What killed off the luger design was the production price. It was simply too expensive to produce, as opposed to other designs. Roughly 2 P38's could be made at the expense of 1 P08.
Even Mauser in the 1970s had difficulties keeping the prices low (and failed). And they were using all the cost cutting measures they could come up with, without compromising the design.
I ran boxes of NATO spec 9mm through my 1937 S/42 without problems. Just minor parts (ejector/extractor) that failed during 7 years of shooting mostly 124gr S&B ammo.
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