Stainless Steel American Eagle
 

First post here! Last year I was on a range and a guy had a Luger 9mm. I asked to look at it and he asked if I wanted to shoot it. Well, heck yea! So, I shoot my first Luger. I've owned a P38 in the past and enjoyed shooting it.

So, I thought I'd start looking for a Luger of my own. Then I saw it...the SS American Eagle. It was less expensive than many of the "real" Lugers I found. I've now got one. Its a great looking handgun and I'm very proud of it.

My first shooting session I discovered several things: 1) The mag is a PITA to load....IMO. My cartridges seem to stick to the inside of the mag lips even when I remove pressure on the follower. 2) When I shoot it I get good accurate hits at point of aim. 3) Sometimes the trigger doesnt reset but it'll shoot if I just pull the trigger again. It happens maybe once or twice a mag. 4) I got only one mag with the pistol. 5) It cycles great...feed, extract, eject. 6) It's super cool looking!

So, is the mag problem normal? Where can I get some fair priced mags? I looked on gun broker and found most were $100-150. I saw some mecgar ones on the web but they all seem to be out of stock.

Is the trigger reset an issue of a good cleaning or is it something that might need fixing otherwise?

I'd be stoked if the trigger issue was corrected. I'm very happy with the looks of the pistol and the mag issue might just be with this mag.

Thanks in advance on any advise or info.

seems you may have found one that works, consider yourself lucky. these pistols usualy have major issues. As for as the magf try tripple k mags or kkk mags they have some good ones . Good luck

I don't think a regular luger mag will work with a stainless; this is a Mitchel Arms or the like?

I think, but I am not positive that they take their own mag?

If that is what was said above (as i don't know) then a 2nd mag is good to try

If the trigger is catching, not sure how it would be the mag and the would be curious if there is a minor rough spot on either the trigger or the sear bar

I need to get one or borrow one and see how they are alike and different, I just know that parts are not interchangeable :)

Mr tinker is right , the parts do not interchange, triple k makes ss mags which may work. the ss american eagle i once owned had many issues and i never got it to work right. I still know the guy who ownes the gun and he gave up trying to get it to function. so if all you have is a trigger problem you are lucky.

Padre, its a shame really - I loved how they looked when I saw them years ago and always wanted one ;) Later when I have 'extra' money, I should get one :)

I agree. This is the one i owned a few years ago. all were made by spm of houston tx, no matter which name was on them. I just gave up on trying to get it to shoot an fuction correctly back then. I has recently come back up for sale or trade and been offered to me . I am considering owning it again and trying to make it work this time.

yes it came with the wood base mag as seen in the picture

Rick, that is what I heard, good to hear that they are much more interchangeable than I thought.

For an up date , i just called the guy who had traded for my old american eagle and he is a single action guy and interested in perhaps trading the ss luger for one of my custom ruger single actions . A bit of faith that my old ss american eagle would turn up at a gun show and get traded to someone i know , i had told him how finicy it was , but he has no desire to shoot it anyway, We will see how it turns out and if i become it's owner again.

these two ss mags are triple k, they have wooden bottoms as you can see . i have used these in both my dwm;s and erfurt with no problems, if i do trade for the ss american eagle will see how they work in it.

i just made the trade on the ss american eagle and is now apart in the parts cleaner and getting scrubbed, when that is done i will test fire it and use the triple k mags and see how the work with it . been years since i have owned this pistol , perhaps it has gotten a bit better with age?? We will see.

Well here it is . all cleaned up and in a display box, with extra mags . Surprised me how well it shot , but i will discuss that in another thread i will start dedicated to this pistol. what it cost me in trade was a custom ruger .45 lc round butt i built years ago , i never really shot it much but i doubt there was another one like it anywhere, oh well deal is done and both of us are happy, so .

Mine is a 1993 Stoeger. It has a single mag with it and it has the plastic bottom with the eagle on the sides. I'll try to post some pictures of it this week but It looks just like any of the others posted in this area. Also, I found the triple K mags on the web. I'll look into getting one after comparision to the original I have.

the tripple k mags i used today worked fine as well as a world war two fxo mag , the factory ss ae mag has a wood bottom with a eagle mark on it.

I know it's been a while but here's my Luger. Pics finally! I discovered the problem I was having with the trigger reset was while the pistol was firing the trigger may have been held down too long and not reset prior to the next cartridge loading and being ready to fire. I was able to reproduce the issue while manually cycling it. So, my question would now be if the trigger is held down while the pistol is cycling should that cause the trigger to not reset and fire the next round?

I still haven't purchased another mag yet. Just trying to get the pistol to function correctly in my eyes before putting much more into it.

I sent an email to a Luger repair serivce I found on the web asking if he worked on these and he told me to sell it and get a real Luger! ...hummmm....I'm going back to the range today to give it another try and see if I can replicate the issue when I live fire it.

nice looking one

Your's sounds like the classic disconnector plunger in the trigger bar, not getting under the trigger lever in the side plate between rounds. Do a search here on the Forum, and I'm sure that you will find several alternative fixes. TH

the ss american eagles are fun to shoot, sometimes it just takes some work to get them to function right.

you have to admit there is a cool factor to a ss luger

I would love to own a SS Luger, especially if it would function reliably. You have a very nice example.

