Number Of Lugers in .45 Cal. ???

[Pete Ebbink]

I certainly do not want to restoke the "bon fire" that raged on our old Forum about a certain .45 carbine luger. Please believe me...!

But I was still left with the haunting question of how many .45 lugers GL and his associates might have made...

I ran across this interesting paragraph in John Walter's "The Luger Book", 1991 edition, on page 194 :

" Pistol No. 2 still exists, though the other was probably destroyed by the US Army prior to 1914. Others are occassionally reported: number 4, for example, is said to have been found in Germany at the end of the Second World War and taken to the USA as a souvenir, and a gun apparently numbered '14' was pictured in the first edition of "Luger". Though the authenticity of all guns other than no. 2 has been questioned, the late August Weiss once quoted his predeccessor, Heinrich Hoffmann, averring that 'no more than six 0.45in calibre guns' were ever made. Thus, it is clear that there were more 0.45 guns than the two supplied to the US Army - but there is no evidence that they were numbered consecutively. "

Did not know if all Forum members were aware of Walter's 1991 statements...