Luger pistol
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The Pistole Parabellum—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just Luger or Luger P08 is a toggle-locked recoil-operated
semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actuall ...
. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1898 to 1949. The design was first patented by
Georg Luger Georg Johann Luger (March 6, 1849 – December 22, 1923) was an Austrian designer of the famous Luger pistol and the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. Early life and military service Georg Luger was born in Steinach am Brenner, Tyrol to Dr. Ba ...
. It was meant to be an improvement of the Borchardt C-93 pistol, and was initially produced as the ''Parabellum Automatic Pistol, Borchardt-Luger System'' by the German arms manufacturer
Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken ''Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktiengesellschaft'' (German Weapons and Munitions public limited company), known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany created in 1896 when ''Ludwig Loewe & Company'' united its weapons and amm ...
(DWM).Datig, Fred A., ''The Luger Pistol'', Gun Digest, 1957 ed., Chicago Illinois: Edward Keogh Co. Inc. (1956) pp. 164-165 The first production model was known as the ''Modell 1900 Parabellum''. It was followed by the "Marinepistole 1904" for the Imperial German Navy. The Luger was officially adopted by the Swiss military in 1900, the Imperial German Navy in 1906 and the German Army in 1908. The Luger was the standard service pistol of Switzerland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Brazil, Bolivia, and Bulgaria. It was widely used in other countries as a military service pistol and by police forces. In the German Army service, it was adopted in a slightly modified form as the Pistole Modell 1908 (Pistole 08) in caliber
9×19mm Parabellum The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger or simply 9mm) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge. Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun a ...
. The Model 08 was eventually succeeded by the
Walther P38 The Walther P38 (originally written Walther P.38) is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that was developed by Carl Walther GmbH as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was intended to replace the costly Luger P08 ...
. The Luger is well known for its wide use by Germany during World War I and World War II, along with the interwar
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
and the postwar East German
Volkspolizei The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
. The name ''Parabellum'', which also featured in DWM's
telegraphic Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
address, comes from the Latin phrase, "If you wish for peace, prepare for war."


History

In 1897, after the success of the
Borchardt C-93 The Borchardt C93 is a semi-automatic pistol designed by Hugo Borchardt in 1893. The design is based upon the Maxim gun's toggle lock model. Borchardt developed the high-velocity, bottlenecked 7.65×25mm Borchardt cartridge for the C93. His ...
, the first
semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actuall ...
, the Swiss military began to look for a semi-automatic pistol to replace their issued pistol, the
Ordonnanzrevolver 1872 The Model 1872 revolver (''Ordonnanzrevolver 1872'' or ''revolver d'ordonnance modèle 1872'') was the service sidearm of the Swiss Army. It was later refined to the Model 1872/78 revolver. Approximately 600 were manufactured in Belgium by Pir ...
. Georg Luger, working for the German company
Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken ''Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktiengesellschaft'' (German Weapons and Munitions public limited company), known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany created in 1896 when '' Ludwig Loewe & Company'' united its weapons and am ...
, provided the Borchardt-Luger design, which during Swiss military trials, was found to be more accurate and reliable than competing designs such as the Mannlicher M1901 and
Mauser C96 The Mauser C96 (''Construktion 96'') is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 2 ...
. 20 examples of the Borchardt-Luger were sent to Switzerland in 1899, and after a revision to reduce its weight, was adopted the following year as the Ordonnazpistole 1900. The Luger remained in Swiss service until 1949, when it was replaced by the
SIG P210 The SIG P210 (Swiss Army designation Pistole 49, the civilian model was known as SP47/8 prior to 1957) is a locked breech self loading, semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured in Neuhausen am Rheinfall (Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerl ...
.


German adoption trials

In 1898, Germany adopted a total of 145 C96 pistols, but found that it jammed too often to be effective. In 1901, testing of the Luger commenced, alongside an improved version of the C96, in which the Luger was found to be both lighter and more reliable. Following a change in caliber from
7.65×21mm Parabellum The 7.65×21mm Parabellum (designated as the 7,65 Parabellum by the C.I.P. and also known as .30 Luger and 7.65mm Luger) is a pistol cartridge that was introduced in 1898 by German arms manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) ...
to
9×19mm Parabellum The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger or simply 9mm) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge. Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun a ...
, the Luger was adopted by the
Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...
as the ''Selbstlade-Pistole Modell 1904, and'' later simply the ''Pistole 1904''. The
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
delayed their adoption, as Mauser requested time to develop a new pistol of their own, which was finished in 1907. However, the new pistol was still found to be less desirable than the Luger, and on 22 August 1908,
Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...
signed an order for 50,000 Lugers for the German Army, with orders to produce a total of 170,000.