Ty, it has become my shooter. Less risk of breaking a rare part.

sorry padre, i dont see a "less risk".

when something brokes here, you have to get replacement parts, what are produced by just one company and, when i remember right, in another thread was told, that getting parts from there isnt easy.
export-restrictions for replacement parts would be also a problem (for me, not for you),
so all together, i decided, not to use them too often.

i would recommend to use one of these old, so called "shooters", where you can be sure, that original or new made parts will fit and will be available at every corner.

best regards
klaus

Klaus, i see your point, but to me a 1993 ss american eagle should be a bit more stronger than the older p08's ,not that it's true . I still shoot the winchester white box to be sure of not over stressing the gun.

To me the ss american eagle is one of the nicest looking modern lugers ever produced

a few pics

padre, i am the same opinion.

A regular mag will work with a stainless, get a Mec-Gar or Pre WW1 magazine.

Didn't even know these existed. Pretty neat! Thanks for sharing!

I bought my 4" Stoeger 9/15/95 according to my warranty card. I don't remember what I paid for it. I had a bright green Luger squirt gun when I was a kid, and always wanted a "real one", lol. I remember that when I got it, it wouldn't strip the round off the magazine, sent it back, had the same problem. So I cleaned it and put it back in the storage case. I bet it doesn't even have 20 rounds thru it. I have no idea what ammo I used. Time to go back out and shoot it! I'm glad I found this site. The tips on where to get extra magazines are great! Thanks everybody!

I've always wanted one of those, possibly the nicest looking handgun ever made, a total shame about all the bad press which I assume is well deserved.
Does anyone know what alloy they are using? I make gun parts of 416 stainless, which is a hardenable alloy. The alloy is one of the nicest machining steels I've ever worked with, much nicer than 303 stainless and much better suited to gun parts. If the guns are made of 416 it may be possible to have certain parts hardened, it's been mentioned that the area that cams the toggle up gets peened pretty badly.

That sounds like the barrel extension is too soft. The question then becomes would hardening after machining cause warpage that couldn't be straightened. If it worked it would be worthwhile, but it's hard to believe they would use annealed 416 when the prehardened alloy is so easy to machine. Prehardened comes in at about 28-32 RC, maybe too soft still?

The initial production of the Stainless Steel Lugers were compatible with standard Luger magazines. I do not know why, but during the course of multiple company names and production, they changed the magazine design, and the body of the magazine is somewhat larger than the original type. These later examples are NOT compatible with original Luger magazines. An orginal style mag will be too small to fit properly and conversely, the new style magazine will not insert into the grip of an original Luger.

The new model magazines have smooth sides and no fold crimp such as the example above. If you want extra magazines for these later model Stainless Lugers, you better buy them when you see them... cause I don't think anyone will be making any more of them.

Ed, if you still want to own one of these Stainless guns, I recommend you only consider the type that use original Luger mags...

This is the new type mag:
http://forum.lugerforum.com/attachme...1&d=1361201714

SS Lugers
 

John,

I've read that Stoeger was planning to come out with a .40S&W version of the SS Luger (never materialized), and that is why the mags are different. Don't know whether that story is true or not. Bill

Hope you've solved your own problem, good luck with this. Wish I'd of bought one when they first came out?
Steve

I have one new Stoeger smooth sided stainless mag left in stock @$75 and plenty of the earlier stainless, PO8 interchangeable mags @$35 each. TH

Wheww, I'm more confused now than before about stainless(American built) Lugers? Seems as if most repiers talked more about other things than actually about stainless Lugers?

Steve

Tom:
What is a stainless, smooth sided Stoeger Mag? Can you tell me more of what it mates up with?

FACT: late manufactured models of the stainless steel lugers (regardless of the name brand on the receiver or toggle, were all made in the same production facility) were made to be used with a new magazine design with flat sides and no side seams. IIRC, they are not interchangeable with the earlier magazines which could be used in both stainless and original Lugers. The tube looks smooth on both sides much like the magazines for Colt 1911 type pistols.

FICTION?? ...I have heard two rumors over the years on why they changed the design... the first and most likely was for simplicity of manufacture... (Original design Luger mags ain't easy to make!)
...and the second story is that the manufacturer had planned to produce a .40 Cal S&W version of the pistol which would have required a different magazine design.

First time I've heard this, John! Rather ambitious aspirations, I must say--particularly since there were so many problems in fit and function with the original calibers for these.

Something I've noticed about this series is that the extractors went through 3 different designs. The pistol I have has an extractor that is like the P.08, but without the "ears" on the sides. I think there's an album by someone on the site which shows these variations in extractor design, discernible in the range of stainless guns documented and posted...

True David... but recreation of the P.08 in stainless steel could also have been termed a rather ambitious aspiration, eh? ...

Magazine...
 

The Mitchell versions are interchangeable with the originals. It is the Stoeger and following models that are different. Stoeger had a number of parts changed so that interchangeability would not be an option. Mitchell wanted a stainless steel copy, and the parts do swap out.