Lugers! Elegant Firearms From A Less Civilized Age

I've been chasing P.08 Lugers on auction sites for awhile now, and they keep getting bid out of my reach.  

I try to decide what amount I'm willing to buy for an item for at an auction and then not go over once decided no matter what.  That way I don't get auction fever and thus I end up with no regrets or as the kids say today - no regerts.

So I bid what I bid, which was kinda on the lowish side, and the auction came around.

And - I was away from my computer at the time they came around, and it turned out I had won two of them.  I was not expecting that.  Oops, that was not intended.

They arrived, interestingly enough shipped by the auction house via Priority Mail.  The Post Office dumped the box at the door, and claimed on the delivery tracking that it had been signed for by a resident and it had not.  Nice.

Well I opened the package and got to look closely at what I had won.

One is a World War One Era Luger, manufactured by Erfurt and dated 1912, complete with a German Imperial crown.

 
 

The other is a World War Two Era Mauser manufactured Luger marked S/42 and dated 1938

 

Both are all matching numbers except the magazines.

In short for what I bid, I likely got a screaming good deal on them.

The toggle action is really rather neat.  Take-down and reassembly is more involved and requires a fair bit more fiddling than with a modern pistol, but not bad once you get the hang of it.

I disassembled them both. Cleaned and lubricated them.  Both came quite clean but dry from the auction house, which was nice.  A little lubrication and they move along very smoothly.  Both have really nice triggers, I was quite impressed with how nice the triggers feel.

So I took them to the range today and met up with Tosh.  First time for both of us to ever fire a Luger.  Started with a single round loading from the magazines, then two in the magazines to test firing and feeding.  No problems so we then tried five rounds, and finally went on to full magazines.

Both Lugers functioned absolutely flawlessly.

The Lugers really sit nicely in the hand.  Recoil is practically non-existent, allowing for very fast shooting.  Sights are certainly small but usable and line up on target very quickly. The Luger toggle action is ridiculously cool.

For fun with our last 5 rounds each we did a 3x2 drill with them, from a low ready and on safe, as I have no holster that fits the Luger.

Not bad, a clean run in 3.24 for a first time out for a pistol made in 1912.

Tosh tried it with the 1938 Luger.

3.44 with a miss outside the head box. 

Two very nice pieces of working military history.

The Obama Ammunition Economy: In Stock And Out In Less Than An Hour

One of the online vendors form whom I regularly buy my 9mm match and practice shooting ammo sent a notification email while I was out that they had just got some 124gr 9mm in stock.

As soon as I saw the email I went to order. Before I even got to order, in less than 45 minutes, they were once again out of stock.

Forget About Snooze You Lose, How about gone before you know of it?

Its certainly a high demand item these days, and match season is coming up.

With this level of activity, we can thank the firearms and ammunition sector for preventing our economy from sliding from a recession into a depression.

Don't try this at home or on the range - a 9 is not the same as a 9.

Shooting for a Darwin award:

He's darn lucky the pistol didn't a) blow apart into pieces ripping his hand into shreds and/or b) send the slide flying off the frame, ripping back toward him at high velocity.

It's a testament to the design strength and quality of the Hungarian FEG PA-63 pistol that he got away with it that time, the next time he may be far less lucky.

Here's why there's a major problem with this clip, and why you should never do this:

The 9x18 and 9x19 are completely different cartridges

The 9x18 Makarov is designed to work in blowback pistols, ie the action is kept shut by the weight of the slide and spring until the pressure drives it open.

The 9x19 (otherwise called the 9mm Luger, 9mm parabellum, or 9mm NATO) is designed to work in recoil operated firearms, where the action is locked together until fired when at a certain point under recoil the parts unlock and separate with the slide moving backwards to eject the case and reload the barrel.

So why is this a problem?
Simple -- it's the pressure difference.

The pressure the 9x18 Makarov generates when fired is about 23,200 psi.
The pressure the 9x19 Luger generates when fired is about 35,000 psi.

The PA-63 is a blowback pistol designed for the 9x18 Makarov, it is not designed to take the pressure from a 9x19 Luger, a cartridge designed to be used in recoil operated firearms.

You'll notice the action when this fellow loads the pistol with the 9x19 does not even fully close, leaving the brass exposed. This is known as firing a gun out of battery and it is a great way to blow the pistol up, likely inflicting serious injury on the hand holding it as well. When the bullet does not properly fit, it's a signal that it's time to quit.

There are lots of 9mm cartridges out there, and while they often sound alike, they are not interchangeable. (Yes the Soviets did design the 9x18 Makarov pistol to fire the 9x17 aka .380 ACP in exigent circumstances, but its not going to be very accurate, and the 9x17 is a lower pressure cartridge than the 9x18, and just because it can doesn't mean you should, the Soviets have a much lower value assigned to their troops than you hopefully assign to yourself). 9x17, 9x18, 9x19, 9x21, 9x23 are all different with very different operating pressures and even bullet sizes. Do not interchange them and do not put a high pressure round in a pistol designed for low pressure blowback operation.

Never force a cartridge into a firearm's chamber. Use only the same caliber the gun is designed for (and marked for on the slide). If it doesn't fit it's time to quit. If brass is still showing when the cartridge is loaded something is wrong - stop, do not squeeze the trigger, unload and figure out why its not working properly, the hand you save will be your own.