Luger Safeties (internal and otherwise)
 

[I am new to the group and Lugers in general, so bear with me...]

I have been looking at some of the animations and diagrams on this site trying to ascertain what sort of safety features have been incorporated into the Luger design. I've learned that early Lugers had both an external thumb safety and a grip safety; the latter was omitted in the '08. Some (all?) models also incorporate a magazine safety...

With the removal of the grip safety, are there any internal safety mechanisms that would prevent accidental discharge if the weapon were dropped with the thumb safety disengaged?

I am thinking about some of the internal safeties in Glock pistols, for example. I am not an expert but I understand there are devices that block the striker/firing pin from impinging on the primer of a chambered round as the result of inertial acceleration. The block is pulled out of engagement as slack is taken up during the trigger pull.

Are these types of internal safeties strictly a modern (post-war) invention or do they date back to the early automatic pistols?

Thanks,
eesnyder

There are no additional safety features on the Luger line other than the power of the sear spring to prevent a possible discharge if the pistol were dropped with the striker under tention and the safety off.
There were certain pistols made pre war that had firing pin block safeties such as the Walther pistols, (P-38, PPK, PP) but these did not come into play unless the safety was engaged.

I'm afraid most pre-war guns relied on the greatest safety of all; the intelligence and responsibility of the owner. In today's litigeous society, these are no longer considered important factors and thus modern firearms are designed to protect us against ourselves.

Thanks for clarifying that. I couldn't see any internal safeties in the exploded diagrams available on this site but the ability of gun designers to incorporate functionalities in clever and non-obvious ways never fails to amaze me.

The original question was (sub-consciously) inspired by an incident in which a Browning HiPower with hammer cocked fell out of my shoulder holster onto the ground while I was picking up some targets. Fortunately, the safety was engaged, but I blanched and felt quite woozy when I realized that the pistol landed right on the hammer spur with the muzzle pointed directly at my stomach. :eek:

This happened in 1990 and the event is still seared into my memory. I now make certain to engage the snap on the shoulder holster *every* time I holster the pistol, no matter how briefly.

Although I sometimes carry locked and loaded, the adage while in the army at a range is that you never go downrange unless all weapons are unloaded with the magazine OUT of the weapon. A habit i still employ....

Ed

EE, The current Glock trigger with in the trigger safety dates back to the 1930 model Sauer pistols. TH PS: The M1908 Roth-Steyr pistol used a long trigger pull that both cocked the FP & released it, which some manufacturers are still using today.