Best Lugers for rebarrel / custom calibers ?

[Michael Zeleny]

Originally Posted by postino

I think [IMHO] that the firing of submachinegun 9mm ammunition in the Luger and the subsequent damage has pretty much proven (to me at least) that the Luger is at the limit of its design in the 9mm Parabellum cartridge. Recall that Georg Luger redesigned the C93 Borchardt mechanisms around the 7.65mm cartridge to make his famous creation...

My personal preference would be to go the other way...Bottleneck a 9mm cartridge to a smaller caliber...Rick W. has done some work in this area...

Actually, 9mm Para is well past the limit of Luger's design, originally meant by its maker to accommodate bottleneck ammo up to 8mm in bore size. My thinking is to up the charge of the 7.65 Para round in conjunction with a heavier and longer barrel and a stouter recoil spring.