New member from Hungary
 

Hi All!
I bought my Luger this week! My dream for decades came true. It's an S/42 1936 all matching except mag Luger. The situation on weapons here is very complicated. If you are a "civil", in practice it is impossible to buy "real" weapon. Only blank weapons, air weapons are allowed. Only LEOs can have pistols, but only 2 piece for self-defense. And the procedure isn't easy that way too. Hunters of course have hunting rifles, and sport shooters can have weapons, but they can not carry thoose. As far as I'm a police detective, I have got the chance to buy a weapon, and also carry it. My self-defence weapon is a Glock 19, and my second is the Luger since Monday. (Before I owned a Hungarian 48M - TT).
Now I'm spending my time on reading through the forum, incredible knowledge is written here. It's just amazing! Surely I will have many questions, but first I'm triing to read through everything.
Here's some pics of my Luger:

http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1093
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1094
(Hungarian proof marks, ehhh :grr:)
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1095
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1096
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1097
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1098
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1099

Greetings from Hungary,
Tom

Tom ,

Congrats with your first Luger and welcome to the forum! It looks to be in excellent condition, does it have a replacement barrel? There seems to be some kind of marking under the barrel where the serial number usually sits. I'll leave it to the experts here to comment on the details.

Balder

Thank you!

I'm unsure about the replacement, but maybe it is replaced. There is no number, and the alignment marks are not matching. Based on the damned hungarian law, the calibre marking must be engraved on the barell. There is a laser engraved "9mm Luger" text there. Maybe the alignment marking are not matching, because the barell was removed during the rebluing process. I don't know.
This week, I tried it out at rhe shooting range. 200 shoot without any problem (7,5 gramm Fiocchi FMJ, and 7,5 gramm hungarian MFS ammo). And it is accurate like charm.

Tom,

Good to hear that it is both accurate and reliable. I take all of my Lugers to the range from time to time and I really enjoy firing them.

The barrel does appear to be a replacement since it's lacking the bore diameter marking and serial number. Some parts seem to have been refinished, but the extractor and toggle appear original. Then again, I am no expert. Once our American friends wake up there will most likely be several educated comments on your gun. This is one great forum, with lots of friendly and knowledgable people.

Balder

Hello Tom,

Welcome to the Forum. It is always a pleasure to see members from the Eastern European countries join up. Hungary has an interesting history and local knowlegde is always welcomed (including the necessary language skills :) ).

Your 1936 Mauser looks like it has been refinished at some point in time, at least partially. It is possible that some work was done it. The small proof mark at the left side of the receiver is a Hungarian repeat/repair proof, the top an bottom part of the stamp (an R with shield) are missing. I expect that the gun was actually repaired and reproofed in Hungary itself.

If only it could talk :)

Tom, Welcome! You are a Lucky Man! Regardless of your pistols finnish condition it SHOOTS! That's what they are for after all. Also..you are able to have it and carry it! Very special.
There must be a story..how did you get it?

Jerry Burney

Welcome to the Forum. What's a LEO?

Newluger

Hello Vlim!
You are more or less right. The R with the shield is the proof mark of the hungarian MKH (www.mkh.hu)
Here is the hungarian operative law about proofing weapons and ammo. You can find the proof marks at 15 §.
The R /w shield is only the proof mark of the periodic inspection, which must be done every 10 years. Practically, they aren't doing anything with the weapon, but putting their damn stamp on it, and give you a bill of 30 EURO. They aren't "inspecting it" at the practice. (I have got a .22 LR rifle, which have had a broken firing pin, but it passed the periodic inspection). They are not doing any repairs, it's a miracle itself, that they can identify a gun. :roflmao:

Please if anybody can give me any info about my gun based on the SN number (month of production, etc.) let me know. Now I'm really curious about the barell. I know nothing about the past of my LUGER. :(

Best regards,
Tom

Law Enforcement Officer

Thanks! The story is short. I've always wanted a Luger. It's the king of the pistols in my opinion. But here it's very hard to find. Ever harder to find one with affordable price. I continously searched over the net. Finally I found one on the website of a weapon shop in Budapest. Travelled there, took it in my hand, and hardly wanted to release. Then I gave advance moeny for it. Started the procedure, which is needed here to buy a gun. It normally takes 1 month. Since the police is doing the authorisation, my colleagues working the weapon-department did it in a hurry, because I asked them half million times a day "When will it be ready?":) So they just finished my permission in 8 days. Then went to Budapest, paid the complete price of the weapon (190.000 HUF, approx 950 USD). //Again, this was a cheap price for a Luger here. Usually they cost about 1300-1500 or more USD// So, that is the story in a nutshell. :)

Ps.: Sorry for my bad English grammar, and maybe some misstypes

200 trouble free shots with a Luger? I don't think even the Wehrmacht ever achieved that!

I was a little bit surprised too. But I read that a Luger in good condition, cleaned, oiled, with modern ammo is reliable. This is prooven for me.

Have done some 7,000 shots so far with a refurbed 1937 S/42, without issues.

My personal favorite story is that of Prof. Dr. Gminder's P08, which was salvaged from the Neckar river in 1975, after 30 years under water. It was overhauled and fitted with a barrel liner as a test to see how long it would hold out. The gun has been going since 1975 without problems. I got a chance to shoot it in 2009. Grouped nicely, even with my eye sight.

Now that I come to think of it, it will be very uncommon, but my Luger is the Luger which was not, but will be a Police Luger.


