1918 Erfurt Luger Serial Numbers

Product Description

My Eufurt 1918 P08 Luger. This is a discussion on My Eufurt 1918 P08 Luger. Within the Handguns forums, part of the Gun Forum category; Just wanted to show off my 1918 Eufurt P08 Luger Only thing that is missing is the loading/take down tool. Jan 17, 2014 I will try and keep a record on the front page of maker, year and serial number for reference 1. 1916 DWM Serial No: 9006i 2. 1918 DWM Serial No: 5248c 3. 1911 Erfurt Serial No: 6664 4. 1912 Erfurt Serial No: 9240 5. 1917 DWM Serial No: 6878 6. 1910 DWM Serial No: 2607d 7. 1912 Erfurt Serial No: 4510n 8. 1902 Model Serial No: 24650 9. Jul 20, 2010  The gun is very low numbered as the earliest known serial number for the 1918 Erfurt is 304 and this is serial # 450. Even though the Erfurt's were 'rough', this one is very original and has been very well taken care of. Any ideas as to value would be appreciated. I do plan to sell the Luger, as well as, a CYQ Spreewerke P-38. On the right side of the buttstock there is a '1920' stamp, but the matching serial number appears behind the pistol Erfurt 1918 Kar 98 unit markings (?) Archive - Gunboard's Forums Gunboard's Forums Gunboards.com Discussion Boards The Military Mauser Forum Erfurt 1918 Kar 98 unit markings (?).

WWI '1917' DATED Erfurt Arsenal P08 LUGER Pistol

Iconic WORLD WAR I Imperial German 9mm Pistol

Here we present a WWI '1917' Dated Luger P08 Pistol, made at the Royal Arsenal at Erfurt, Germany. These were made for the Imperial German Army and were used in the bitter fighting of trench warfare of the Great War. Georg Luger was the inventor and the namesake of this very successful invention. His design would be especially successful throughout World War I & World War II. These pistols had and still have a reputation of being of utter quality and quite expensive to produce.

This specimen is dated '1917' on the top of the chamber. The toggle is marked with a 'Crown/ERFURT'. This pistol is serial numbered in the German military style with numbers on nearly every part. German military proof and acceptance marks are located throughout.

The overall condition is fine. The original blue finish is 90%. The straw colors are still present. The markings are clear and legible. All serial numbers match with the exception of the magazine. The grips are matching and in very nice shape. The bore is sharp and shiny. The action is excellent. Here is a fantastic Luger P.08 right off the World War I battlefield!

This firearm is classified as a Curio & Relic.

Barrel is 4 inches.

Caliber: 9mm Luger Imazing 2 4 3 (8015).

Overall condition as seen in photos.

Very Fast. Very Safe. FREE SHIPPING. Will need to be sent to your local FFL or C&R licensee. This firearm is classified as a Curio & Relic.

Guaranteed AUTHENTIC & Includes CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY.

www.ancestryguns.com

$2600
#5095

DWM Luger P-08 9mm Pistol

By the Guns and Shooting Online Staff

The Luger (Pistole Parabellum or P-08) is perhaps the most aestheticallyand ergonomically pleasing of all autoloading centerfire pistols. It is alsoone of the strongest, most accurate and most recognizable service pistols evermade. (Bill Ruger frankly admitted styling his .22 Auto, the best selling .22 caliber pistol in the world, after the Luger.)

The standard Luger calibers are 7.65mm and 9mm for both civilian andmilitary models. The 9mm Luger cartridge, developed by Georg Luger, is the most popular andwidely distributed pistol cartridge in the world today.

Georg Luger developed his famous pistol in 1898-1899 (startingwith the Borchardt/Luger transitional pistol). The Luger is, essentially, amuch improved Borchardt type pistol, which was itself based on the toggleaction concept used by Sir Hiram Maxim in the world's first practical machinegun. The Maxim shot its way to bloody fame in World War One, which also becamethe combat proving ground for the Luger Pistol.

