Reproduction Lugers

[Atte]

To mr. G. van Vlimmeren:

I have send e-mail to a swedish gunshop, haven`t got answer yet. I have doubts whether it still exists, last updates on its pages were made in 1998.

Anyway, here is the address: roland.lindgren@rlvapen.se

Maybe, with good luck...

[Atte]

Lady Luck was not on my side this time; Roland Lindgren does not sell Lugers anymore.

I called him, after waiting and not getting an answer to my e-mail, and he explained me that those guns must come through Germany(?) for some reason that I didn`t catch, my Swedish is not as good as it used to be.

Sako has imported Lugers when they were manufactured by Stoeger. I called the sales secretary of Sako and she told that they import nowadays only their catalog items. She also told me that Lugers were not a commercial success because of their quality, can that be true? All the Lugers that I have seen in the pictures look to be made with skill and thoroughness.

[Vlim]

Hi Atte,

Did some checking on German sites. The IWA 2004 is held at Nurnberg. The Kassel show is held much later, somewhere in november.

If anyone finds a German importer somewhere, please let me know. (actually funny, that we can't find any new Lugers in Europe).

p.s. Mauro, John,
Mauser still have all their archives in Oberndorf, these most likely include the original prewar drawings that were saved by Herr Weiss.

Copies of these original drawings, regarding to magazine production, were used to start up a new production line of magazines in the Netherlands, as mentioned earlier. Most of the archive material on Dutch production is now in the hands of Nico van Gijn. Part of this collection was an unused original extruded Haenel-Schmeisser magazine, sent by Mauser to the Dutch producer in order to help 'debugging' the new design.

[Atte]

In about two weeks I will be owner of a new American Eagle.

It took a while to find the way to get it but it`s worth of it.

The one that I`ll purchase is a stainless steel "P 08". My old grandfathers, DWM and Mauser will now have a grandson at their family. Hopefully I find another "youngster", stainless steel Navy model to add the family picture of my Lugers/Parabellums.

I was in correspondence with a German gun manufacturer and got a message from their American agent that Orimar has quit manufacturing Lugers. What a pitty if it`s true. Maybe that`s the reason why my e-mails were not answered.

Well, that`s about it. Thanks to everyone for the tips and participating this search.

[John Sabato]

Can anyone confirm that Orimar has discontinued manufacturing Stainless Lugers? (Or hopefully confirm that they have not?

[Adam]

John, I was on the phone with them (Orimar)and I have this years price list. They did not inform me of any intent to stop production, acctually it seemed they were getting many orders. They answered my emails promptly and were very quick with mailing me a price list and friendly as could be over the phone.

[mauro]

Hello Gerben,
and thank you for the information you provide us about Mauser. Unfortunatly Mauser sold all tools and distribution rights to the Sig-Blaser. This is the reply Mauser provide me a few years ago when I was collecting information for my book:

"Dear Mr. Baudino,
Thank you very much for visiting our website.
We regret to inform you that effective January 1st, 1999 Mauser has
transferred all distribution rights of hunting and sporting weapons to

SIG-Blaser Markenvertriebs GmbH
"

If you try to have information about Parabellum production this is the reply you currently obtain:

"Dear Sir,

With reference to your inquiry please be advised that we took over
Mauser only in 1998. As Mauser Oberndorf did not forward any information
regarding older models we regret that we cannot be of help to you.

Best regards,
Mauser Jagdwaffen GmbH

Thorsten Mann"

As you can see Mauser is no longer engaged in the Parabellum issue.
In my understanding the production of Mauser Parabellum and in particular the LP08 commemorative (the last one 1985-86) ended the history of genuine Luger. Genuine means Luger made by firms that were historically engaged in the Luger production, in particular DWM and Mauser.

I hope this helps.

Ciao
Mauro

[Johnny C. Kitchens]

I think the discontinued thing keeps popping up because the two names associated with the stainless have discountinued the gun. Mitchell and Stoeger. When I bought mine in Jan. 2003, the dealer assured me that they were no longer available. Then I find out otherwise. Now if we can just get the company to come out with the .45, or talk him into making an Artillery version!!!

[John Sabato]

I think we need to talk him into a website! It doesn't have to be anything fancy... just a place where people can see his wares and his price list, and find his contact information. If anyone of you knows the owner of Orimar personally, see if you can convince him to do so. I think he might not be very computer savvy and doesn't realize that his ISP may very well offer him the space at what he is already paying for email... All he needs is someone to put it together and post it for him...

Any volunteers?