U.S. trials

In 1901, DWM sent two Lugers to the United States, who were also interested in a semi-automatic pistol. After doing well in testing, a total of 1,000 pistols and 200,000 rounds were purchased for use by the Military Academy at West Point, and several other forts. The Luger was unpopular, with most troops preferring their
.38 Long Colt The .38 Long Colt, also known as .38 LC, is a black powder cartridge introduced by Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1875. In 1892, it was adopted as a standard military pistol cartridge by the United States Army for the Colt M1892 revolver. The ...
revolvers, resulting in the Luger being recalled in 1905. In 1906, the United States evaluated several domestic and foreign-made semi-automatic pistols, including the
Colt M1900 The Colt Model 1900 is a short-recoil operated "self-loading", or semi-automatic .38 caliber handgun introduced by Colt's Manufacturing Company at the turn of the 20th century. It also marked the introduction of .38 ACP, the round for which it i ...
,
Steyr Mannlicher M1894 The Mannlicher M1894 was an early blow-forward semi-automatic pistol. General features The earliest Ferdinand Mannlicher pistol, manufactured by Fabrique D'Armes de Neuhausen, Switzerland, was designed to be self-loading and to use a special ...
, and an entry from Mauser. This was in response to combat reports which stated that the .38 caliber revolvers used in the 1899–1902
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lacked
stopping power Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon's ...
. Due to the findings in the
Thompson–LaGarde Tests The Thompson–LaGarde Tests were a series of tests conducted in 1904 to determine which caliber should be used in American military handguns. History The Army had previously been using the .38 Long Colt, and the cartridge's relatively poor ballist ...
, the military required a handgun in .45 (11.25mm) caliber. In 1906 and 1907, the U.S. Army held trials for a large-caliber semi-automatic pistol. At least two, and possibly three Parabellum Model 1902/1906 pattern pistols in were brought to the U.S. by Georg Luger for the 1907 trials, each chambered in
.45 ACP The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...
caliber. Prior to his arrival, the U.S. Frankford Arsenal had provided Luger with 5,000 rounds of .45 ammunition for experimentation and to serve as a guide for chambering measurements. Finding numerous defects in this prototype ammunition (U.S. authorities later were forced to produce new ammunition for the 1907 trials), Luger had DWM pull the bullets of these cartridges and had them re-loaded with a special faster-burning powder in new brass cases.American Rifleman, ''The 1907 Pistol Trials,'', (Feb 2001) www.nramuseum.com/media/940450/1907%20pistol%20trials.pdf Luger brought 746 rounds of this new ammunition to the March 1907 trials with his .45 Luger pistol. Two test .45 Luger pistols, bearing serial numbers 1 and 2 are known to have been used in the 1907 tests. Although the .45 Luger passed the firing tests, it was ranked below the Colt/Browning and Savage pistols in number of malfunctions and misfires, though Army officials conceded that the .45 Luger performed satisfactorily with the DWM-loaded ammunition: "The Luger automatic pistol, although it possesses manifest advantages in many particulars, is not recommended for service tests because its certainty of action, even with Luger ammunition, it is not considered satisfactory, because of the final seating of the cartridge is not by positive spring action, and because the powder stated by Mr. Luger to be necessary, for its satisfactory use is not now obtainable in this country." DWM and Luger later rejected an invitation by Army officials to produce 200 pistols in .45 caliber for further competition against the Colt and Savage submissions, at which point DWM effectively withdrew from the U.S. trials. The fate of the .45 Luger, serial number 1 is unknown, as it was not returned and is believed to have been destroyed during testing. The .45 Luger prototype serial number 2, believed to have been a back-up to Serial Number 1, survived the 1907 trials and is in private ownership. Its rarity gives its value of around US$1 million at the time the "Million Dollar Guns" episode of the
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's ''
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'' was filmed, recheck by ''
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'' as of 1994. At least two .45 caliber Luger pistols were manufactured later for possible commercial or military sales; one is exhibited at the R. W. Norton Art Gallery, in Shreveport, Louisiana. The other was sold in 2010 and remains in a private collection. A single .45 Luger carbine is also known to exist.