The 1893 Borchardt pistol was the first commerciallysuccessful autoloading pistol. It was produced by Ludwig Lowe of Berlin,Germany, where Georg Luger was employed. Hugo Borchardt and Georg Luger wereco-workers for a time and their families' lives within a few blocks of eachother. It was Luger who, in 1894, exhibited a Borchardt pistol to the U.S.Naval Ordinance Board. Two years later, the Ludwig Lowe firm acquired the DMKammunition company and from this merger a new entity emerged: Deutsche Waffenund Munitionsfabriken (DWM). DWM became the producer of the Borchardt pistoland, in 1900, its famous successor the Luger pistol.

The Luger was officially adopted by the Swiss military in1901, the Imperial German Navy in 1906 and the German Army in 1908, which resulted in its common'P-08' designation. The standard German Army Luger used in WW I had a 4' barrel, the NavyLuger a 6' barrel and the Artillery Model an 8' barrel. The Luger wasalso the standard service pistol of Switzerland, Portugal, Holland, Chile,Brazil and Bulgaria. It was used, officially or semi-officially, in Austria, Luxemburg,Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain, Persia (Iran), Russia, Bolivia, China, Japan(captured from the Dutch in the East Indies during WW II and remarked withJapanese characters), France (post WW II occupation forces in Germany), theU.S. (post WW II occupation forces in Germany), East Germany (GDR state police)and probably other countries. It was tested by the U.S. military on three occasions andalmost adopted as our standard service pistol. Many police forces around the world adopted the Luger.

In 1922, DWM was absorbed by the holding company B.K.I.W.and in 1930 DWM was acquired by Mauser. During 1930-1931, all Luger productionmachinery (and many technicians) were moved from the DWM factory in Berlin tothe Mauser factory in Oberndorf, Germany, where Lugers were produced until 1942,when the Luger was finally replaced as the standard German service pistol bythe Walther P-38. Mauser made Lugers bear the Mauser logo on top of their firsttoggle link, where the DWM logo had previously been stamped. Mauser producedmost of the WW II era and post WW II Lugers. Mauser sold commercial Lugers inthe 1970's and finally ceased manufacture in 1997.

Incredibly, the Luger's design changed very little duringits long production life. The principal change being the substitution of a coilmainspring for the flat mainspring used in the early 1900's.

The majority of German Luger pistols were produced by DWM.However, Lugers were also produced in large numbers under license by the RoyalGerman Arsenal at Erfurt between 1910-1914 and 1916-1918. (About 2,000,000Lugers were produced during WW I by DWM and ERFURT combined.) After WW I, Simson &Company and Kreighoff produced Lugers under license, as did Mauser after theiracquisition of DWM.

In Switzerland, Waffenfabrik produced complete pistols andSIG made parts. The Swiss turned out some 50,000 military and commercialLugers. Vickers, Ltd. of England produced a batch for the government of theNetherlands around 1921. Small runs of stainless steel Lugers were made inTexas, USA in the 1990's for Stoeger and Mitchell Arms, but the high cost ofproducing this exquisitely fitted pistol and disputes over rights to the designultimately scuttled these American efforts.

In the early post-WW I years, DWMassembled commercial Lugers from parts left over after the war. The pistolthat is the subject of this review is apparently one of those. It is chamberedfor the 9mm Luger (9x19mm) cartridge and was supplied to us by Harry Johnson ofWasichu Warrior Stoneworks in Florence, Oregon, USA.

We believe it was madebetween 1920 and 1922 and probably exported to North America. This is because'Made in Germany' is stamped at the front of the left frame rail inEnglish. Otherwise, it bears the usual 'crown over N' (for nitro)commercial German proof mark, 'Geschert' (safe) by the safety lever,'Geladen' (loaded) on the extractor and 'DWM' on the front togglelink. The serial number is stamped on the front of the frame and thelast two digits of the serial number are stamped on most of the gun's majorparts. The serial number on the frame is accompanied by the DWM suffix'h' indicating manufacture in 1918. (WW I ended on 11 November 1918.)Except for the 'Made in Germany' frame stamp, these are all typicalDWM/German markings.