[Atte]

I finally got message from Orimar that they haven`t any importer in Europe. You americans are lucky to have the only excisting manufacturer of the Luger, I truly hope that the story of these beautiful items continues.

I`ve collected Parabellums for several years and still I`m waiting for this new one like a little boy. My german gun dealer is a very precise man, I got e-mails regularly where he tells how the things are progressing with the licenses etc. Nowadays anyone in Europe with required licenses can buy guns quite easily from other european countries; I send papers from Finland to Germany and in two weeks I`ll get the gun I ordered.
If Orimar would start to import their Lugers for example to Germany, they would be easily purchased by europeans using internet, links like www.gunlinks.de are very popular among european gun devotees.
Distances between countries are still the same but distances between consumer and consumer goods have shrunk, especially if you think this commercially; from internet you can buy almost everything.

[John Sabato]

Atte,

Why don't you research what is necessary to become Orimar's exclusive import agent for Europe? You could make a few coins distributing to the rest of Europe...

[Atte]

That would be great, but I already happen to have one man�´s firm and my schedule doesn`t give me opportunity to do anything else.
Finland, I think the whole Scandinavia, is a peripherial marketing area for this kind of a product. My opinion is that these guns should be imported to Germany which is one of the central marketing areas for guns in Europe; from there the links are easily found and used by thousands of europeans. Nobody else but the finns bothers to read finnish gun boards, even if they would be written in english.

[noel carlson]

G.T.

I have a complete set of engineering drawings, as originally submitted by DWM to the German arms mimistry, circa 1911.

The entire firearm, and some accessories are covered .

I plan on producing selected parts (beginning with Navy sights) in double vac melt cobalt steel. Sheet metal is not my forte however.

Would you possibly be interested in a collaborative effort on magazines for larger calibers? Specifically .45 and Sig.357 for use in an anticipated large frame reproduction?

[John Sabato]

Noel... Do I understand you correctly that you own a set of Navy rear sight blueprints? Do you have the blueprints for the other parts peculiar to the Navy model such as the barrel? If so, for what model of the the NAVY?

Thanks,

[G.T.]

Noel! Check your profile for a private message! Thanks, til...lat'r....GT

[Pete Ebbink]

Noel,

Mike Krause of San Mateo, CA and/or John Martz of Lincoln, CA may be able to help you with magazines for larger bores...as both make and sell big bore lugers...

Regards,

Pete... <img border="0" alt="[typing]" title="" src="graemlins/yltype.gif" />

[Johnny C. Kitchens]

Atte, did you get your Stainless American Eagle???

I also thought it of some interest that Sako was the importer for Stoeger Lugers. I seem to recall a few years ago, after Stoeger dropped the Luger that Beretta acquired Sako and Stoeger. I also noticed that Stoeger used the Luger name one more time, on a line of shotguns it imported. Just some observations...

[noel carlson]

John,

I have a set (37 sheets) of drawings and specifications for the 08 as originally configured in the four inch, fixed sight, issue.

As three years of modifications were accrued, derivative changes were noted in the body of the drawings. Many of the addenda clearly reference the artillery or navy versions. There is however no drawing of the Navy sight.

My working drawing utilizes dimensions, where applicable, from the original rear toggle drawing and aggregate measurements from authentic Navy examples to reconstitute missing information. While my intent is to make a faithful replica, there are refinements in materials and finish which will make it impossible to mistake for an original. Paradoxically, originals rarely match original tolerance specifications... this reproduction, and succeeding repro parts will.

I believe the Luger design is inherently superior to the 1911 in terms of accuracy potential. Criticisms which denigrate it as a developmental novelty seem generally without merit in the context of a contemporary civilian market. We no longer expect reliable function if thrown in mud, nor must parts be prone to breakage when modern alloys offer triple the tensile and impact strengths. The trigger can be adjusted to the task of target competition. Finally, the cost of a match grade 1911 type rivals the price at which a match grade Luger can be reintroduced as a serious alternative.

In short, I just love this design.

Your question about the Navy barrel is answered in the same way... there is not a seperate drawing. I am curious however. Not being a collector, I did not consider the possibility of six inch barrel variants. I was planning to simply stretch the four inch with a change of taper. Educate me.

Pete, thanks for the leads.

...Noel

[jamese]

If someone obtained Orimarâ??s current price list and models of production, perhaps they can post it here on the forum so all of us interested can see

Thanks,
Jim

[John Sabato]

The Orimar price list is posted in the Member Gallery... you just have to look at each page till you find it.