ORIMAR hopes to RESUME PRODUCTION
 

On 16-Feb, I sent an email to the address listed for Orimar Firearms Manufacturing on the lugerforum Links & Resources page. Minutes later, I received the bad news: delivery failure, unknown user. But this morning I tried the phone number listed on L&R, and shortly found myself talking to R E Romo.

He informed me that Orimar (OFM, Inc) is hoping to resume production of the stainless P.08, perhaps in several months. The reason production was halted is that Stoeger declined to continue as the distributor. Stoeger was recently acquired by Beretta. Mr. Romo did not imply that Beretta coerced Stoeger's decision. But draw your own inference: would Beretta want its subsidiary marketing a product superior to Bereta's own pistols? OFM is now negotiating with several possible new distributors.

Mr. Romo invited me to sent OFM postal mail (at the address correctly listed on the L&R page) stating my interest in purchasing a stainless P.08. OFM will keep a list of all such mail received, and senders will be notified directly when plans to continue production are finalized.

I would suppose that OFM's ability to offer some documentation of demand for the product might have a positive bearing on the current negotiations. If you have any interest in acquiring one of these gems, please send your mail to Mr. Romo as soon as possibe!

This poor chap needs some help in setting up commercial business very, very fast.

He's sitting on a gem and doesn't appear to get it marketed.

As the owner of two of his guns, I am not in a position to buy another at this time but I certainly hope that he is able to coninue.

Is there any way to at least get them in the yearly listings put out by the gun rags?

Steve

Did you - or anyone else - ask him if he was aware of this forum? He could get some good advertising play, get suggestions on improving his product, etc. As for his business accumen - I have to assume he's a craftsman trying to make some money and as for running a business - he doesn't seem to have a clue.

Yes, I am sure he has been 'talked' at.

There are other threads on this forum of the same thing.

I have invited him several times to join our forum but have had no success. When I bought my first gun from him, it took me about two weeks of searching on the internet before I found a hint about his company.

Several times, people have posted that they have gone into gun shops and were told that the stainless guns were no longer made even though they were at those times. He is not listed in the annual catalogues by either Guns and Ammo or Guns.

Steve

I have spoken to Mr. Romo, and have followed the occasional comments and reports about Orimar for the last year and a half. The situation reminds me of a Harley dealer I dealt with years ago. This dealer had a lock on the local market, yet refused to foster good customer relations. Rather than buy from him, people went out of state for their new Harleys. One rider I knew put it bluntly by saying: "He's sitting on a gold mine, and is too stupid to pick up a shovel." I don't know about the rest of the members, but I'd pay up to $5,000 for a nice, new production Stainless .45 Luger. Oh well!
DougT

Doug, If you really want a .45 (or just about any other caliber) luger that works flawlessly in the $5K range, I'd highlly recommend those made by John Martz (916-645-3815). He doesn't make them in stainless, but you can order his high polish "stain white" that has the same appearance. I have a couple of his guns with this finish, that have been in my safe for years, with no corrosion. TH

Okay

Please restrict posts on this thread to discussion of ORIMAR production...

Thanks Tom and Thor for the information, but my point was that Orimar could be in production and selling guns to us, but for unknown reasons is not. If you remember, the first stainless Lugers made the cover of the American Rifleman back in the late 1980's--it seems to me that any gun that could achive that sort of instant recognition should do well in the commercial market. And I agree with threadmaster Ponyman...you vill keep zees discussions to Orimar production unst you vill like it!
DougT

There was a time (During the Mitchell era) when I could find the stainless Lugers in the local discount store.

I spoke with mr. romo today about the status of the .45 stainless luger. He said that he is having trouble getting a tool and die maker for the frame,most of the good ones work in the oil business he mentioned. He indicated that I could use his email address to keep posted on the .45 progress. He also said that he is pursuring the .45 project and will eventually have the gun in production. I was a little confused because I thought that the pattern for this .45 luger was that of the john martz .45 he mentioned that he is also has talem dimensions from the exact reproductions that mike krause is making. I thought that the original german .45 luger was physically larger than the 9mm version.

Welcome Raymond.

I don't think anyone knows the exact dimensions of the new 45. Hadn't heard it was like Krauses or John Martz...


Ed

Did he say if he is currently producing .30cal and 9mm guns? I have seen a picture of a carbine in stainless and it was a beautiful gun. I would think that that is another model that would sell quite well. Also a trommell magazine that would work in a vintage LP-08.

Steve

Hi all,
I was on the other Luger forum and found a thread that suggested that some of the Stainless lugers were inferior to others due to design improvements made as the project went forward. As I own two of the stainless guns I want to find out when design changes were made and which configurations I had. I am going to try to talk with Orimar directly by phone. In the mean time does any one else know of design changes during the production of the Stainless lugers that make newer gun more reliable than the older ones?

Thanks,
Bob M.

Mine are both year 2000 and latter. The 2000 one needed to have the extractor replaced and has been reliable since then. The .30 cal is 2002 and is reliable with the right ammo. It will not cycle with Fiochi.

I bought a couple of hundred rounds from a loader in this area and they work fine. My first batch of my own reloads had problems feeding up through the magazine itself. They had soft lead tips and that would not slide. I think they were too short.

I do not know what design changes were made as I have not had an older one to compare with mine.

Steve

At the transistion from Mitchell to Stoeger as distributers the magazine was changed from a standard form to a non-standard form. They are not interchangable. I'm not sure if this was a cost cutting measure or if it was driven by Stoeger's desire to have a captive market for magazines. I have never been impressed by the way Stoeger does things.