Unlike military Lugers, there is no production year stampedinto the top of the front receiver ring. DWM commercial model Lugersusually lacked this date and Lugers assembled for commercial sale in the early 1920'sfrom surplus military parts usually had the date (if any) ground off the framebefore final polishing and finishing. Our test pistol has a wide trigger, lanyardring and stock lug, but no grip safety, characteristics typical of commercialLugers of the period. Magic number 2 8 8 – a better calculator bankrate.

It came to us with one original early type magazine with a woodenfloorplate and two aftermarket magazines with plastic (probably bakelite) floorplates.(DWM Lugers were normally supplied with two numbered magazines, but these rarelyaccompany used Lugers today.) The grips are the original, fully checkeredwalnut panels.

The typical DMW Luger pistol barrel lengths are 3-7/8' (after WW I only),4', 4-3/4', 6'and 8'. DMW Luger carbines normally came with11-3/4' barrels. Our sample Luger is unusual in that it has a 5'barrel. As far as we know, DWM did not supply 5' barrels on 9mm pistolsand the pistol's serial number is not stamped on the bottom of the barrel,which was common practice. Nor is there a witness mark on the bottom of the barrel, although there is an index mark on the frame. We therefore believe that this Luger was rebarreledat some point in its career. (In the 1920's and 1930's, serviceable Lugers werecommon in the U.S. and aftermarket replacement barrels were available in many lengths.) Despitethe barrel's odd length and questionable provenance, it has the typical'thick' Luger contour (early Luger barrels were thinner than later barrels) and wears aLuger dovetail mounted front sight.

We also believe that our test pistol was reblued at somepoint, as evidenced by the slight rounding of sharp corners and the shallownessof the proof and part of the 'Made in Germany' markings on thereceiver. (This is caused by the buffing and polishing required before a guncan be reblued.) The bluing is worn on the front and back grip straps and thebarrel and frame show some holster wear at the edges, but most of our gun'sbluing remains.

Specifications (as tested)

• Manufacturer: DWM
• Model: Commercial P-08 Luger
• Vintage: 1920-1922 (estimated)
• Type: Autoloading service pistol
• Operation: Recoil operated (toggle action), striker fired
• Action: Single action
• Caliber: 9mm Luger (9x19mm)
• Magazine capacity: 7
• Barrel length: 5'
• Trigger pull: 2-1/4 lbs.
• Sights: Fixed; V-notch rear, dovetail mounted bead front
• Sight radius: 8-11/16' (22.2cm)
• Finish: blued steel
• Grips: 2-piece; checkered walnut
• Overall length: 9-1/2' (24cm)
• Height: 6-1/2' (14cm)
• Width: 1-1/2' (3.7cm)
• Weight: 2 lbs. (with empty magazine)
• Country of origin: Germany
• 2013 used price: $1200 (approx.)

Today, over 110 years after its initial adoption by the Swissin 1901, the Luger is still in high demand. As a result, good used Lugers inshootable condition are priced beyond the means of many shooters. Lugercollectors drive Luger prices to ever higher levels and a large number ofLugers today reside in private collections.

What has made the Luger so desirable for so long?Here are some of the distinguishing characteristics mentioned by the OrdinanceBoard from the U.S. Firing circuit drivers airbag e36. Army tests of 1907 (in comparison to all contenders, but inparticular compared to the Colt .45 Auto):

• The shape of the grip conforms to the anatomical features of the hand.
• The center of gravity is well to the rear. There are two points of support as the pistol lies naturally in the hand.
• There is an automatic indication that the chamber is loaded, visible to the eye and sensible to the touch.
• The empty magazine may be expelled by the pistol hand.
• The parts are easily accessible.
• Superior accuracy (10 shots at 25 yards = 1.3' Luger and 2.4' Colt Auto)

Perhaps the nicest thing about a Luger pistol, aside fromits superior pointability, is its obviously high quality and tight fit. Thereis no looseness or slop anywhere. It is assembled like a fine watch. There areno screws holding the Luger lockwork together. The only screws (one per side)hold the grips to the frame. You know you are holding a top quality,beautifully made and fitted firearm. No Browning type, tilt-barrel actionpistol comes close to the precision feel of a Luger.

Of course, the Luger action's great strength is reassuring.The toggle action is considerably stronger than normal tilt-barrel, recoiloperated actions. Lugers handle maximum loads with aplomb. It is underpoweredloads that can cause problems, by failing to fully operate the action.

This is how the Luger functions, as concisely explained inthe 'History' section of the online Luger Forum (www.lugerforum.com):

'The mostdistinctive feature of the Luger is undoubtedly the toggle-lock mechanism,which holds the breech closed by locking in a manner not unlike the human knee,which can sustain a heavy weight when straight, but once bent, is quite easy tocontinue to bend. . . . When a round is fired the entire breech, barrel and toggle movestraight rearward (on rails) until the toggle begins to ride up on a pair ofcams that 'breaks' the toggle (makes it bend at the joint). Once the togglejoint is no longer straight, it bends freely, allowing the bolt to comerearward and the striker to be cocked. The spent cartridge is extracted by acombination extractor/loaded chamber indicator on the top of the toggle and isejected as the toggle nears the end of its rearward travel; a new round isstripped from the magazine and chambered as the toggle is driven back to thestraight position by a spring.'

Our test Luger's single action only trigger has a longtake-up and some creep (typical of Lugers), but releases at a light 2.5pounds. After over 90 years of service, the parts are undoubtedly well worn-in!

The safety lever takes a fair amount of pressure to slide upor down. It is positive and unlikely to be moved accidentally. Lever down isSAFE ('Geschert' is visible) and lever up ('Geschert'covered) is FIRE. Synthedit for mac.

Racking the action is different than with slideoperated autoloading pistols. We found the easiest way is to grip the pistolnormally in the shooting hand with the trigger finger alongside the frame (nottouching the trigger). Point the pistol directly away from the shooter andupward at about a 45-degree angle. Use the thumb and index finger of the weak handto firmly grasp the toggle joint knobs and yank back and upward at about a45-degree angle (in relation to the line of bore). This should retract thebreech block. To hold the action open, do this with an empty magazine in place,as it takes an empty magazine to activate the hold open catch. Once the actionis locked open, the empty magazine can be removed. To reset the trigger afterdry firing, the action only needs to be opened about 5/16'.

There is no external hold-open lever. To release alocked-open breech block, insert a loaded magazine (or no magazine at all) andpull the toggle joint about 1/8' rearward, then release.

Before venturing to a gun range to fire the Luger, wefield stripped and cleaned it. Field stripping is accomplished without anytools. The procedure is first to remove the magazine and cycle the action toensure that the gun is unloaded. Then, pull back the toggle and turn thelocking bolt (take-down lever) 90-degrees downward. The trigger plate on theleft side of the frame, just behind the take-down lever, may now be removed. (Sometimes moving the slide a bit forward helpsdislodge the trigger plate) The barrel, receiver, breech block, toggle jointsand their components can now be slid, as a unit, forward off the frame. The largeconnecting pin between the rear link and the receiver may now be pushed free and lifted out tothe left (a spitzer bullet point or the tip of a ball point pen works fine), thereby detaching the toggle joints from the barrel and receiver. Takecare that the smaller pin between the breech bolt and front toggle link doesnot fall out and get lost. This is as far as the pistol needs to bedisassembled for normal cleaning. Drama serial dil diya dehleez episode 65. Reassemble in reverse order.

