The "Luger" Reputation

maddog350gt · 10-25-2005, 02:04 AM

Beowulf,

I think a lot of the bad press on the Luger is from a few un-informed "experts" like Ian Hogg. He runs down the luger in all of the books he's written. The Luger pistol is an excellent shooter. It does have it's issues. When shooting you should keep it as clean as possible and well oiled, if it gets gummed up the toggle will not go back all the way, if this happens it will not catch the loading round cleanly and it will jam with the toggle caught in the middle of the shell in magazine. If you think about it its very easy to understand what is happening, the toggle either doesn't clear the end of the bullet in the clip so it doesn't catch the rim of the shell and push it forward on the return stroke, or it doesn't go back far enough to give the magazine spring time to push the next round up to the loading position. Either of these issue are the result of the toggle not cycling all the way back. The only thing that could cause this is dirt and gum or a week power charge in the ammunition. If the ammunition is not powerful enough the same thing will happen as the toggle will not move back far enough. The idea that you need to use low power ammunition on a luger is wrong. The Luger was built for a powerful 9 mm round, the same one used in the german sub-machine guns; after the war other 9 mm guns could not take this loading and US manufactures back off on the 9 mm loads. Lots of people thought this was because of the Luger, it wasn't. If you use a good grade of ammunition and keep the gun oiled and clean it will perform very well, and shoot circles around any military model 1911.

The downfall of the Luger was that it was (and still is) the most expensive firearms design ever put into mass production. It takes nearly twice as many machining operations as the P-38, even though the P-38 has more parts. It was just too costly and took too long to manufacture, to meet the needs of the German army. It's close tolerances did not make it an ideal military weapon either, it doesn't like dirt. I certainly wouldn't be afraid to shoot one, but I would make sure it was clean and I had good ammunition.

Bob M.

10-25-2005, 02:04 AM	#6
maddog350gt User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Washougal WA Posts: 170 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Beowulf, I think a lot of the bad press on the Luger is from a few un-informed "experts" like Ian Hogg. He runs down the luger in all of the books he's written. The Luger pistol is an excellent shooter. It does have it's issues. When shooting you should keep it as clean as possible and well oiled, if it gets gummed up the toggle will not go back all the way, if this happens it will not catch the loading round cleanly and it will jam with the toggle caught in the middle of the shell in magazine. If you think about it its very easy to understand what is happening, the toggle either doesn't clear the end of the bullet in the clip so it doesn't catch the rim of the shell and push it forward on the return stroke, or it doesn't go back far enough to give the magazine spring time to push the next round up to the loading position. Either of these issue are the result of the toggle not cycling all the way back. The only thing that could cause this is dirt and gum or a week power charge in the ammunition. If the ammunition is not powerful enough the same thing will happen as the toggle will not move back far enough. The idea that you need to use low power ammunition on a luger is wrong. The Luger was built for a powerful 9 mm round, the same one used in the german sub-machine guns; after the war other 9 mm guns could not take this loading and US manufactures back off on the 9 mm loads. Lots of people thought this was because of the Luger, it wasn't. If you use a good grade of ammunition and keep the gun oiled and clean it will perform very well, and shoot circles around any military model 1911. The downfall of the Luger was that it was (and still is) the most expensive firearms design ever put into mass production. It takes nearly twice as many machining operations as the P-38, even though the P-38 has more parts. It was just too costly and took too long to manufacture, to meet the needs of the German army. It's close tolerances did not make it an ideal military weapon either, it doesn't like dirt. I certainly wouldn't be afraid to shoot one, but I would make sure it was clean and I had good ammunition. Bob M.