Tomorrow, I will carry it on duty. :)
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1101

:cheers:

Wow thats two new members in one week that have been able to use a Luger in a offical capacity. Congats on your pistol and welcome to the forum. c

Welcome to the forum. Your 1936 Mauser Luger is a nice one and even better that it shoots reliably.

Charlie

Welcome Depner!
In Croatia, it is difficult to find Luger below 5000 kuna. The increase is a big collector of weapons, and Luger is a weapon that simply "must have". Here the law is lenient.
Hunters can have handgun for compassionate shot.
I am also police detectiv, hunter and guns collector. My officially weapon is Glock 19 with Croatian shield from 1998. Also my first officaly weapon was Crvena zastava M57, also bilt on 7,62 x 25 mm TT round.
Many Hungarians in the summer come to Istria, and if you're one of them send masage.
Gretings from Croatia, Novigrad - Citta di Cittanova.
http://www.novigrad-cittanova.hr/
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/3...c00744v.th.jpg

Depner,
Congratulations on your new Luger pistol!

I am sure that you are very safety conscious, but be sure to check out postings on this site about the issues that come with carrying a Luger. Being an older design, it does not have all of the safety features you expect on a modern gun.

In particular, it's also possible to fire a disassembled Luger if the bolt is closed on a cartridge and the sear is bumped.

And thank you for posting in English. Your English language skills are much finer than my Hungarian language skills ever will be!

I'm very glad to meet you on this forum...

Marc

Hello Depner,
welcome to the forum and congratulation for your Luger!
(Especialy if it is very complicated to own a gun)

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

I'm also extremely interested in the mechanics of the wepons. I've already disassamled and reassambled the Luger completely for two reasons. I cleaned it's every single part, and on the other hand I learnt it's action. Overall it was cleaned well, but I brushed out a lot of contamination under the extractor, and from the extractor itself. I've already knew the action, but only from books, and from the net. I was amazed, when I saw it in practice.
I carry it with no ammo in the chamber, and of course striker not tensioned. And only 7 rds in the mag, so not to burden the mag. spring. (Which is indeed very strong.) But any advice is kindly welcome!

Back to the history. Can someone please tell me the manufacturing month of my gun? :bowdown: And any info is welcome too, because I don't have that detailed information about the Luger's history. I'm searching on Amazon, but found hair-raising prices. :mad:

Hello Colleague,
thanks! You have a wonderful collection. I'm glad to see, that you have a Frommer Stop too. :) That's a real technical curio! I'm not planning to spend my summer holiday foreign, the money went for the Luger. :) But maybe some IPA trip will be organised to Croatia, and hopefully there will be a chance for us to meet! :thumbsup:

At least Interarms Mauser could fire 200+ rounds without any issue (normal usage - clean but no extra care condition). I tried that. I have never tried a pre-1946 Luger though.

The only serious problem that I met -- after shooting 1000+ rounds, the front sight dropped off. Not sure that's a common problem on Luger or not.

Today another 120 trouble free shots! I'm very satisfied... :)

Depner,

Glad to hear about your successful trip to the range, these things deserve that every now and then. I also shoot mine from time to time, especially my "shooter", a 1938 S/42 with a replacement barrel. BTW, I'm going to Pécs this spring or summer.

Balder

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...rs/s42left.jpg

Your's is also beautiful. But which Luger isn't?! ;)
OFF
It's good to hear, that you will visit my country. I'm living pretty far from Pécs, but write me a PM, when you are coming. I'm planning a summer trip on my Ural Ranger to Western-Hungary, and maybe we can meet!
ON

A very short video on the first few shots.

Nice,

The fact that it balances itself almost automatically after each shot is still amazing to see.

And this video was taken with the camera put on a very low table. So I had to crouch. But the pavement was wet, so I didn't put down my knee. Practically shoting without aiming, an unbalanced. But all the hits are on the target. :)

Hi, This is in response to your question about the month in which your 1936 S/42 Luger was manufactured. According to "Third Reich Lugers", the 1936 production started at #5000f and ended at 4500p. I can't make out your suffix from the photos you posted, but you should be able to work it out yourself. Regards, Norm

Thanks! But the sn of my pistol is 601i. Only 3 digit plus suffix. Or after 5999 it came 600?

Hi, The numbering was done in "blocks" of 10,000. The #1i would come after #9999h. I believe your Luger was made in April 1936. Regards

I see... Thanks!

Ah, to travel Europe on a Ural...
Sounds like fun to me!
dju

I did a restoration on my Luger, but forgot to post a picture on this forum.
So that's how she looks like now:
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1471

Prepared for duty. ;)
http://forum.lugerforum.com/picture....pictureid=1472

Hello Tom;
Your Luger was is a really good shape, no offence, but I would have kept it in it's initial condition for the collector's value sake.

Hi Andy,
here the value is of the weapon is priced on completely different attributes than in the US. Because of the very strict laws, there is no "collection" category for weapons. After the restoration this pistol worth about 50% more here. Not kidding. Based on the US terms this Luger was a shooter, as long as it was previously reblued. But the quality of that rebluing was not good enough. I strawed the parts, which was blued but shouldn't be. Now it looks original. And that makes the value here.

Tom

Hi Tom,
I didn't noticed the former reblueing of your gun.
With the strawed parts , the Luger looks much better now..

Tom,

Very nice Luger. It looks real nice after the restoration.
It is somewaht marvellous to see a Luger still in "frontline service" after 110 years of its introduction.
Congratualtions!

Douglas