We thoroughly sprayed the innards of our Luger with Prolixto flush out dirt and crud and then pulled a Bore Snake through the barreltwice. After drying the gun, we applied a small amount of SIG's white lubricantto the frame rails and breech block rails.

Our test shooting with the Luger was conducted at the IzaakWalton gun range south of Eugene, Oregon. This outdoor facility has coveredshooting positions with bench rests and target stands at 25, 50, 100 and 200yards. We did our test shooting at a distance of 25 yards, our usual range fortesting handguns. The weather was sunny, with a high temperature of about 75-degreesF. Lightpaper for mac. and 5-10 MPH winds.

We requested test ammunition from our friends at Hornady, Remingtonand Winchester, without whose help these reviews would not be possible. Theammunition we used included Remington/UMC 115 grain MC (MV 1145 fps), Remington/UMC124 grain MC (MV 1100 fps), Winchester 124 grain FMJ (MV 1140 fps), Hornady Critical Defense 115 grain FTX (MV 1140 fps), HornadyCustom 124 grain XTP-JHP (MV 1110 fps), Hornady +P Critical Duty 135 grain FlexLock (MV 1115 fps) and Hornady Custom 147 grain XTP-JHP MV 975 fps) factory loads.

We shot five-shot groups for record using a Pistol Perchrest. Guns and Shooting Online staff members Jim Fleck, Rocky Hays andChuck Hawks did the test shooting. Here are the shooting results:

• Hornady 115 grain FTX - smallest group 7/8', largest group 3', mean average group size = 2.4'
• Hornady 124 grain XTP - smallest group 1-3/4', largest group 2-3/4', mean average group size = 2.2'
• Hornady +P 135 grain FL - smallest group 1-3/8', largest group 2-1/4', mean average group size = 1.7'
• Remington/UMC 115 grain MC - smallest group 3-3/4', largest group 5-1/4', mean average group size = 4.6'
• Remington/UMC 124 grain MC - smallest group 1-1/8', largest group 2-3/4', mean average group size = 2.0'
• Winchester 124 grain FMJ - smallest group 1-7/8', largest group 3-1/4', mean average group size = 2.4'

1918 Erfurt Luger Serial Numbers For Sale

We know that Lugers of this vintage were designed for full power loads (today that would be NATO spec ammo) using 124 grain RN/FMJ bullets. Most functioning problems are caused by reduced power ammunition or bullets with flat tips or aggressive hollow points, which didn't exist when the Luger pistol's feeding geometry was designed.

In our testing, we had one failure to feed with the Remington/UMC 115 grain MC load and two failures to feed with the Hornady 124 grain XTP hollow points. The Hornady 115 grain Critical Defense and 135 grain Critical Duty loads caused the most malfunctions among the loads for which we recorded groups, essentially making the Luger a single shot pistol. The Hornady Custom 147 grain XTP-JHP cartridges have long bullets with a large hollow point; these would not even feed from the magazine by hand and testing was discontinued with this load. The Winchester and Remington 124 grain ball ammo caused no malfunctions. These results are about what we expected.

We tried one original Luger magazine and two vintage aftermarketmagazines of unknown manufacture. The aftermarket magazines simply did not feedcartridges correctly, jamming the gun with almost every shot. The originalLuger magazine worked perfectly. After testing the magazines, all subsequentshooting was done with the Luger magazine.

This time out, Rocky shot the smallest groups. TheLuger is a full size, all steel gun with a long, extremely comfortable grip that minimizesrecoil and aids accurate shooting. We have previously mentioned the pistol'stoggle action with straight line barrel recoil and light SA trigger. Thesecharacteristics combined to make our range session with the Luger pleasurable. As you can see from the results above, its accuracy was good for a90+ year old service pistol.

