New to forum - 1st Luger question

[rheinmetall30mm]

Well let's first tell you the first manufacturer of the Luger was DWM Deutsche Waffenund Munitionsfabriken . It was basically a hybrid of the Borchardt which was big and clumsy. George Luger redesigned the gun to the beautiful hand gun as we know it today with slight difference to these older first models. The original Luger cartridge was .30 Luger 7.65 Luger and it was first adopted by the Swiss for Military use in the 7.65 caliber. It was offered on the US commercial market and sold by Sears for 24.05 in 1908. In 1902 the Luger was considered for the US Army after they ordered over 1,000 pistols on a trail basis. The caliber was too small and the cartridge was redesigned in 1902, and wider making it a 9mm, the first 9mm's appeared in 1902, called the fat barrel.

The Luger was adopted by the German Military by Christmas of 1908 and the Navy adopted it first in 06.The 1908 model is what you have today, and it is considered the new luger,There were old models, and new models and in WW1 two Manufacturers made them in . DWM, Erfurt, and Some were either tooled up and made at Spandau, or re-worked there, however there is a lot of speculation on the Spandau Luger.Simson And Co. of Suhl made them too but the co went under for the owners were Jewish. In the 20's with the depression falling in, DWM was losing money and the machinery went to Mauser, where your gun was made in the mid 30's, than they made them for WW2, coded BYF and S/42. In the late 30's they German knew they needed a cheaper gun and Walther Developed the Walther MP, than what was the HP and than designated the P-38 for the Luger official replacement handgun. Mauser resumed Luger production in the 70's, and stopped in 75 and have made them on and off up into the 90's. Kreighoff is making them now, only 200 guns for 17,000 a piece but again, only 200 orders.

There is little difference in the commercial and military models with it being really only a military having a stock lug and different marking and serial number placement, barrels came in 4 6 and 8 inches. And it goes on and on, not enough room here to explain the entire story.

Your Mauser Luger is a beautifully made firearm. The best finished Lugers can be the pre World war one's where they did a beautiful rust bluing and in WW1 the quality went down a little. Erfurts were not as polished as well as DWM's but are great guns. After WW1 the Germans could not manufacture 9mm anymore except for the police so there are alot of Lugers in the 20's that are of .30 caliber. There are few post WW1's of new manufacture for there was a huge inventory of parts left over after WW1 , so making them from scratch was something done on special order.So most Post ww1 commercials are made with what can be any configuration, and rules and standards that were solid for years were broken and you could find a pre 1908 frame on a 1920 commercial Luger.

Stoeger a firm that owns the copyright on the name "Luger" imported them into the United States in the 20's and as of the 60's only a handful were actually recorded as being sold. The thing that attracts collectors to Lugers is that DWM fulfilled contracts for many countries, this resulted in 1.000's of variations with many marking and barrel lengths and sizes and Luger collecting is a fantastic hobby. Lugers are without a doubt my favorite handgun and I hope you found this information helpful.