German combat use

The first known instance of the Luger being used in combat was during the
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in 1905-06. Therein, it was somewhat poorly received, as it was thought to be too heavy to be used quickly, in particular because the grip safety had to be held tightly, reducing accuracy, leading to the removal of the safety in the P08 model. At the beginning of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, not all units of the German Army had been equipped with the Luger, leading to an acceleration in production. Alongside the P08, Germany also developed the LP08, a version with a
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and longer barrel that could also accept drum magazines. The LP08 was used by the
Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Force)—known before October 1916 as (Flyer Troops)—was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-language sources it is usually referred to as the Imperial German Air Service, alt ...
during the early days of the war, before planes were equipped with
machine guns A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
, although due to a lack of pre-war production, the LP08 was much less commonly used than the P08. The main user of the LP08 was the Army, who used its drum magazine to deliver a high rate of fire at a close range, a concept which would lead to the development of the Stormtroopers and the
MP 18 The MP 18, manufactured by Theodor Bergmann ''Abteilung Waffenbau'', was arguably the first submachine gun used in combat. It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the '' Sturmtruppen ...
. After the end of the war, Germany signed the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
, which restricted the size of their army – the treaty specified that the German Army could only have 50,000 pistols, and prohibited
submachine guns A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an automati ...
and pistols with stocks altogether. As the Luger was expensive to produce, Germany started to look for a replacement as early as 1927, settling on the
Walther P38 The Walther P38 (originally written Walther P.38) is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that was developed by Carl Walther GmbH as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was intended to replace the costly Luger P08 ...
in 1938, which offered similar performance to the Luger, but took almost half the time to produce. Moving the production lines to the P38 once World War II started took longer than expected, leading to the P08 remaining in production until September 1942, and pre-existing copies remained in service until the end of the war. In
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, the P08 was used by the
Volkspolizei The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
, mostly from ex-Nazi stocks, but they produced a small number up until 1953.


Design details

The Luger has a toggle-lock action that uses a jointed arm to lock, as opposed to the
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actions of many other semi-automatic pistols, such as the
M1911 The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for th ...
. After a round is fired, the barrel and toggle assembly travel roughly rearward due to recoil, both locked together at this point. The toggle strikes a cam built into the frame, causing the knee joint to hinge and the toggle and breech assembly to unlock. The barrel strikes the frame and stops its rearward movement, but the toggle assembly continues moving, bending the knee joint, extracting the spent casing from the chamber, and ejecting it. The toggle and breech assembly then travel forward under spring tension and the next round is loaded from the magazine into the chamber. The entire sequence occurs in a fraction of a second and contributes to the above average mud resistance of the pistol. This mechanism works well for higher-pressure cartridges, but cartridges loaded to a lower pressure can cause the pistol to malfunction because they do not generate enough recoil to work the action fully. This results in the breech block either not clearing the top cartridge of the magazine or becoming jammed open on the cartridge's base. This malfunction with under-powered cartridges does occur with Browning-type and other pistol designs as well, but the Luger is sensitive to cartridges other than the brass-cased ammunition that it was designed to use.
Submachine guns A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an automati ...
were found to be effective in trench warfare during World War I, and experiments were conducted to convert various types of pistols to fully automatic machine pistols, including the P08. The Luger proved to have an excessive rate of fire in full-automatic mode, however, as did the
Mauser C96 The Mauser C96 (''Construktion 96'') is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 2 ...
. The 'snail drum'
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for the
MP 18 The MP 18, manufactured by Theodor Bergmann ''Abteilung Waffenbau'', was arguably the first submachine gun used in combat. It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the '' Sturmtruppen ...
, which was used by German Stormtroopers towards the end of the war, was originally designed for the Artillery Luger.


Production

Luger pistols were manufactured in Germany and Switzerland to very close tolerances and exacting standards using the highest quality materials of the day, and original pistols were known for having a long service life.Keith, Elmer, ''Sixguns'', Ravenio Books (1961) The design requires hand fitting of certain parts for proper operation. Assembling the gun using a sideplate from another pistol, for example, may prevent the
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from working, making the pistol inoperable. The Luger barrel, which was rigidly fixed to the barrel extension and carried the front sight, provided excellent accuracy. William B. "Bill" Ruger praised the Luger's 145° (55° for Americans) grip angle and duplicated it in his .22 LR pistol. Handgun author and enthusiast
Elmer Keith Elmer Merrifield Keith (March 8, 1899 – February 12, 1984) was an American rancher, firearms enthusiast, and author. Keith was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, the .357 Magnum, as well as the later .44 M ...
observed that the Luger design had been unfairly criticized by gun writers over the years as unreliable, partly due to poor experiences with Lugers constructed from salvaged parts. Keith noted that the Luger was a "natural pointer", one of the most accurate of all autoloading pistols—particularly at long ranges—and reminded critics that the Luger was the choice of more nations as their military sidearm than any other contemporary pistol or revolver.


