A Visit With John Martz

[Dwight Gruber]

When I went to the April Reno gun show I made the trip from Portland to Reno in one marathon drive. I vowed that I would take a much kinder, gentler trip home. After talking to a couple of collectors at the show I made a phone call, and two days later I found myself driving into the wooded hills north of Lincoln, California. After turning into a long driveway off a single-track lane, I parked my car and was met at the garage door by a tall, smiling, older gentleman--the legendary Lugersmith, John V. Martz.

After brief introductions he ushered me into his workshop where we spent the next hour or so in an enthusiastic discussion about Lugers.

This was the place where his magic all happens. A workbench, not more than six or seven feet long, festooned with tools and jigs, some of them professionally made and some of them hand-made from his earliest production. A TIG welder on a shelf in the corner. A drill press. Nothing fancy, just the well-used tools of a fine hand-craftsman.

A 9mm Luger carbine, in the white and partially worked, was in a bench vise. He handed me a finished "1900 Navy", an 8" pencil barreled Luger in .30 with a Navy sight, and also showed me a P-38 carbine. In addition he pulled out several stainless-steel trays, one after the other, each with a differnt project in various stages of manufacture.

He apologised for not having a .45 Luger in the shop to show me, but we did talk some about how he makes them. He had several barrels to show me, and said that he has a barrel maker who fabricates all his custom barrels. He had a .45 frame he was working on, two Lugers split unevenly back-to-front down the grip to give enough length for the .45 magazine. He works the interior of the magazine well to expand its overall dimensions, and demonstrated the sizing guage he uses to determine proper fit. The rear frame was finished, a slip-fit, but the front frame had yet to be worked on.

The frame is not the only part of a .45 conversion which needs to be lengthened. In addition to the two Lugers necessary for the frame, it also takes two toggle trains, to lengthen both toggle pieces. He cuts the rear "ears" off the receiver extension and welds on steel stock to lengthen this as well. He noted that he fabricates new breechblocks from scratch himself.

The magazine is the most difficult part to fabricate and he showed me one he was just beginning to make from thin steel sheet, bent, folded and welded. He recounted that when he first decided to make a .45 Luger he perfected a magazine first, and engineered the rest of the gun around it.

He also pulled out an Erfurt which was sitting by itself on a shelf, and noted that he couldn't use this right away to make a .45 with, as Erfurt frame rails are different from DWM, and don't match when put together. Doesn't change the function, just looks bad. He has friends who search out inexpensive Alphabet Commercial Lugers for him to convert.

In addition to a barrel-maker Martz also engages a woodworker for custom stocks. He showed me a finished stock, the finest woodworking and finishing one can imagine. He also pulled out a tray of assorted magazine bases to show me, all crafted by Gerry Tomek.

Around the walls of the shop, near the ceiling, are covers of a Japanese magazine with photos of many of his conversions. I asked him which was the most difficult conversion to make work, and he replied that it was the Luger in .22 Magnum (!). He showed me a cartirdge he is currently working on a Luger design for, a .45 case necked down to 10mm.

We walked around the corner into another room and he pulled out a fine wooden presentation box. In it was his .380 prototype #1, beautifully crafted and lovingly engraved to his wife. He mentioned that it had a particularly fine trigger pull, and allowed me to dry-fire it. The slightest trigger slack to take up, firm pressure, and the crispest release imaginable. I never believed that a Luger could have a trigger pull this good, and told him--he was very pleased, and proud of it.

As the .45 requires two Lugers in order to lengthen it, the .380 needs to be shortened, frame, toggles, and receiver extensions. In addition, it must be converted into an unlocked blowback, as the cartridge doesn't have enough energy to cycle the locked Luger mechanism (I wonder how the Italians do it?).

During the visit he took a phone call from a customer who was looking for an Artillery sight, which he fabricates as well.

John Martz is an enthusiastic and gracious host, who loves to talk about Lugers. He accepts visitors happily, and I enjoyed the time I spent with him greatly. I recommend a visit to anyone who might be in his neck of the woods, call him first.

--Dwight