Two Lugers: S/42 1936 and 1937

[johnii]

Originally Posted by Geo99

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading something about in order to get the correct sight picture on a military Luger, you have to bury the front sight deep in the rear "V".

I believe most if not all military Lugers were sighted like this. I also think they were sighted in at 50 yds not 25?

Well that makes sense!

[Tony Min]

It is true on mine, top of the front sight needs to be low in the rear V. Problem is, with my eyes I can barely see that tiny front sight.
I can see Mr Luger now. Nein, you forkot the sights!
Then they added some...

[johnii]

It's true. I think the Germans in the Third Reich were trained to use their issued Luger P-08s to hit at 500 yards! The weapon is capable of doing that with the sight arrangement. I met a Polish Soldier back in the 1970s who had a Luger that he recovered from a tank battle with the Germans. He used that Luger as his own personal side arm. His name was Larry Brown. He said among his own war stories (and he had bullet holes in his back) he had shot the recovered P-08 at an escaping German (WWII) on horseback. When he shot the P-08 the range was 500 yards and the enemy soldier fell off the horse he was on. It was his war story. I had no reason to doubt it. I was dating his eldest daughter at the time and his son and I went deer hunting up Thompson Creek into Slide Mountain and Mt. Rose to hunt deer.
He had another daughter named Stephanie. Brian was his son I went deer hunting with. Brian was fascinated about his father's history in WWII and so was I. One time we were all together and we were told together what Brian never knew about his Polish Tank Commander in the war (WWII).

Larry was resistant to unravel his past but did it with his only son and me. He was Polish fighting against the Third Reich as a tank commander. He liked the WWII Luger P-08 he recovered over the 1911 and had it for himself in tank work then. He gave up his 1911 to have the P-08 instead from the German Third Reich. It was the issued weapon from Mauser: S/42. I don't remember the date but we shot it at close range outside of his backyard in 1974. We blew up 12 Gauge shotgun shells regularly at 50 feet. I never forgot that.

It was S/42 and it shot dead on at 50 feet to blow up the primer of a 12 gauge shotgun shell.

That was only the beginning of my interest in an S/42 Luger.

It wasn't a special rare Luger as the Swiss or Navy type. It was an ISSUED P-08 to the Third Reich.

[alanint]

I'm not clear if he served with American forces or with the Free Polish Army?

[MikeP]

Standard military training involves initially lining up the target with the tip of the front sight in the top of the notch.
The rest is up to the shooter.
500 yards as effective range for a 9mm pistol is delusional.

[Sergio Natali]

With all the respect, but so far I'd never heard of any training to shoot pistols at 500 yards or more likely metres during the Third Reich.
No battle was ever fought with pistols.
Anyway it's true that P.08 were sighted in at 50 metres, one just has to go to the range to realize it straight away.
Maybe it's because I've been collecting 1911 and still use one at the range, but if I were a soldier I would have used an "old reliable" instead of a Luger.
IMHO

[Tony Min]

500 yards, you would have to aim about 12' high?
And the bullet bounces off the paper target

[johnii]

Originally Posted by MikeP

Standard military training involves initially lining up the target with the tip of the front sight in the top of the notch.
The rest is up to the shooter.
500 yards as effective range for a 9mm pistol is delusional.

I understand what 500 yards mean to a handgun. I might have been told a story by a WWII vet who was a Polish Tank Commander.

Thanks for pointing this out. Even a rifle at 500 yards is a feat of any caliber.

J