Interwar period

From 1919 on, DWM rebuilt P08 frames with new parts or existing parts (including barrels) into complete pistols for sales to the civilian and export markets. These sales helped restore DWM to solvency after the Armistice. Most of these commercial pistols were in 7.65 Parabellum (.30 Luger) caliber, although a number of pistols were also rebarrelled to 9mm Parabellum (9×19mm). The new component parts were stamped with serial numbers to match the frame to ensure that all the fitted parts stayed together. Many thousands of these pistols were thought to have been assembled and sold between 1919 and 1923. Some of these pistols were fitted with new barrels of different lengths by the importer upon customer request. Many so-called 1919 and 1920 Commercial Lugers were imported to the United States by such firms as Abercrombie & Fitch, Pacific Arms Co., and A.F. Stoeger Inc. The latter importer sought and registered the name ''Luger'' in 1929 in the United States. In 1923, A.F. Stoeger Inc., the predecessor to Stoeger, Inc. began importing commercial pistols from DWM stamped ''A.F.Stoeger Inc. – New York.'' and "Germany". These pistols were exported to the United States in both 7.65 Parabellum (.30 Luger) and 9mm calibers, with barrel lengths from 75 mm to 600 mm. These imported Parabellums were also the first pistols to bear the name "Luger", roll stamped on the right side of the receiver. That same year, DWM also signed contracts to supply small numbers of P08 pistols to the armed forces of Finland (8,000 pistols, designated ''m/23''), the Netherlands, and Sweden. Until 1930, DWM continued to export both P08 and commercial Parabellum pistols to nations in Europe and to overseas markets, including the United States and the Far East. Although never officially adopted by Nationalist forces, all variants of the Parabellum or Luger pistol were highly sought after by both Chinese Nationalist officers and irregular guerrilla forces. In 1924, just before the outbreak of the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
, a review of Chinese Nationalist small arms reported that "Among officers, bodyguards, and police, the German Parabellum (Luger) 9-mm automatic pistol was the weapon of choice...". In 1930, Mauser took over manufacture of the P.08 from DWM. Additional P08s were produced by Simson and later Krieghoff. Many P04 and P08 pistols would continue in service with German army and navy personnel throughout World War II. Towards the end of 1937 (beginning with 't' & 'u' block pistols) Mauser phased out rust blue process and "straw finishing" small parts and levers on the P08, choosing to salt blue all parts of the weapon at one time. In 1941 some of these pistols were fitted with inexpensive black
Bakelite Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...
grip panels to cut production time and expense. Years after the war, these pistols would be given the name "Black Widow" by a postwar US arms dealer as a marketing ploy.


World War II

The P08 was technically replaced in service in 1938 by the
Walther P38 The Walther P38 (originally written Walther P.38) is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that was developed by Carl Walther GmbH as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was intended to replace the costly Luger P08 ...
, but ever-growing wartime demands for handguns resulted in continued P08 production by Mauser until December 1943. Mauser production was supplemented by a small contract for Luger pistols given to Heinrich Krieghoff & Son of Suhl in 1935 to produce a Luger variant for the Luftwaffe; a second contract for 15,000 pistols was only partially completed when Krieghoff ceased Luger production in 1944. The German Army took their last delivery of 1,000 Mauser-made pistols in November 1943. A further 4,000 pistols assembled by Mauser in December of that same year were sold to Portugal, which renamed them the Model 943. German military authorities refused to take any more Luger pistols, leaving a large stock of parts at the factory in Oberndorf. Captured Lugers were much prized by Allied soldiers during both of the world wars as war trophies. However, during World War II, German soldiers were known to sometimes use a discarded Luger pistol to lure unsuspecting trophy hunters, rigging it to detonate land mines or hidden booby traps when disturbed. Word also spread of accidental discharges and deaths of Allied troops by users unfamiliar with the P08 and its safety mechanisms, as well as stories circulating that American soldiers were being executed if captured in possession of German weapons. Soviet forces captured tens of thousands of Lugers but they were never issued to their own troops, only kept in storage.


