Hello again guys,
The former owner of the Luger I acquired recently sent the worn out original wood grips along with the pistole just to keep the pieces together, and the crude fit of the plastic black grips demonstrates that they are repros. The wood grips have much of the checking worn away, and aren't worth much beyond the fact that they are original because of their poor condition, but they are saved anyway. As for Tacfoley, I understand his wee bit of sarcasm to be in good fun, and do agree that a good Pennsylvania has more craftsmanship than an MG-42, but the engineering know-how that came from a resource starved country and went into a wartime-produced and highly successful light MG such as the 42 also commands admiration. Plus, its a true joy to shoot just because of its high rate of fire and range (though expensive unless you use crappy Turkish surplus ammo and clean the gun very well). The perfect gun for a recoil junky (aside from those ungodly monsters like the .50 cal BMG). I tried out the luger and had many "classic" jams usig both Wolf (crap) ammo and Winchester, mostly because of the bad magazine. The mag spring seems weak and and the cartridge follower in it was sticky. After a few careful bends of the mag body, it worked a little better, but the pistole really needs new mags, which are already on order. Typical new shooter quality problems I guess. I was truly amazed at the accuracy and comfort of the Luger, despite my initial problems. Anyone know where I can purchase some aluminum-bottomed mags? Until I get the Luger up and running reliably, I'll just have to remain satisfied with riddling thousands of holes in helpless targets with the ole'-42. If you guys are curious and want to see some of the nice toys I have built, check out my website and click around to your hearts content:
www.stormthewalls.dhs.org
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS