Mitchell Arms SS

[Alx]

For sure, both my FrankenLuger parts guns were good functioning and accurate guns. I have a DWM frame, Erfurt barrel/extension/toggle hybrid that works fiine, very accurate.

I find that all six of my Lugers work with 80% of the mags I have, and the combinations that do not function reliably are not the same gun to gun. In other words, the unhappy combinations of mag and gun are more the exception than the rule.

Stoeger made some of their stainless Luger copies in a BLACK finished stainless steel.

Of course I would not use a Luger as my carry gun, or primary self-defense weapon. Even in 1908, the U.S. Army knew better. The German military was unhappy with the Luger in 1938 and probably before. and not just for economic reasons. A battle gun that is allergic to dirt is oxymoronic. But I love them anyway.

Aimco Lugers' take-down levers have a spring-loaded ball swaged in a hole for detent in the frame, to keep them from rotating during firing, whereas the German Lugers have a small spring that lives in the frame to detent against the take down lever's shaft's grooves. The parts are not in common, nor interchangeable. I did not take apart the gun further to see if there were any other parts that were not the same.

I bought one Aimco Stoeger Luger, thinking " cool " etc. and when it was proving a p.o.s. I thought, " this can't be the way they all are " and gave it another try. The third one was just stubborn persistence, thinking I would give them every chance I could. After looking at the internals carefully, and having gained greater knowledge and appreciation for the quality of the originals, I just didn't care for the stainless steel anymore.

Good shooter German Lugers are just a inexpensive as Aimco ones, can be fixed eternally, with parts swapping, and are still a fine piece of history, as many parts are between 70 and 100 years old, more or less. There are also modern MIM parts being made from somewhere.