Post-World War II

Although Mauser P08 production terminated in 1943, the P08 re-appeared in postwar form because of the continuing demand for handguns for military and police requirements. In 1945, Mauser restarted Luger production under the control of the French occupation authority to supply the French military and occupation police forces. Assembly commenced under French control from June 1945 until mid-1946. In the second half of 1946, tooling and some Mauser personnel moved from Oberndorf to Châtellerault in France, the location of MAC (Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault) to continue assembly from existing parts stocks. About 4,000 Luger 'parts' pistols, including a few LP 08 models, are thought to have been assembled for French forces, a sufficient number to justify the production of new-manufacture Luger magazines in France for several years. Surviving examples of Lugers assembled under French supervision are sometimes found with a distinct, gray
parkerized Phosphate conversion coating is a chemical treatment applied to steel parts that creates a thin adhering layer of iron, zinc, or manganese phosphates, to achieve corrosion resistance, lubrication, or as a foundation for subsequent coatings or pai ...
finish. A few early French control pistols bear a five-pointed star proof mark known to have been used by French Occupation authorities. Later pistols assembled in France often carry a French arsenal/manufacturer name, such as ''Manufacture Française d'Armes & Cycles de St. Etienne'' (Manufrance). Surviving French Control Lugers were retained in French storage depots of the paramilitary
National Gendarmerie The National Gendarmerie (french: Gendarmerie nationale, ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Minis ...
as late as 1970. Pistols were also assembled under the direction of Soviet (and later, East German) authorities to arm military and MP units, as well as the
Volkspolizei The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
. During the immediate postwar period, complete Luger pistols were also assembled from rejected or salvaged parts with different serial numbers, then sold as souvenirs to occupation forces in Germany. Thousands of original Luger pistols were taken home by returning Allied soldiers after both world wars. Other Luger pistols were later assembled in the United States by gunsmiths of varying aptitude using secondhand, rejected, or salvaged parts imported from Germany and other countries. These pistols and their construction quality (or lack of it) would contribute to criticism of the Luger as a finicky and unreliable weapon. However, a well-maintained Luger with new springs and suitable cartridges is a very reliable weapon. The Swiss Parabellum 06/29 continued in production until 1946. In 1969, after purchasing the Swiss 06/29 tooling, Mauser Werke in Oberndorf restarted Parabellum production, which ceased in 1986 when the last commemorative model was produced. While new Mauser Luger production ended at this time, pistols continued to be assembled and sold from parts on hand until the 1990s. The Luger pistol is still sought after by collectors both for its sleek design and accuracy, and for its connection to
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and
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. It is one of the most collected pieces of
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, with collectors purchasing them for prices ranging from $34,500, and $1,000,000. Aaron Davis, writing in ''The Standard Catalog of the Luger'', claimed that "From its adoption, the Luger was synonymous with the German military through the end of World War II" and "Ask any World War II vet of the uropean Theater of Operationswhat the most prized war souvenir was and the answer will invariably come back, 'a Luger'." Colonel David Hackworth mentions in his autobiography that it was still a sought-after sidearm in the
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. Vietnamese gunsmiths even copied the basic Luger design, producing a few crude 'Luger' pistols with which to arm Viet Cong and other irregular forces.


Variants


Model 1900 and Swiss Luger

A number of countries purchased the Model 1900 Parabellum in 7.65×21 mm Parabellum (.30 Luger) caliber and issued the pistol on a limited basis to officers, non-commissioned officers and mounted troops, including Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. The Model 1900 or Pistole Modell 1900 was issued to German officers and likely first saw combat in China during intervention by German troops in the aftermath of the
Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
of 1900. On April 16, 1901, following a successful preliminary test of the Model 1900 at the
Springfield Armory The Springfield Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield located in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the primary center for the manufacture of United States military firearms from 1777 until ...
,Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance, United States, Army Ordnance Dept., 28 October 1902, p. 258 the U.S. Board of Ordnance purchased 1,000 ''Model 1900'' Parabellum pistols with 4.75-inch barrels, marked with what appear to be standard U.S. ordnance bomb proofs, but are not, and "American Eagle" stamps over the chambers, and issued them to each troop of mounted cavalry of the U.S. Army for field testing, with the remainder to the light artillery and officers at West Point. In 1902, U.S. Army officials purchased another 50 ''Model 1902'' Parabellum pistols with 4-inch barrels, again in 7.65mm Parabellum, for further testing and evaluation. This was followed by a third test of 50 so-called "cartridge counter" Parabellum pistols in 9×19mm by Springfield Armory in 1904. Other nations either tested the Model 1900 or purchased small numbers for limited field service, including Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Portugal. Commercial models of the Model 1900 were exported in quantity as well. In the U.S., Model 1900 pistols in 7.65 Parabellum caliber (aka .30 Luger in the U.S.) were first imported by Georg Luger, then by a DWM sales agent, Hans Tauscher, until World War I.Davis, Aaron, ''The Standard Catalog of Luger'', Gun Digest Books, (2006) p. 6 Referred to at the time as the ' Borchardt-Luger' by U.S. authorities, Tauscher consistently referred to the pistol in his marketing and advertising materials as the 'Luger', after its inventor. Model 1900 pistols shipped to the U.S. were typically stamped with an American Eagle atop the barrel extensions. 'American Eagle' 7.65 Model 1900 pistols were used by a variety of buyers, including American lawmen such as Stringer Fenton, outlaws, and Texas Rangers.


