Identifying

[mrerick]

"So we still don't know if its a 30 Cal are a 9mm. Okay what do I need to do to find out what caliber is. What other information do y'all need on this Luger "

Just look at the post I linked to earlier... It's clearly photographed.

A 9mm Luger cartridge will not fit all the way into a .30 Luger chamber, even though the rim is the same size. This is because the .30 Luger cartridge is a bottleneck cartridge with a bevel bottleneck case.

Also, unless it's been messed with, your barrel is marked as a 9mm Luger barrel.

The ammo specification was NOT stronger back in the day. That is a myth. You should not use higher power ammo like +P or surplus machine gun ammo in a Luger, particularly an older one like yours. Just standard velocity 9mm with ball (jacketed) FMJ bullets. The recoil spring should have 19 coils. Don't go messing with this until you properly determine the right ammo for this gun.

[dberge@kanokla.net]

Thanks again I try to chamber a 9mm it would not chamber only half way so it's a .30 cal right?

[DavidJayUden]

This is lifted from another post: "see if a yellow pencil will drop into the barrel erasure first. If it will it's a 9MM."

Go get a yellow pencil and stick it into the barrel, and tell us what happens. Or if you have a good set of drill bits, carefully see which on will fit and also the first size that will not fit. And give us those sizes.

dju

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by DavidJayUden

Or if you have a good set of drill bits, carefully see which on will fit and also the first size that will not fit. And give us those sizes.

dju

A caution, not to use the business ends of the bits, but their shank ends, and to be very careful not to damage the bore by stirring things around in there.

[mrerick]

Why not post some closeup sharp focus pictures of the muzzle? This would let us determine if the barrel has been relined, and what caliber it likely is. As mentioned earlire, your barrel is marked for a 9mm Luger chamber and bore, but it could have been relined.

If a 9mm Luger round would not chamber it could mean it's a .30 Luger chamber, or that something is stuck in there as a result of firing .30 Luger ammo in a 9mm chamber.

Since we're several days on, and you're having difficulty with this I'd recommend getting in touch with a competent gunsmith and having them look over your Luger.

Your local friends and M1911 expert have not helped you to this point so I would seek someone else for this assistance.

Tom Heller (lugerdoc on this forum) is an expert Luger gunsmith and not located that far from you in Missouri.

Marc

[dberge@kanokla.net]

Here's some pictures of the barrel and a 9mm
bullet in chamber

[Ron Wood]

The barrel clearly has been sleeved. Nice job.

[dberge@kanokla.net]

Thank ya'll.Going shooting

[DavidJayUden]

Let us know how it goes.
dju

[mrerick]

Yes - the barrel has been modified from 9mm to something smaller. The question is what exactly...

The fact that you had difficulty cycling the gun with .30 Luger ammo means that something is probably not completely right. There may be a problem with the chamber and it's size or inner surface.

Again, someone with experience needs to take a look at this.

[nukem556]

Well, yep, Rons right of course...it's relined to .30.....but how is it chambered? You said the fired brass is overly expanded....can you post a pic of one of the fired cases?

[aldo35]

Hi,

You might be lucky and find out it is chambered for somehting like the 7.63 Mauser which quite a bit longer than the 30 Luger. I am not a reloader but I am sure someone on the forum could give you the accurate dimensions of the two.


I once saw a gunsmith pour molten sulpur down the muzzle of a rifle with the bolt closed. When it cooled he extracted the pretty good replica of the cartridge. I remember it was a French cartridge, 8mm Lebel.

There maybe some other resins that would do that job today, as that was some 70 - 75 years ago. Good luck.

Aldo35

Aldo35

[DavidJayUden]

Brownell's sells a material for making a mold of an existing chamber and bore if it comes to that. Let's just hope that it is a simple sleeve to .30 Luger.

[wlyon]

The main thing do not shoot this until you know the cal. and condition. Bill

[marshombre]

A few years back Mr. Tinker sold me a 1912 military DWM that had been converted to 7.65. Shoots good, no bullets rattling down the bore.

[dberge@kanokla.net]

Hey everyone went shooting yesterday. Luger perform good no hiccup. thanks again. OK what does the marking on right side and barrel mean?

[alanint]

Can anybody shed some light on the proof stamp on the forward sight base, (a "circle N"?, See photos of muzzle end)? I don't think I've seen this one before.

Thanks!

[John Sabato]

Just by chance, Eric (Cirelaw) has just posted the answer to your question Doug... in his interesting post thread. Check out the narrative in this photo: