Swiss Luger: One Heck of a Pistol.

SmithSwede · 01-16-2018, 10:05 PM

I’ll have more to say about this topic in future posts, but here are some interim comments.

I finally acquired a Swiss 06/29 back in April of 2014. Serial 50390. With the red grips. Posted a few times on this forum. Meanwhile I just shot the pistol. (That may be blasphemy for some collectors, but I’m more of a shooter than a collector. They won’t rust or dust in my possession, but they may work for a living).

I’m a long time Bullseye pistol shooter, so I am quite familiar with what an accurate pistol is like, what a good trigger feels like, etc. I also dabble in Swedish and Swiss milsurp stuff, or whatever else catches my fancy. I like odd stuff, and I try to be open-minded but critical and fair.

Anyway. Gotta say after several years fooling with this contraption that the Swiss Luger impresses the heck out of me.

This is a *very* special gun and design.

I’ve now run close to 750 rounds of factory Fiocchi and PPU 93 grain FMJ through mine. Not a single malfunction; not even close. I was always told that Lugers were persnickety and unreliable. Well, my Swiss sure ain’t. Maybe due to its bottle-neck 7,65 round? Swiss manufacture and tolerances? I dunno. But I’ve had a Glock 19 choke a few times in a thousand rounds of NATO 9mm ball. Swiss Luger beats Glock for reliability? Go figure.

The practical accuracy of this thing is outstanding. Mine will routinely hold a bit more than an X-ring size group on the standard NRA rapid fire target, off-hand, at 25 yards. I’m talking deep inside the 10 ring ofhand.

Now I’m not referring to one’s best group ever—what you do under perfect conditions, after warming up, and shot off sandbags in dead calm 70 degree weather with the butterfly that just landed on your shoulder. No, I’m talking about day in, day out, sub-10 ring groups despite cold, wind, dark, rain, etc. First group, cold, do it now.

I’ve shot a lot of old milsurp pistols, and lots of more modern stuff, but this level of practical accuracy is un-equaled in my experience
For semi-autos. Heck, this old Swiss Luger is nearly on par with my gold standard—the older Smith & Wesson revolvers from the 1950s. Or outright dedicated target pistols. Please understand that for me to say a Swiss Luger ranks up there with my favorite S&W revolvers is high praise indeed.

One interesting aspect of the practical accuracy the Swiss Luger is what I’ll call its “first time hit probability.” I’ve shot a lot of guns where the first half dozen or more shots are downright embarrassing. But after you have fooled around with the pistol a while, and you get the hang of it, well it settles down and shoots ok. Such guns seem like they are ok accurate, but they require you to ignore that embarrassing warm-up period.

The Swiss Luger isn’t like that. You can just pick up the pistol after 6 months of not shooting it, and your first few shots are already in the X ring. Don’t need to “get in the groove” with the gun to hit well. That’s a very impressive point in favor of the Luger.

Here’s what I’m referring to: Suppose you bet your buddy about who could first hit a playing card stapled up on a target frame at 25 yards. My first pick for this contest would be a S&W 6” K-38 with my favorite 148 grain wadcutter ammo. If you told me no revolvers, I’d pick my Hammerl 208S target .22. If you excluded pure target pistols, I would no joke reach for the Swiss .30 Luger.

Another observation. I have always admired the P-38 design, at least in the abstract. But having shot both the Swiss Luger and a post war Walter P-38 on alloy frame, well . . : the P1 is an utter dog in comparison. And I’ve have dozens of malfunctions with the P1, compared to none with the Swiss.

One other comment. The Swiss hit upon a brilliant and practical grip safety for carrying a semi-auto pistol. The grip safety by itself replicated what the manual safety does. It provides a very secure mechanical lock of the sear itself (not some upstream part of the mechanism like the trigger bar, as the 1911 grip safety does). The engagement of the Swiss Luger sear is quite deep. While I have not conducted drop tests of my precious Swiss, I suspect it would do quite well. So this is an ancient pistol design that probably provides quite safe “cocked and locked” readiness with very high first shot hit probability. Excellent.

I plan to start casting a variety of lead bullet loads this winter. Will reload a variety of factory bullets. Maybe I’ll do some Ransom rest testing at longer ranges.

Anyway, point being, I’m a pistol skeptic who doesn’t often have much favorable to say about any handgun short of a dedicated target pistol or an old school S&W revolver. But this dang Swiss Luger makes the grade. It really is that good.