Swiss Luger

After testing, the Swiss Army adopted the Model 1900 on April 4, 1901, in 7.65x21mm caliber as its standard sidearm, designated ''Pistole 1900''. This model uses a barrel and incorporates a grip safety and leaf-type mainspring. A later Swiss military contract with DWM resulted in the latter supplying improved Model 1900/06 pattern pistols designated the Model 1906 or ''Pistole 1900/06''. Commencing in 1918, these Model 1906 Parabellum pistols were manufactured and assembled at
Waffenfabrik Bern ''Waffenfabrik Bern'' (Weapons Factory Bern), also known as W+F Bern, was an arms manufacturer in Bern, Switzerland, which was a government-owned corporation producing firearms for the Swiss Armed Forces. List of W+F weapons *Vetterli rifle *S ...
, Switzerland. In 1929, Swiss authorities adopted an improved version of the Modell 1900 designated the ''Modell 06/29'' with improved sights, trigger and a stronger toggle link. Manufactured entirely at Waffenfabrik Bern, the 06/29 pistol served the Swiss Army until well after the adoption of the
SIG Sauer P210 The SIG P210 (Swiss Army designation Pistole 49, the civilian model was known as SP47/8 prior to 1957) is a locked breech self loading, semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured in Neuhausen am Rheinfall (Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerl ...
in 1949, and remained in limited service until the late 1960s.


Model 1902

In 1902 DWM introduced a slightly improved version of the Model 1900 Parabellum as the Model 1902. The Model 1902, with its shortened 4-inch barrel, was the first Parabellum pistol to be offered in 9×19mm Parabellum caliber, along with a change from four-groove to six-groove rifling.Stephenson, Jan, ''The Parabellum Story'', Part I and II, Gun Facts Magazine (July 1969) pp. 10-15, 35-37


Navy model

The Luger pistol was accepted by the
Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...
in 1904 in 9mm Parabellum as the ''Pistole 04'' (P04). The navy model had a barrel and a two-position – or – rear sight. This version was also referred to as the "Marine Modell 1904" or, more colloquially in the US as the "navy Luger". The Pistole 04 was later updated with a coil mainspring to Model 1906 pattern as Luger continued to refine and improve his design.


Model 1906 (Neues Modell)

Georg Luger introduced a new version of the Parabellum pistol in 1906, which would become known as the Model 1906 or ''New Model'' (''Neues Modell''). This version of the Parabellum replaced the old flat laminated main spring with a more reliable coil design. As all models of the Luger built after 1906 have the coil mainspring, they are known as ''New Models''. Older Parabellum pistols in German service were usually upgraded to the ''New Model'' specification.


Pistole Modell 1908 (P08)

