"L�¼ger Sternlicht"???

[sheepherder]

In Robert Ludlum's book "The Rhinemann Exchange", a guard at Peenem�¼nde is described as wearing "a specially designed arm pistol with a telescopic sight"..."an outsized holster in his wide brown belt"..."As the mans visor cap indicated, such weapons were made for the Gestapo"...

A L�¼ger Sternlicht...Anyone have a pic of it??? Googling that name turns up nothing to do with Lugers...

[Ron Wood]

The gun described by Mr. Ludlum is a product of his "literary license", it makes a good story but has no basis in fact. There were some aftermarket scoped Lugers assembled by Pacific Arms in the 1920's but I seriously doubt that any of those made it into the hands of the Gestapo. I also suspect that Penem�¼nde was guarded by the regular army rather than the Gestapo. Guard duty is not glamorous and the rain, snow and mud would get their pretty uniforms messy.
By the way, there is no umlaut in Luger.
A telescopic sight would be called a "Fernrohr". A Sternlicht to me would indicate a "starlight scope" and I rather doubt such technology was available in WWII, especially not small enough to be pistol mounted. I saw a very unusual Luger at a NAPCA show that is proported to be one used by Hitler's bodyguard. It has a flashlight attachment.

[Steinar]

I'm (still) a bit skeptical about this Luger. Unless the shooter is having metal cloves or the grip safety is actually the switch, I can't see how it could work without a transistor. It would be very interesting to learn how it's made.

[alanint]

The moisture in human skin is often used as the conduit to complete a circuit. I have several items including a pistol laser that activate by a finger completing a circuit.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Ron Wood

The gun described by Mr. Ludlum is a product of his "literary license", it makes a good story but has no basis in fact.

I was skeptical as well...but I thought maybe he referred to an artiller Luger...the tangent sight may have gotten mixed up (in Ludlums mind) with the scoped sight...

By the way, there is no umlaut in Luger.

Ludlum put it in; so did I. When I make a quote, I make it accurate, even down to the mistakes.

A telescopic sight would be called a "Fernrohr". A Sternlicht to me would indicate a "starlight scope" and I rather doubt such technology was available in WWII...

Light-amplifying, probably not...but the Vampir infra-red night vision sight was developed by the Germans during WWII, and this plus the scope-like sight may have been what Ludlum was envisioning...Although I believe that Rick W. wrote in a thread that a member here had mounted an Aimpoint on an artillery Luger...That might be considered a "sternlicht" Luger...

Literary license is great!

[Steinar]

postino; something like this?

alanint; on these modern devices, you don't actually complete the circuit for the source, but a trip signal (high amp and low voltage) for a switch that does it for you

[Jack Lawman]

Here is a neat application of "skin sensing" technology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGiYlyo2-eQ

Jack

[John Sabato]

Postino... interesting photo of the red dot scope on a Luger... but strange in that the silencer? has what looks like a .45 caliber hole in the end and the pistol has a .22 LR conversion kit mounted... Hmmmmm.....

[Steinar]

John, you should have known that it would have to be a crazy ol'norwegian that is the mind behind this bizarre creature

[Ron Wood]

A "night sights" for the LP08 did exist, but they were open sights with radium inserts and not a scope.

[John Sabato]

Steinar,

Just how quiet is that configuration?

[Steinar]

John,
.22 is a great caliber to silence and actually don't hear much more than sound of the toggle cycling. There are no restrictions on silencers here in Norway, and they have become a very common sight these last 10 years. I use silencer on all my rifles, including such rifles as marlin 336 and the trusty old K98
The red-dot luger is now history and picked apart.
Much more interesting is the one with radium inserts! Very interesting set up.

[sheepherder]

Steinar -

That is a great looking combination!!!

Does the receiver move at all, or does the .22 cartridge eject & feed by blowback only??? (I'm not familiar with the .22 conversion).

[Sieger]

Originally Posted by Ron Wood

... I also suspect that Penem�¼nde was guarded by the regular army rather than the Gestapo. Guard duty is not glamorous and the rain, snow and mud would get their pretty uniforms messy.

Ron:

I doubt that these boys, with their top secret knowledge, were "protected" by the regular Army, particularly after the attempt on Hitler's life in July of 1944, by the Army. More likely than not, they were "friends of the management", perhaps Waffen SS or the SD itself.

Sieger

[Dwight Gruber]

Remember also that Peenem�¼nde was a forced-labor camp.

--Dwight

[Sieger]

Originally Posted by Dwight Gruber

Remember also that Peenem�¼nde was a forced-labor camp.

--Dwight

Dwight:

I knew that forced labor was used in the assembly of the V-2 Rocket System, but I didn't know that there was a camp at Peenemuende itself.

Sieger

[alterfritz]

Originally Posted by Sieger

Dwight:

I knew that forced labor was used in the assembly of the V-2 Rocket System, but I didn't know that there was a camp at Peenemuende itself.

There wasn't. the forced labor camp was near Mittenwald where the final V2 assembly took place. Peenemuende was the research center