Best Lugers for rebarrel / custom calibers ?

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by lfid

And would also seem they would be best for metal strength, tighter build tolerances, any design updates, etc - so would be more likely suitable for conversion to larger than 9mm Luger calibers

IIRC, Martz made his 45 Lugers by cutting two Lugers in half [unequally] and welded the larger halves together...(I'm not completely sure about this as I've seen pics of Lugers being cut several ways and welded together...)

Were you going to try making a 45 Luger? Or maybe something not requiring welding; maybe a 40 cal or 10mm?

I think [IMHO] that the firing of submachinegun 9mm ammunition in the Luger and the subsequent damage has pretty much proven (to me at least) that the Luger is at the limit of its design in the 9mm Parabellum cartridge. Recall that Georg Luger redesigned the C93 Borchardt mechanisms around the 7.65mm cartridge to make his famous creation...

My personal preference would be to go the other way...Bottleneck a 9mm cartridge to a smaller caliber...Rick W. has done some work in this area...

I once made a long barreled Mauser C96 to fire a .256 cal bullet; using bottlenecked cut-down .223 cases...Cut to length and run through .256 Winchester reloading dies...

I still have my [typewritten!] notes...and the Mauser .256 barrel...(I posted a pic of it here some time back)...

Wildcatting can be great fun...