Campaigning My 1938 S/42

[JonS/42]

Last night I had an exceptionally pleasent time-at our local steel plate match, I competed with my 1938 S/42 (as well as with my Glock 17, but that's another story!). As some of you may recall, this Luger is special to me-it was one that I obtained in the late 1990's, a matching serial (except magazines) number WWII capture piece that had been stored in a Ukranian military depot under Russian control. After seperating from the USSR, the Ukraine discovered the depot, and invited the contents up for sale. Mine had been dipped, had a dent in the left receiver side (which a romantic would probably consider war damage; the former Major in me says "PFC with a crowbar opening a crate"), and the grips, while appropriate, were probably not original to the weapon. There was some pitting, but mechanically the gun seemed fairly sound. I struck up a conversation with John Martz, and we decided to have some fun with it. My desire was to have a striking piece, with which I would compete against some fairly expensive 1911 et al pieces in local steel plate matches. John, the gentlemen that he is, made some suggestions, and we took it from there. John thoroughty went through the pistol, removed the dent with his TIG welding artistry, mechanically brought everything up to snuff, performed an action job on it (the trigger is 4 lbs, and not to be believed in its smoothness and crisp let-off), and then sent it to Charles Danner in Tennessee for a hot rust reblueing, with appropriate small parts either strawed or fire blued. It then came back to John, who had George Sarkissian hand carve a magnificant set of grips out of English Presentation walnut, checkered but with a smooth border like those on the transitional Borchardt-Luger 1898/1899 Transition Pistol. From a purely historical point, both the grips and the finish are obviously incorrect (hot rust blueing and strawing were discontinued in 1937, as I recall), but since the pure collector value had been diminished by the dip finish and the import stamp, we just decided to have fun with this. Ive got one Type II Army and 3 Type IV FXO magazines, all of which perform with complete reliability (John went through 3 of them for me, and I got one other later). As John strongly recommends using Winchester ammunition, I use the Wal-Mart Winchester 100 round Value-Pak; it's only drawback is that it is on the low-power side, so it will rarely activate the toggle hold-open lever on the last shot. For cleaning I prefer Mil-Comm Bore Cleaner/Degreaser and Weapons Shield for general lubrication, and Mil-Com's TW25B for grease application areas. When I use it in a match, it's held in an El Paso Saddlery replica of the US Army 1900 Luger Test holster-fully flapped with a period "US" stamped in the flap. Gentlemen, you have no idea just how much fun it is to compete with it. As we know the accuracy on these guns is superb, and once you get used to the sights, one can actually be fairly fast with it, abetted by the instinctive pointing of the pistol. And no, I didn't win-but I placed a very respectful 5th with it (well, respectful in my eyes!). I called John Martz this afternoon to let him know just how much I (and everyone else around me) appreciated his craftsmanship, and how much fun I had had. John is doing well-moving a bit more slowly after his quadruple bypass and treatment for colon cancer several years ago, but still more than keeping his hand in with his Lugers. He's currently enjoying working both on .45 and .357 SIG cartridged Lugers-we had a very nice conversation; as I said, he's a true gentleman of the old school. This morning, as I was cleaning and lubricating the pistol, I just quietly admired the fit, finish and handwork and craftsmanship involved-on both Mauser's and John's (and Charles' and George's) part. These are magnificent weapons, enjoyable both intrinsically, as a piece of history, and for their sheer mechanical and shooting pleasure. I hope you folks have enjoyed reading this as much as I have had writing (well, ok, typing) this.

Best to all, Jon

[kidvett]

Jon,

The main thing which makes Glocks favorites for a lot of shooters is that they have the same pointability caracteristics of the Luger pistol. A nice testimony to a great design........

G19 makes it for me.........

MARK

[John Sabato]

Jon, Thanks for a great report... so when do we get to see your Luger/Martz/Danner/Sarkissian Masterpiece?

Please post a photo layout of your gun and it's accessories. If you need assistance, just ask.