Are Luger collectors interested in Lahtis?
 

I have been looking through firearms books of late. The Finnish/Swedish Lahti has a remarkable resemblance to the Luger. I'm curious...does this make it attractive to Luger collectors? Was the similarity an intentional design characteristic, and if so why? Is it a "better" Luger? (perish the thought!).

Just curious as to your opinions.

Regards, Alex

Lugers=31 ounces +- Lahtis=44 ounces +-
Lahtis "Crack me up"
http://members.rennlist.com/lugerman/Lahti1.jpg
http://members.rennlist.com/lugerman/Lahti2.jpg
http://members.rennlist.com/lugerman...r/dscn2147.jpg

I have a half formed interest in the Lahti. As for better, that's an open ended argument. It's certainly built like a you know what. Much as it looks like a Luger, the design probably owes more to the Broomhandle. I guess you can say it's what you'd get if you tried to make a Broomhandle look like a Luger.

shore wuda bin nice ifn Georg hada put a big ole nut lik thet on his Looger barels to mak thim esy ta tak off <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

The Luger is neeeat--the Lahti is ughhhly. Who could get excited by the Lahti?

Hugh,
Once upon a time I bought a box full of Luger parts in Albuquerque. Had enough to build a Luger! One of the receivers was an American Eagle with a Lahti barrel, or at least a barrel made like a Lahti. It was easy to remove.

If one studies the Lahti stock lug closely, he may be on to where all the unmarked "original" Luger stock irons sold come from. One dealer I know, told me the irons he offered were Norwegian.

George, The stock iron in question were more likely Finnish and may be "SA" marked. I have a theory, that since the Finns purchased 5000 7.65x98mm commerical lugers from DWM in 1923 WITH LPO8 stocks, that the later design of the Finnish Lahti stock lug, was to accept these surplus stocks, as the "true" Finnish made broom type stocks, were only made as prototypes, and never went into large scale production. You'll also find Finnish Lahti holsters with straps on the back, for carrying a flat board type stock. Tom H.

That 7.65x98mm has got to be a butt-kickin pistol cartridge

Comparing the Lahti to the Luger is apples and oranges. We love the Luger for its toggle action and workmanship, while the Lahti is a really rugged gun with a conventional action. Anyway, the Lahti has a nice balance and is quite under rated for what it is. Here is my Lahti that I got from Fred Datig, a very rare commercial model which had a production of only a few hundred pistols. These commercials are recognized by the three digit serial number preceded by the letter "H". There is a new book on the Lahti coming out soon and I look forward to it with great anticipation.


http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/P9240011.jpg

Is it true that the Husky versions were prone to a crack developing somewhere, but that the VKT versions did not? [img]confused.gif[/img]

Hogg & Weeks (p. 190) has it that the Swedes modified the design of the pistol slightly (it is implied that they eliminated the recoil accellerator, among other things), and used different steel from that spec'ed in the original Finnish design. That, and the designation of a high-power 9mm smg round as the standard service ammunition, which started the serious cracking problems.

--Dwight