Minimalist Luger look like

unspellable · 02-02-2003, 12:36 PM

Yesterday I went to the local gun show. There I saw what must be the absolute minimalist in Luger look likes, meaning ones that actually qualify as firearms, not models or airguns. This thing had a plastic body with a 0.12 inch smoothbore barrel insert. It was meant to fire a #6 chilled birdshot using an ordinary paper cap as the propelling charge. One placed the cap behind the chamber opening. On firing the "breech block" ran forward and struck the cap. The "breech block had a spring behind it and a rod that ran out the back where you pulled on the knob to **** it. The toggle linkage was one solid piece with the body molding.

Since it uses a combustable chemical propellent, it is a fire arm, but since it does not use a fixed cartridge it probably qualifies as a muzzle loader even though it does not load through the muzzle. (The legal distinction is the use of a fixed cartridge. There are various "muzzle" loaders that load from some place other than the muzzle.)

This thing originally sold by mail order for $3. Politically incorrect these days I'm sure.

Dwight Gruber · 02-02-2003, 10:36 PM

I'll be darned! Did this thing have "Kruger" molded onto the side panel? This sounds like the very first Luger I owned, probably sometime before I was eight years old. It was black, may have been Bakelite.

I remember the steel barrel insert, but I never knew that it was intended to fire bird shot--all I knew was that you could stack several paper caps into the "chamber" and the breechblock "hammer" was powerful enough to set them off--put quite a respectible flame out of the muzzle at night!

Not only not politically correct, but iirc it was full-sized (or nearly so) and all black--it could probably get you arrested today, or at least get your kid expelled from school.

Thanks for the memory!

--Dwight

As a postscript to my original post, I found this ad for sale on ebay. I also recall one of the actual guns for auction on ebay last year some time.

unspellable · 02-03-2003, 03:05 AM

Dwight,

That's the animal all right! Not bakelite, something more on the order of styrene.

02-02-2003, 12:36 PM	#1
unspellable User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 768 Thanks: 0 Thanked 19 Times in 11 Posts	Minimalist Luger look like Yesterday I went to the local gun show. There I saw what must be the absolute minimalist in Luger look likes, meaning ones that actually qualify as firearms, not models or airguns. This thing had a plastic body with a 0.12 inch smoothbore barrel insert. It was meant to fire a #6 chilled birdshot using an ordinary paper cap as the propelling charge. One placed the cap behind the chamber opening. On firing the "breech block" ran forward and struck the cap. The "breech block had a spring behind it and a rod that ran out the back where you pulled on the knob to **** it. The toggle linkage was one solid piece with the body molding. Since it uses a combustable chemical propellent, it is a fire arm, but since it does not use a fixed cartridge it probably qualifies as a muzzle loader even though it does not load through the muzzle. (The legal distinction is the use of a fixed cartridge. There are various "muzzle" loaders that load from some place other than the muzzle.) This thing originally sold by mail order for $3. Politically incorrect these days I'm sure.

02-02-2003, 10:36 PM	#2
Dwight Gruber User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,899 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1,299 Times in 429 Posts	I'll be darned! Did this thing have "Kruger" molded onto the side panel? This sounds like the very first Luger I owned, probably sometime before I was eight years old. It was black, may have been Bakelite. I remember the steel barrel insert, but I never knew that it was intended to fire bird shot--all I knew was that you could stack several paper caps into the "chamber" and the breechblock "hammer" was powerful enough to set them off--put quite a respectible flame out of the muzzle at night! Not only not politically correct, but iirc it was full-sized (or nearly so) and all black--it could probably get you arrested today, or at least get your kid expelled from school. Thanks for the memory! --Dwight As a postscript to my original post, I found this ad for sale on ebay. I also recall one of the actual guns for auction on ebay last year some time.

02-03-2003, 03:05 AM	#3
unspellable User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 768 Thanks: 0 Thanked 19 Times in 11 Posts	Dwight, That's the animal all right! Not bakelite, something more on the order of styrene.