The fine sights, and especially the small rear V-notch, aredifficult to see with our aging eyes. They are certainly inferior to modernPatridge (square notch/square blade) sights, especially for fast acquisition and target shooting.Despite this, we managed to shoot some decent 25 yard groups from a benchrest with the Luger, although we probably could have done better withmodern sights. For most of us, the Luger shot to the correct elevation at 25yards, a good thing since the only possible sight adjustment is for windage andthen only by sliding the front sight laterally in its mounting dovetail.

If a windage adjustment is necessary with a Luger, move thefront sight in the opposite directionfrom the way you want the point of impact to move. For example, if you want tomove the bullet's impact right, you must slide the front sight to the left.

Specifications (as tested)

• Manufacturer: DWM
• Model: Commercial P-08 Luger
• Vintage: 1920-1922 (estimated)
• Type: Autoloading service pistol
• Operation: Recoil operated (toggle action), striker fired
• Action: Single action
• Caliber: 9mm Luger (9x19mm)
• Magazine capacity: 7
• Barrel length: 5'
• Trigger pull: 2-1/4 lbs.
• Sights: Fixed; V-notch rear, dovetail mounted bead front
• Sight radius: 8-11/16' (22.2cm)
• Finish: blued steel
• Grips: 2-piece; checkered walnut
• Overall length: 9-1/2' (24cm)
• Height: 6-1/2' (14cm)
• Width: 1-1/2' (3.7cm)
• Weight: 2 lbs. (with empty magazine)
• Country of origin: Germany
• 2013 used price: $1200 (approx.)

Today, over 110 years after its initial adoption by the Swissin 1901, the Luger is still in high demand. As a result, good used Lugers inshootable condition are priced beyond the means of many shooters. Lugercollectors drive Luger prices to ever higher levels and a large number ofLugers today reside in private collections.

What has made the Luger so desirable for so long?Here are some of the distinguishing characteristics mentioned by the OrdinanceBoard from the U.S. Firing circuit drivers airbag e36. Army tests of 1907 (in comparison to all contenders, but inparticular compared to the Colt .45 Auto):

• The shape of the grip conforms to the anatomical features of the hand.
• The center of gravity is well to the rear. There are two points of support as the pistol lies naturally in the hand.
• There is an automatic indication that the chamber is loaded, visible to the eye and sensible to the touch.
• The empty magazine may be expelled by the pistol hand.
• The parts are easily accessible.
• Superior accuracy (10 shots at 25 yards = 1.3' Luger and 2.4' Colt Auto)

Perhaps the nicest thing about a Luger pistol, aside fromits superior pointability, is its obviously high quality and tight fit. Thereis no looseness or slop anywhere. It is assembled like a fine watch. There areno screws holding the Luger lockwork together. The only screws (one per side)hold the grips to the frame. You know you are holding a top quality,beautifully made and fitted firearm. No Browning type, tilt-barrel actionpistol comes close to the precision feel of a Luger.

Of course, the Luger action's great strength is reassuring.The toggle action is considerably stronger than normal tilt-barrel, recoiloperated actions. Lugers handle maximum loads with aplomb. It is underpoweredloads that can cause problems, by failing to fully operate the action.

This is how the Luger functions, as concisely explained inthe 'History' section of the online Luger Forum (www.lugerforum.com):

'The mostdistinctive feature of the Luger is undoubtedly the toggle-lock mechanism,which holds the breech closed by locking in a manner not unlike the human knee,which can sustain a heavy weight when straight, but once bent, is quite easy tocontinue to bend. . . . When a round is fired the entire breech, barrel and toggle movestraight rearward (on rails) until the toggle begins to ride up on a pair ofcams that 'breaks' the toggle (makes it bend at the joint). Once the togglejoint is no longer straight, it bends freely, allowing the bolt to comerearward and the striker to be cocked. The spent cartridge is extracted by acombination extractor/loaded chamber indicator on the top of the toggle and isejected as the toggle nears the end of its rearward travel; a new round isstripped from the magazine and chambered as the toggle is driven back to thestraight position by a spring.'

