that hasn't kept the old Lugers from achieving the "collector status" it has.  They are much sought-after and SOME of them (depending on the markings) are very highly prized.  There's nothing special about mine here, just a standard "S/42 Code, 1939 vintage.

But they made a lot of guns for OTHER countries too.  The Swiss Lugers are looked-for, the German Navy (Kreigsmarine), were issued Lugers with 6" barrels instead of the standard 4" like this one, and you seldom see one of those.

The HIGHEST priced Lugers though, are ironically the ones with the darkest past-------the ones carried by Hitler's "SS", with the infamous "skull & crossbones" stamped over the chamber.  They are the exact same gun as the one you're looking at here.........except for the markings that show "where they've been"......and left to your imagination, what deeds they've committed.

An "SS" Luger will easily fetch money well up into the "4-digit" figures.

There is also an "American Luger", as they made a bunch of them before World War I, looking to sell them to OUR military, before they were beaten out in "test trials" by John Browning's 45 auto.  These Lugers were "chamber-stamped" with the American Eagle.  They aren't out there in great quantities.....but I HAVE seen one RECENTLY right here in Mountain Home.

Little Post-Script story:

As many of you know, I do NOT carry any of my automatics "as a RULE" due to my reliability preferences for the revolvers.  But in 2010, I was engaged in some heated political blog debates and was called a "NAZI" by a few of the left-wingers out there for my support of the Tea Parties.

Now...I'd ALREADY been labeled a "RACIST" for opposing Obama's policies.........................a "Moron" for opposing the "give-aways" of socialism........."Mean-spirited" for wanting ILLEGALS to be deported, and a "rightwing radical" for opposing "Big Brother" in general.

So-------when Reid & Pelosi started calling us NAZI's, I dedicated an entire week to just packing the Luger around with me wherever I went.  The first time I walked into the gunshop with the holstered P-08, one of the guys out there who knows me pretty well as the "Revolver Man"..........immediately asked......"HEY MIKE------WHAT'S WITH THE LUGER??"

"AINT'CHA HEARD?" I replied..............."Now on top of everything else....I'm a NAZI now too!...............so if I'm gonna be CALLED one, I might as well LOOK the part!"

Conventional wisdom won out though, and after 4 or 5 days had gone by, and I'd had my fun and made my "statement",  the Luger went back into the safe and a good reliable REVOLVER went back into the holster!

It IS a unique gun though, and will forever hold a place (however dark), in history, at a time when the free world was shocked to see what man was capable of inflicting upon his fellow man.

But it's only an instrument.  Like any OTHER weapon, it has neither a "will" or a "soul."....and I always keep that separate in my mind when I'm shooting it, cleaning it, or just wiping it down.