In 1908, the German Army adopted the DWM Parabellum pistol as the ''Pistole Modell 1908'' (P08) Parabellum to replace the
Reichsrevolver The M1879 ''Reichsrevolver'', or Reichs-Commissions-Revolver Modell 1879 and 1883, were service revolvers used by the German Army from 1879 to 1908, when it was superseded by the Luger. The two versions of the revolver differ in barrel length ...
in front-line service. The Pistole 08 (or ''P.08'') had a barrel and was chambered in
9×19mm Parabellum The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger or simply 9mm) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge. Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun a ...
. This version of Georg Luger's design reflected a number of improvements requested by German military authorities. The grip safety used on earlier versions was omitted, while a lug was attached to the heel of the pistol frame for attachment of a shoulder stock. The barrel was reduced in length to 4 inches (102mm), and the caliber was 9×19mm Parabellum, and the 9×19mm DWM cartridge (Catalog No. 278F) initially adopted by the German Army featured a 123-grain truncated-nose bullet design intended to increase wounding effect of the fully jacketed bullet. With slight modifications, notably the addition of a stock mounting lug and a hold-open latch, the P08 would serve as the German Army's principal sidearm during World War I, augmented by Mauser C96 and Model 1914 pistols. Over 2 million Luger pistols were used by German forces from 1914 to 1918. The
Bolivian Army The Bolivian Army ( es, Ejército Boliviano) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of Bolivia. Figures on the size and composition of the Bolivian army vary considerably, with little official data available. It is estimated that the arm ...
also adopted the DWM Luger in 9×19mm Parabellum as an officer's sidearm; 500 were bought in 1913. They bore the legend "Ejercito Boliviano" stamped on the chamber.


Lange Pistole 08 (Artillery Luger)

The adoption of the ''Lange Pistole 08'' or LP 08, known as the "Artillery Luger", was authorised by the Kaiser on 2 July 1913. This P08 variation was equipped with a barrel, an 8-position tangent rear sight (calibrated to ) and a board-type shoulder stock with an attached leather holster. In the event of close combat, the pistol was intended to be used as a carbine with the shoulder stock attached to a lug mounted on the heel of the pistol frame. When set for long range use the rear sight element visibly moves to the left to compensate for spin drift. While initially intended for use by German artillery units who could not be encumbered by the long and heavy K.98 rifle, the LP 08 was also used by Aviation units (prior to equipping aircraft with machine guns) as well as the infantry, primarily on the Western front during World War I. ''Stoßtruppen'' ( stormtrooper infantry) units frequently employed the Artillery Luger equipped with a new large magazine, the 32-round Trommelmagazin or 'snail' magazine. Production of the LP 08 ended in 1918 with the end of the war. By that time, German troops had begun using the newly developed
MP 18 The MP 18, manufactured by Theodor Bergmann ''Abteilung Waffenbau'', was arguably the first submachine gun used in combat. It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the '' Sturmtruppen ...
submachine gun in place of the LP 08 for their stormtrooper assault companies. However, by this time enough LP 08 barrels had been manufactured and stockpiled to fill LP 08 export orders into the 1930s.
Carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighter ...
versions of the LP 08 were also produced commercially, with yet longer barrels. The firm Armeria Belga of Santiago (Chile) also manufactured a detachable stock, the Benke Thiemann stock, that could fold out from the grip section. In the early 1920s, carbine production was restarted. Under a small contract, LP 08 or Artillery P08s were assembled in the 1930s to fill an order from the Shah of Iran for his artillery troops, with some of these weapons ending up with Thai police forces. Existing LP 08 pistols that had remained in storage were re-issued in World War II with new-production board stocks for some German units such as artillerymen and Waffen-SS units, and these continued in use until the end of the war in 1945.


Luger Rifle

The Luger rifle was an attempt by Georg Luger to make a full-powered
semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is an autoloading rifle that fires a single cartridge with each pull of the trigger, and uses part of the fired cartridge's energy to eject the case and load another cartridge into the chamber. For comparison, a bolt-act ...
using the same toggle-bolt
action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
of the pistol. A single rifle, serial number 4, exists in a private collection. The Luger rifle was protected under British patent No. 4126 of 1906. It was chambered in
7.92x57mm Mauser 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of ...
.