Our test Luger's single action only trigger has a longtake-up and some creep (typical of Lugers), but releases at a light 2.5pounds. After over 90 years of service, the parts are undoubtedly well worn-in!

The safety lever takes a fair amount of pressure to slide upor down. It is positive and unlikely to be moved accidentally. Lever down isSAFE ('Geschert' is visible) and lever up ('Geschert'covered) is FIRE. Synthedit for mac.

Racking the action is different than with slideoperated autoloading pistols. We found the easiest way is to grip the pistolnormally in the shooting hand with the trigger finger alongside the frame (nottouching the trigger). Point the pistol directly away from the shooter andupward at about a 45-degree angle. Use the thumb and index finger of the weak handto firmly grasp the toggle joint knobs and yank back and upward at about a45-degree angle (in relation to the line of bore). This should retract thebreech block. To hold the action open, do this with an empty magazine in place,as it takes an empty magazine to activate the hold open catch. Once the actionis locked open, the empty magazine can be removed. To reset the trigger afterdry firing, the action only needs to be opened about 5/16'.

There is no external hold-open lever. To release alocked-open breech block, insert a loaded magazine (or no magazine at all) andpull the toggle joint about 1/8' rearward, then release.

Before venturing to a gun range to fire the Luger, wefield stripped and cleaned it. Field stripping is accomplished without anytools. The procedure is first to remove the magazine and cycle the action toensure that the gun is unloaded. Then, pull back the toggle and turn thelocking bolt (take-down lever) 90-degrees downward. The trigger plate on theleft side of the frame, just behind the take-down lever, may now be removed. (Sometimes moving the slide a bit forward helpsdislodge the trigger plate) The barrel, receiver, breech block, toggle jointsand their components can now be slid, as a unit, forward off the frame. The largeconnecting pin between the rear link and the receiver may now be pushed free and lifted out tothe left (a spitzer bullet point or the tip of a ball point pen works fine), thereby detaching the toggle joints from the barrel and receiver. Takecare that the smaller pin between the breech bolt and front toggle link doesnot fall out and get lost. This is as far as the pistol needs to bedisassembled for normal cleaning. Drama serial dil diya dehleez episode 65. Reassemble in reverse order.

We thoroughly sprayed the innards of our Luger with Prolixto flush out dirt and crud and then pulled a Bore Snake through the barreltwice. After drying the gun, we applied a small amount of SIG's white lubricantto the frame rails and breech block rails.

Our test shooting with the Luger was conducted at the IzaakWalton gun range south of Eugene, Oregon. This outdoor facility has coveredshooting positions with bench rests and target stands at 25, 50, 100 and 200yards. We did our test shooting at a distance of 25 yards, our usual range fortesting handguns. The weather was sunny, with a high temperature of about 75-degreesF. Lightpaper for mac. and 5-10 MPH winds.

We requested test ammunition from our friends at Hornady, Remingtonand Winchester, without whose help these reviews would not be possible. Theammunition we used included Remington/UMC 115 grain MC (MV 1145 fps), Remington/UMC124 grain MC (MV 1100 fps), Winchester 124 grain FMJ (MV 1140 fps), Hornady Critical Defense 115 grain FTX (MV 1140 fps), HornadyCustom 124 grain XTP-JHP (MV 1110 fps), Hornady +P Critical Duty 135 grain FlexLock (MV 1115 fps) and Hornady Custom 147 grain XTP-JHP MV 975 fps) factory loads.