01-16-2018, 10:05 PM	#1
SmithSwede User Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 11 Times in 1 Post	Swiss Luger: One Heck of a Pistol. I’ll have more to say about this topic in future posts, but here are some interim comments. I finally acquired a Swiss 06/29 back in April of 2014. Serial 50390. With the red grips. Posted a few times on this forum. Meanwhile I just shot the pistol. (That may be blasphemy for some collectors, but I’m more of a shooter than a collector. They won’t rust or dust in my possession, but they may work for a living). I’m a long time Bullseye pistol shooter, so I am quite familiar with what an accurate pistol is like, what a good trigger feels like, etc. I also dabble in Swedish and Swiss milsurp stuff, or whatever else catches my fancy. I like odd stuff, and I try to be open-minded but critical and fair. Anyway. Gotta say after several years fooling with this contraption that the Swiss Luger impresses the heck out of me. This is a very special gun and design. I’ve now run close to 750 rounds of factory Fiocchi and PPU 93 grain FMJ through mine. Not a single malfunction; not even close. I was always told that Lugers were persnickety and unreliable. Well, my Swiss sure ain’t. Maybe due to its bottle-neck 7,65 round? Swiss manufacture and tolerances? I dunno. But I’ve had a Glock 19 choke a few times in a thousand rounds of NATO 9mm ball. Swiss Luger beats Glock for reliability? Go figure. The practical accuracy of this thing is outstanding. Mine will routinely hold a bit more than an X-ring size group on the standard NRA rapid fire target, off-hand, at 25 yards. I’m talking deep inside the 10 ring ofhand. Now I’m not referring to one’s best group ever—what you do under perfect conditions, after warming up, and shot off sandbags in dead calm 70 degree weather with the butterfly that just landed on your shoulder. No, I’m talking about day in, day out, sub-10 ring groups despite cold, wind, dark, rain, etc. First group, cold, do it now. I’ve shot a lot of old milsurp pistols, and lots of more modern stuff, but this level of practical accuracy is un-equaled in my experience For semi-autos. Heck, this old Swiss Luger is nearly on par with my gold standard—the older Smith & Wesson revolvers from the 1950s. Or outright dedicated target pistols. Please understand that for me to say a Swiss Luger ranks up there with my favorite S&W revolvers is high praise indeed. One interesting aspect of the practical accuracy the Swiss Luger is what I’ll call its “first time hit probability.” I’ve shot a lot of guns where the first half dozen or more shots are downright embarrassing. But after you have fooled around with the pistol a while, and you get the hang of it, well it settles down and shoots ok. Such guns seem like they are ok accurate, but they require you to ignore that embarrassing warm-up period. The Swiss Luger isn’t like that. You can just pick up the pistol after 6 months of not shooting it, and your first few shots are already in the X ring. Don’t need to “get in the groove” with the gun to hit well. That’s a very impressive point in favor of the Luger. Here’s what I’m referring to: Suppose you bet your buddy about who could first hit a playing card stapled up on a target frame at 25 yards. My first pick for this contest would be a S&W 6” K-38 with my favorite 148 grain wadcutter ammo. If you told me no revolvers, I’d pick my Hammerl 208S target .22. If you excluded pure target pistols, I would no joke reach for the Swiss .30 Luger. Another observation. I have always admired the P-38 design, at least in the abstract. But having shot both the Swiss Luger and a post war Walter P-38 on alloy frame, well . . : the P1 is an utter dog in comparison. And I’ve have dozens of malfunctions with the P1, compared to none with the Swiss. One other comment. The Swiss hit upon a brilliant and practical grip safety for carrying a semi-auto pistol. The grip safety by itself replicated what the manual safety does. It provides a very secure mechanical lock of the sear itself (not some upstream part of the mechanism like the trigger bar, as the 1911 grip safety does). The engagement of the Swiss Luger sear is quite deep. While I have not conducted drop tests of my precious Swiss, I suspect it would do quite well. So this is an ancient pistol design that probably provides quite safe “cocked and locked” readiness with very high first shot hit probability. Excellent. I plan to start casting a variety of lead bullet loads this winter. Will reload a variety of factory bullets. Maybe I’ll do some Ransom rest testing at longer ranges. Anyway, point being, I’m a pistol skeptic who doesn’t often have much favorable to say about any handgun short of a dedicated target pistol or an old school S&W revolver. But this dang Swiss Luger makes the grade. It really is that good.