Hold open devices

[Ron Wood]

The early Luger was originally designed with a hold open device. When the Army decided to adapt the Luger as a standard sidearm in 1908, as cost cutting measures, it was determined that the weapon would not have a grip safety, no stock lug (remember that the '04 Navy was already a standard German military weapon and did have a stock lug)and further, the hold open was eliminated. The 1908 Commercial followed the design of the military weapon, therefore it also had no hold open device.

The Luger was not in the field very long when it was discovered that the hold open was a very useful feature, both for cleaning without field stripping and most importantly...the gun was out of ammo...time to reload!! Reloading was also speeded up because you didn't have to grasp the toggle knobs to cycle the action to load the first round of the new magazine, just slap the raised toggle backward and bang away.

The majority of the military weapons were returned to depot to add the hold open or it was added when a weapon came in for some other repair or refurbishment. Some commercial pieces also were modified, perhaps those belonging to officers who had purchased them privately or civilians who wished to have the hold open capability. Of course, once it was determined that the hold open was needed, all subsequent production incorporated the device, probably in the latter part of 1909.