[John Sabato]

Lou,

I have to respectfully disagree with your assertion that this is a safe practice. Regardless of the fact that you have not personally had an accident for 20 years of Luger collecting. The fact is that the firing pin resting on the primer is in a tension condition, and dropping the firearm could cause the pin to "bounce" because it is under spring tension and easily could cause an accidental discharge. I know personally of a court case that was dramatized on TV about an altercation where one of the participants pulled a loaded Luger from his pocket to use during the fight. NOT as a firearm, but simply as a club.

The gun had a round in the chamber with the firing pin resting on the primer as you described with the safety on. You must understand that in this condition, the safety cannot prevent the firing pin from bouncing because the pin is already past the sear.

The person holding the gun tried to strike the attacker with the Luger as a blunt object and when he did so, the gun discharged when the gun was dropped or knocked from his hand and struck the ground. Unfortunately, the round passed through the front of the store where this occured and struck someone on the other side of the street. I don't recall if the injury was fatal or not.

The judge in the case commended the owner of the Luger for not trying to use it as a firearm during the fight, but also ruled that because the gun was loaded, no matter why the gun discharged, the owner who was carrying it (Legally) was liable for the damage and injury to the innocent bystander...

I could never recommend that a Luger pistol be placed in this condition. Cocked and Locked, on the other hand, is perfectly safe because the sear is prevented from moving by the safety lever. The sear would have to break for a Luger to accidently discharge from this condition.