Luger Accuracy?

[JRS]

Hitler should be fortunate that he had a Walther PP to shoot himself with and a cyanide vial to bite down on to commit suicide because if he had tried to shoot himself with a Luger, he would have most certainly missed and found himself in the hands of the Russians.

I think Luger accuracy is a myth. I have shot Lugers from a brand new Stoeger 9 mm to more recently a 1914 DWM and a 1941 Mauser Banner. The results have been the same with all of them. Scatter shots.

The most accurate Luger I have shot is an air soft Luger from the comfort of my living room. I must agree with collectors that Lugers are to be seen and not heard. Leave the shooting to my old friends — the trusty 1911 .45 ACP.

Even so, you've got to love the classy Luger with its unique toggle mechanism. They are fun to shoot, but embarrassingly inaccurate.

[Ron Smith]

I've found the opposite to be the case. I've shot lots of handguns including several Lugers, and still do on a regular basis.

I don't recall ever shooting a Luger that wasn't accurate. Some have a stiff, spongy trigger pull, but once I've figured them out and adjusted to them, I never had a problem. I have a .30 shooter that is one of the most accurate pistols I have ever shot.

[tau-delt]

JRS... Over the years I've probably fired a dozen or so different lugers and they have all shot well. Sometimes there were loading problems due to random ammo I was shooting or mags that had some problems but I have found that accuracy was never really an issue.

[FNorm]

I do as well with a luger as I do a .45 Kimber. Maybe a bit better.

Ron? How do you adjust a spongy trigger? Got a couple of those.

FN

[spartacus38]

To JRS,

I agree with Ron Smith And Tau-Delt.I have done alot of shooting with different model

pre 1945 Lugers.I shoot them mostly at 25 yards and have found them to be very accurate.

I have done accuracy tests with Artillery Lugers at 100 yards and was able to shoot 9 inch

groups at that distance.

Spartacus38@charter.net

Bob Young

[Ice]

Most any Luger can be extremely accurate if you exercise good trigger control and are a good shot to begin with. It takes practice and patience to get the best out of your Luger. IMHO its very unfair to condemn all Lugers as being inaccurate pieces of junk.

Charlie

[Mauser720]

Well, I do not consider myself a world class competitive pistol shooter, but I am impressed by the accuracy of the Luger. Here is an FBI Qualification target that I've posted before. You can see I have a few "fliers" but you can also see two pretty tight groups of holes since the course I was firing was done from two different distances. Additionally, these shots were fired under circumstances designed to mimic the stressful environment of a self-defence situation. And the Luger was simply an ordinary run-of-the-mill .30 with a six inch barrel. This was the best looking target on the firing line when it was all over and everyone else was using much more "modern" pistols too. I do not think it is my own marksmanship ability as much as it is the inherent accuracy potential of an ordinary Luger. Anyway, that's my "two cents" worth.

[tomaustin]

at this rate, bad-mouthing lugers on THE luger forum is not likely to get him any friends anytime soon.......

[Alx]

For one thing, a Stoeger stainless Luger is not a P08. It's a poorly made attempt at a copy.

Every German Luger I have ever shot was consistent-accurate in the sense of groups, bur some needed sights adjustment.

Scatter shots from the 1914 and 1941 seems to indicate a lack of trigger control, or inconsistent aiming due to the rear sight notch being difficult to line up consistently.

The standard rear sight notch on a Luger is not conducive to getting a good sight picture, and ON MY SHOOTER Lugers, I find it helpful to carefully file out the notch to a U shape that approximates the regular rear sight blade on most modern guns.

In its trials at the beginning of the 1900's, the U.S. Army found the test Lugers submitted by DWM to be very accurate, and only rejected it for its functioning, cleaning, and precision requirements.

For all we know, it's just the reports of a bunker resident that recount Hitler's shooting himself, but he might have had such extreme shaking that he missed and injured himself with the PP, and had to have someone else finish the job, to put him out of the world's misery.

[paid4c4]

I can't comment as to the accuracy of Lugers as I don't think I've ever shot one. I've cleaned my 1915 and plan on taking it to our gun club meeting this next Tuesday evening. I picked up some Winchester white box yesterday. I'll report on my experience later.
Bill

[mrerick]

My Lugers, and particularly my Artillery Luger, shoot more accurately than I do...

And I'm not that bad a shot (came in right in the middle of the field at the last Creedmore Cup national pistol competition).

Marc

[suum cuique]

My old lady, a 1937 S/42, shoots great!
Much better in comparison to my 100-years-anniversary P-38 or a standard 1911. Target distance of 33 feet
(=approx.10 meters)

[jimmythejug]

Originally Posted by tomaustin

at this rate, bad-mouthing lugers on THE luger forum is not likely to get him any friends anytime soon.......

Ha! I was thinking the same thing.

[FNorm]

Well done, Andy!!

FN

[saab-bob]

Aw,shucks JRS

You just came over from the 1911 Forum to rile up all us luger owners!

All the lugers I have ever fired have been very accurate pistols. This includes everything from a near relic artillery that I thought would never shoot again,to the much maligned Mitchell SS luger.

And a Happy 4th of July to all the wonderful folk on the luger forum

Bob

[FNorm]

Perhaps one reason: the 9mm uses a very fast twist rate. Lugers use 1:8. .357 around 1:15, 38 special around 1: 18. 45ACP 1:16. Even the LP.08 is 1:8. I recall one of the parts places was selling long luger barrels, but everyone found that they couldn't hit squat with them. The twist rate was 1:16.

FN

[Mauser720]

Perhaps another reason: The Luger is the only pistol design I am aware of in which a significant amount of mass is forced upwards as a part of the semi-automatic ignition process. (the front and rear toggles, and the three pins associated with these parts) The physics involved in this upward movement must result in a tendency to tame the recoil, and return the barrel to point of aim much quicker. If there is another design that does this, I am not aware of it. Every other design involves mass (parts) moving directly backward. The Luger is a very clever design.

[Alx]

By the way, unless you have accomplished time travel, ( 28 years into the future, and then brought back a souvenir ) , you could not possibly own a 100-year anniversary P38.

( correction - clarification below ) :-)

[Ron Smith]

"100-year anniversary P38."

Alx,

Walther produced P.38s commemorating the 100th year anniversary of the Walther company, not the P.38. I believe this is what he was referring to.

[Sieger]

Dear JRS:

If you are shooting modern NATO spec. ammo through a Luger, you probably are getting a scattered pattern, as most modern commercial ammo is way to hot for the original Luger design (approximately 17% to 20% too hot).

George Wilson, of 1911 fame, totally disagrees with you regarding Luger accuracy. Do a Google search for his fine e-book on this very topic. He concludes that an average 9mm Luger, shooting the correct spec. ammo, can outshoot even highly accurized 1911s.

Hitler had quite a history with the Luger from WWI. See if you can get your hands on a copy of "The Foe We Face" by Pierre J. Huss, Doubleday Doran & Co. 1942. In this book, Huss recounts an Alpine walk with Hitler, during which Hitler hit two snowballs, in mid-flight, with his personal carry Luger.

Finally, you can make a 1911 design pistol shoot as accurately as a Luger, but at quite an expense of time and money. If you reload, and are really interested in learning how to shoot a Luger, I'll be happy to share some in spec. loading information with you.

Sieger