We shot five-shot groups for record using a Pistol Perchrest. Guns and Shooting Online staff members Jim Fleck, Rocky Hays andChuck Hawks did the test shooting. Here are the shooting results:

• Hornady 115 grain FTX - smallest group 7/8', largest group 3', mean average group size = 2.4'
• Hornady 124 grain XTP - smallest group 1-3/4', largest group 2-3/4', mean average group size = 2.2'
• Hornady +P 135 grain FL - smallest group 1-3/8', largest group 2-1/4', mean average group size = 1.7'
• Remington/UMC 115 grain MC - smallest group 3-3/4', largest group 5-1/4', mean average group size = 4.6'
• Remington/UMC 124 grain MC - smallest group 1-1/8', largest group 2-3/4', mean average group size = 2.0'
• Winchester 124 grain FMJ - smallest group 1-7/8', largest group 3-1/4', mean average group size = 2.4'

1918 Erfurt Luger Serial Numbers For Sale

We know that Lugers of this vintage were designed for full power loads (today that would be NATO spec ammo) using 124 grain RN/FMJ bullets. Most functioning problems are caused by reduced power ammunition or bullets with flat tips or aggressive hollow points, which didn't exist when the Luger pistol's feeding geometry was designed.

In our testing, we had one failure to feed with the Remington/UMC 115 grain MC load and two failures to feed with the Hornady 124 grain XTP hollow points. The Hornady 115 grain Critical Defense and 135 grain Critical Duty loads caused the most malfunctions among the loads for which we recorded groups, essentially making the Luger a single shot pistol. The Hornady Custom 147 grain XTP-JHP cartridges have long bullets with a large hollow point; these would not even feed from the magazine by hand and testing was discontinued with this load. The Winchester and Remington 124 grain ball ammo caused no malfunctions. These results are about what we expected.

We tried one original Luger magazine and two vintage aftermarketmagazines of unknown manufacture. The aftermarket magazines simply did not feedcartridges correctly, jamming the gun with almost every shot. The originalLuger magazine worked perfectly. After testing the magazines, all subsequentshooting was done with the Luger magazine.

This time out, Rocky shot the smallest groups. TheLuger is a full size, all steel gun with a long, extremely comfortable grip that minimizesrecoil and aids accurate shooting. We have previously mentioned the pistol'stoggle action with straight line barrel recoil and light SA trigger. Thesecharacteristics combined to make our range session with the Luger pleasurable. As you can see from the results above, its accuracy was good for a90+ year old service pistol.

The fine sights, and especially the small rear V-notch, aredifficult to see with our aging eyes. They are certainly inferior to modernPatridge (square notch/square blade) sights, especially for fast acquisition and target shooting.Despite this, we managed to shoot some decent 25 yard groups from a benchrest with the Luger, although we probably could have done better withmodern sights. For most of us, the Luger shot to the correct elevation at 25yards, a good thing since the only possible sight adjustment is for windage andthen only by sliding the front sight laterally in its mounting dovetail.

If a windage adjustment is necessary with a Luger, move thefront sight in the opposite directionfrom the way you want the point of impact to move. For example, if you want tomove the bullet's impact right, you must slide the front sight to the left.

1918 Erfurt Luger Serial Numbers For Sale

In summation, we found the Luger fun to shoot, accurate (with all loads except the Rem./UMC 115 grain fodder),very comfortable and exquisitely made. It points better than any other servicepistol we have reviewed. It is probably the highest quality and best fitted ofall successful autoloading service pistols. Those individuals who own a Lugerpistol are indeed fortunate.

Note: Most of the historical information in this article was gleaned from the book The Luger Pistol (Pistole Parabellum) byFred A. Datig. Also helpful in our research was the 33rd Edition of Fjestad's Blue Book of Gun Values and the Luger Forum (www.lugerforum.com) online. Therehave been myriad Luger variations and we do not pretend to be experts on the subject. Our historical research, almost inevitably given the long production span andmultiple manufacturers of Luger pistols in various countries, revealed discrepancies even between knowledgeable sources. This article can only attempt to skim thesurface of the Luger pistol's long history and any errors or omissions are ours and ours alone.