Auction Luger
 

I was net surfing and noticed Greg Martin Auction Lot # 261. I have no connection.

Link :

http://67.155.195.3:8050/FMPro?-db=G...ID=48259&-find

Looks like the G-M folks had a typo...said it was in 8 mm...

Hi Pete, Thanks for adding the link. I noticed that also.

Now, I have heard that after WW2, there were hundreds of thousands of 8mm nambu that came to the country and "lots" {quote / unquote of lots} of lugers were chambered to this cartridge... Has anyone ever seen a "real" one?

Ralph has one, but it is a pretend gun...

Ed

The link posted above doesn't work for me... I get a "connection refused" error message when I click on it... is it working for anyone else?

I hesitate to even ask these things, but I need to learn about Lugers, so...

1) Is the wood or whatever on that mag correct? I sure seems "off color" so far as the ones I've seen. Maybe it's just the photo.

2) I'm not trying to be smart alecky, but how does one convert an 9mm to an 8mm? I admit I haven't researched the 8mm Nambu and it may be close enough in bore diameter that a chamber reaming could be done, depending on the length and shape of the case. Or, is a rebarrel necessary? Does this one look like a rebarrel to the experts here?

Rod,

The item description lists the magazine bottom as "ivoroid". As far as I have been able to determine, ivoroid, or ivorine, is a white celluloid material, sometimes cast, and finished to look like elephant ivory. It seems to have heavy use in stringed musical instruments, being used for tunig pegs, picks, and inlay and end-cap decoration. It has also been used for buttons and small picture frames, and other tchotchkis.

To convert 9mm to 8mm one would have to replace (or reline) the barrel. That is not the issue with the gun under discussion. It is a model 1900, with a .30 cal (7.65mm) pencil barrel. These get -really- thin toward the muzzle. Reboring to 8mm and rifling would very likely breach the outer surface at some point, or at the very least make the metal near the muzzle to be so thin as to be unsound.

--Dwight

Rod,
I suspect you probably know as much about Lugers as the individual writing the descriptions for Greg Martin auctions. They have a 9mm 1920 Commercial and a 7.65mm 1900 American Eagle, both listed as 8mm! Perhaps "8mm" is their shorthand for "I don't know exactly what caliber it is and I am too lazy to look it up, so I will just list it in between and let the buyer figure it out".

You know, guys, I didn't have my brain in gear on this. I didn't eved consider that it was a 7.65. I know they exist, but Lugers are so rare in the circles I travel in that I don't think I've ever even seen one in that chambering. I just naturally think only in terms of 9mm in connection with Lugers.

I just flat missed the "ivoroid" notation. And I forgot to consider the possibility of relining the barrel.

Thanks for the info.

and I simply answered, never looked to see what it really was. Guess I'm just a lazy bum :)

:D