Users

* : used by the National Liberation Army, bought from Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia * : Used captured examples in the North African campaign of World War II * : Armed forces used Lugers after 1945, supplied from the French-controlled Mauser factory * : delivered from 1912 and used during the
Chaco War The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko Ñorairõ * * : Three types of pistols were purchased from DWM.: The 7,65mm obrazetz 1903 (Old Model) was acquired in comparatively small numbers in 1903-4 and featured the distinctively cutaway toggle grips and a 4.75-inch barrel. The 7,65mm Obrazetz 1908 (New Model) was supplied between 1908 and 1909, and had flat-face checkered toggles; around 1500 were ordered. The 9mm obrazetz 1911, was a 9mm pistol with a 3.9-inch barrel similar to the German Pistole 08 but lacking a grip safety, stock lug and with a lanyard loop on the lower left side of the butt; around 10,00 were ordered. After the Second Balkan War many of the 7,65mm Lugers were re-barreled to 9mm * : Used by Chang Tso-lin's warlord army. * : Mainly issued to officers. * : Used Luger pistols in a semi-official capacity taken from disarmed Dutch forces in Indonesia. * * : The French occupied and operated the Mauser factory 1945–46, then seized remaining Mauser parts stocks to assemble approximately 4,000 Luger pistols for French forces * ** ** ** ** : Used until the 1960s by the
Volkspolizei The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
and
Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
agents. * : Almost 14,000 Dutch KNIL M.11 Lugers were in Indonesia before the
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. It was one of the most crucial and important periods in modern Indonesian history. In May ...
. As such, the Luger was widely used during the
Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...
. General
Sudirman General of the Army Raden Sudirman ( Old Spelling: Soedirman; 24 January 1916 – 29 January 1950) was a high-ranking Indonesian military officer during the Indonesian National Revolution. The first commander of the Indonesian National Arm ...
is known to have personally carried an M.11. *
Imperial State of Iran Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, T ...
* : Purchased less than 1,000 between 1936 and 1939. * * * * : Dutch arms factories made Lugers in 1912 for use by the Dutch East Indies Army. Other contracts were completed for the Dutch Navy commencing in 1923, and the Dutch Air Force in 1928 * : In use from 1945 and phased out in 1987. * : the
Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establ ...
received P08s from East Germany * * :Small amounts were privately purchased by officers * * : stored captured P08s but never used in combat * * : The Swiss Army was the first to adopt the Luger. 1900–1950 * * * : used by
Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
* The U.S. Ordnance Board purchased 1,000 Model 1900 7.65mm pistols under an official military contract order and issued them to active duty cavalry troops for field testing.


Non-state entities

* Lebanese Forces *
Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation Armée Secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Armed Organisation") was a far-right French dissident paramilitary organisation during the Algerian War. The OAS carried out terrorist attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an att ...
*
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...
*
Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
*
Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
*
Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), a militant African nationalist organisation that participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhode ...


See also

*
Lahti L-35 The Lahti L-35 is a semi-automatic pistol designed by Aimo Lahti that was produced between 1935 and 1952. Designed to be manufactured autonomously in Finland, the pistol was used by Finland throughout the Winter War and Continuation War. Consider ...
*
Nambu pistol are a series of semi-automatic pistols produced by the Japanese company Koishikawa Arsenal, later known as the Tokyo Artillery Arsenal.Hogg, Ian, ''Pistols of the World 4th Edition'' (2004) p. 191. The series has three variants, the Type A, the ...
* Stoeger Luger *
Table of handgun and rifle cartridges This is a table of selected pistol/ submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load (e.g. the highest muzzle energy might not be in the sa ...


References

; Citations ; Bibliography * * *


Further reading

* ''The Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols'' by Joachim Gortz and Dr. Geoffrey Sturgess (Simpson Ltd, 2012) * ''Imperial Lugers'' by Jan C. Still (Still's Books, 1994) * ''Third Reich Lugers'' by Jan C. Still (Still's Books, 1988) * ''Weimar Lugers'' by Jan C. Still (Still's Books, 1993) * ''Lugers at Random'' by Charles Kenyon (Hand Gun Press, 1990) * ''Simson Lugers'' by Edward B. Tinker and Graham K. Johnson (Simpson Ltd, 2007) * ''Luger Book: The Encyclopedia of the Borchardt and Borchardt-Luger Handguns, 1885–1985'' by J. Walter (Arms & Armour, 1991) * ''The Parabellum is Back! 1945–2000'' by Mauro Baudino and Gerben van Vlimmeren (Simpson Ltd, 2010)


External links


Artillery Luger and Mauser Parabellum


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20130724035723/http://www.bimbel.de/artikel/artikel-45.html Luger 08in parts
Bulgarian Luger 08 on GunsTribune

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Maßtafeln zur Pistole 08 und langen Pistole 08

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YouTube animation showing mechanism of Luger P08

How does it work: Toggle Actions
Forgotten Weapons
''Standard Catalog of Luger''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luger P08 Pistol 7.65×21mm Parabellum semi-automatic pistols 9mm Parabellum semi-automatic pistols 9mm Parabellum submachine guns 19th-century semi-automatic pistols Machine pistols Semi-automatic pistols of Germany Weapons of the Ottoman Empire Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1900 World War I German infantry weapons World War II infantry weapons of Germany