Finally, my first Luger
 

I love Lugers, but, until yesterday, I had never held one. I wanted my first to be a shooter. The dealer I bought it from said it was a parts gun - that there was probably no two parts being from the same gun. I don't mind that. It just gives me more to research!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...E6E8ED6C79.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...A3E2671CF7.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...61AE9324FB.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...5D978747AE.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...FC072760EC.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...65F8C71B10.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...1C1895ADDC.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...D83D453650.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...9FE3571EFF.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...BE7FE31B3E.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...0438487621.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...13A83D39FA.jpg

Oh my! The dished toggles on a shooter? That’s awesome. Congrats on your first Luger! Also recommend that you go get a Mac Gar magazine(s) to shoot from as your current magazine is a spare magazine for someone who owns a military pistol with that serial number and isn’t fit for shooting anyway.

Actually there is no reason not to use the magazine he has, its aluminum base mag. is perfectly adequate for shooting .HK, you may be thinking of wood base magazines, on which the base sometimes cracks during use after these 70 or 110 years since they were made.

Yep, there is a lot of heritage in that one...
Looks like someone ground off the stock lug, but I'm not sure why the hole on the rear grip strap. Maybe they wanted to lighten the gun, so they also dished the toggles.
Does it shoot and function well?
dju

Grind too much and the "hole" appears on most all luged lugers.

Might want to install the trigger leaver pin properly.

Might want to install the trigger leaver pin properly.
Do you think it is bent or just rotated?

I see an interesting project gun. IF, and I repeat IF, it shoots and functions well, I'd get some gunsmith to salt blue it, restraw the small stuff myself, and have a real range queen.

Just my $.02
dju

The pin is rotated. The bend should be down toward the bottom of the sideplate. If the dished toggles are authentic, I'm sure someone would trade you a newer toggle and then some for the chance to complete an older pistol. It is curious, as well, that the safety markings have been routed out.

We need a closeup of the right toggle knob. Although it's not there now, I can't tell from the pic if there is any sign that the toggle lock was there.

The second photo seems to suggest that there is no toggle lock present on the right side toggle.
dju

Not only is there no toggle lock on the right side toggle, it is not even machined to have ever had a toggle lock. That is a strange piece.
Ron

I haven't had a chance to fire it yet, however, it is a tight gun with next to no rattle. It chambered a round, extracted, and ejected well manually. I'd like to find out more info on the frame and toggle. Anyways. Someone asked for a few more closeups..

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2FBCB7D99F.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...106D9A4BDB.jpg

To me, that's everything a "shooter" Luger should not be.

An interesting "conversation piece" maybe.;)

Well cool. I like interesting. I pulled the toggle and firing pin out and got some more pics. I'm wondering, how would you tell if the toggles are original or if they were machined out to replicate dished toggles? I know they aren't original to this frame.

The number here you can see is 01. The firing pin matches the toggles.
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...350B83D8CD.jpg

I apologize for the poor quality of this one. In this orientation it appears to be an upside down "P" then below is a rightside up "6" and under that a rightside up "5".
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...925AC1C4AB.png

These are pretty much the only markings on the barrel.
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...735F8C0B8B.jpg

Really need to see the toggle knobs from the top.
Looks like they have been milled to me; no signs of the toggle lock.

Gotchya. At this point, using what little I know, I'm gonna guess milled.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...7545FD466A.jpg

Also no sign of the small pin from the top in the left knob, but it may be there.
Picture is fuzzy and won't enlarge, must be hosted off site!
Please post pictures on the server here.

Try again, closer and in focus, please.

Don,
There is no pin in the left knob of a dished toggle knob. The axle pin of the toggle joint is retained by the toggle lock. Since there is no toggle lock on this piece, the axle pin is only a friction fit just like the forward toggle link to breech block pin. Did you also notice that the toggle is blank, no DWM? And, it appears not to have been milled down. I repeat, this is a strange piece. :)
Ron

The top with flash.

I'll be darned, there is a pin in the left knob! Curiouser and curiouser. Good call Don. Since I didn't expect a pin, I wouldn't have looked for one.
Ron

One style for pinching, one style for snagging with hooked fingers!

I just checked my M1900's toggle knobs against those on a P.08.

Measuring across the top of each pistol:

Overall width 1900 toggle at extremes = ~1.56"

Overall width 1900 toggle at minimum = ~1.30"

Overall width P/08 toggle........................~1.42"

Knurling characteristics of 1900 toggle:
Serrations/groove applied radially to the axis on its rounded front corners, a bit more than 180 degrees. I guess the grooves are also concentric with the radius of the rounding on the front corner.

Knurling characteristics of P.08 toggle:
The edges of the knob's faces are not as rounded as the 1900, more like chamfered at an angle. Serrations are applied to the chamfered edges in radial fashion, as well as applied on the outer circumference, parallel to axis. The former go all the way around the circumference and the latter go most of the way around, skipping the part which bumps into the frame's ramps. The knob's face is checkered and flat.

Looking at this data, my deduction is that whether original or copy, this rear toggle is probably not a converted P.08 toggle. One can confirm by measuring, and also by the 1900-style of knurled texture that this is a 1900 toggle with the accommodation for the toggle lock filled in, and a hole drilled for the axle retention pin. Easier to fill in an original or make a repro?

To make a faithful recreation of a 1900 part from a P.08 part would require removing all serrations entirely, as well as building up the front of the knob, dishing it with a mill (ala' our fine sheepherder), and re-serrating to the earlier specs.

May be a 1900 that had the slot filled and pin added to "work" with a P 08 type frame?

The milling of the grooves is not consistent with a cut out P 08 toggle; like this one Rich did for me. Scallops are not as "deep" since the toggle is not as wide.

I just like the "dished" look.

A quick measurement, compared to Dave's data will tell the tale.

Thanks for all the great info! I closely examined the inside of the right toggle and think I could barely make out where the toggle hold slot was filled. I don't think I'd really be able to get that in a picture. I'm going to take some measurements as soon as I find my darned calipers. Once I get those numbers I'll post them.

So how does it shoot?