Jerry, your lanyard was (and is!) great-excellent craftsmanship. Several years ago, I did use it in several steel plate matches, and it held up well. Using them is definitely an acquired taste, especially when used for obtaining additional firing stability. Jan Still's book on the Third Reich Lugers has several fairly good photos of it being used early in WWII, but I suspect that it was very quickly discarded by German troops. The Luger was complicated enough getting out of it's holster, and the lanyard would do little but complicate things; that retention technique adapted was merely to stuff the gun into the soldier's leather belt, as opposed to it dangling from the lanyard, as depicted in Jan Still's photos.
It's a nice accessory though, and goes nicely with the El Paso Saddlery holster I had made, but its use in an IDPA match would probably not pass RO or Match Director scrutiny, and then there's the dreaded 20 second "Failure To Do Right" penalty threat lurking in the background...
Best, Jon
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