Yet another Newb with a new Luger, and some post shoot questions.

[L1329]

Hey all, finally can say I've joined the Luger club! I was out on a work trip and found a Luger at a local shop, and just couldn't pass it up so it followed me home. I've been wanting a P08 shooter for more years than I can count, and this one seemed in very good mechanical condition, and the price was not too bad. kind of a mixed bag of parts but I want one to shoot, not collect, so that works perfectly fine for me. The barrel/upper rails seem to go together, but the grip frame is a different number, as is the toggle section.

Hopefully the pro's here can tell me a little about this one. The bore is in great shape, I would think it was rebarreled when it was refinished, but the barrel numbers match the upper receiver. There's an F and J stamped on the bottom of the upper receiver, as well as on the grip frame under the side plate. Any idea what those represent? I also found an E stamped inside the back of the grip frame. Lots of old grease in there, took a good cleaning but it's in pretty good shape.

Took it to the range and shot about 180 rounds. It had a few FTL and FTE, all with Sig 115gr ammo. A couple FThold open with the original mag, I had two MecGar's that worked perfectly. Ran great on Win white box and American Eagle ammo. Overall functioned acceptably well. It shoots dead on to sights, but I think I need better prescription glasses to even see these sights!

Two questions though. First, is without the toggles locked back, I cannot load a full mag. It will not push up far enough to lock in place, and seriously drags the action to the point it won't cycle. Is this normal? 7 rounds or less it goes in perfectly every time, only with 8 is it an issue.

Second is that a couple times after I've reassembled the gun, when trying to cycle the action the breach block will retract about 1/4" and then stop, like it's mechanical binding. I can't tell at all what it's catching on, or what I'm doing differently when I reassemble it and it works. Odd, need some investigation.

Very cool and fun pistol, and probably the one I've looked forward to owning the most and for the longest time!

[wlyon]

Welcome to the Club. The initials you refer to are inspectors initials put there during manufacture. The barrel appears to be original. The gun has been buffed and reblued. But for a shooter fine. The witness marks appear to be a little off. The barrel was probably removed during the rehab. You might want to have the headspace checked. I am not sure what your problem is on Assembly. Are you getting the lever on the rear toggle correctly placed on the spring each time? I do not use Eagle ammo. My experience with it is awful. I do like the Win. white box. Anyway Welcome and enjoy. Just remember it is habit forming and you will be getting another. Bill

[Edward Tinker]

I personally never try to force in the 8th, never seems to work well in mine either.

I see a Mauser (code 42) made in 1938

Ed

[rhuff]

As Bill stated, it is very easy to miss hooking the toggle lever onto the mainspring correctly, especially for one new to the Luger.

[L1329]

Originally Posted by wlyon

Welcome to the Club. The initials you refer to are inspectors initials put there during manufacture. The barrel appears to be original. The gun has been buffed and reblued. But for a shooter fine. The witness marks appear to be a little off. The barrel was probably removed during the rehab. You might want to have the headspace checked. I am not sure what your problem is on Assembly. Are you getting the lever on the rear toggle correctly placed on the spring each time? I do not use Eagle ammo. My experience with it is awful. I do like the Win. white box. Anyway Welcome and enjoy. Just remember it is habit forming and you will be getting another. Bill

It's possible I didn't get the hook in right, but I did think I made sure to pay close attention to that when reassembling the gun. I'll try it a few more times and see if it happens again.

So since this gun has the same inspector initials on the upper and grip frame, even though they both have different serial numbers, is it feasible that this could be the upper and grip frame that was originally put together? Would this be one of the guns factory assembled from the parts bins? There's plenty of other numbers in there, but it would be nice to know at least the grip frame, upper and barrel went through life together.

The finish, even the wack polishing on the trigger and sear bar, doesn't bother me on this one, it's a range gun and a great intro to the ins and outs of the Luger. But, I can already see that it would be nice to have one still in it's original finish, nicely aged of course!

[wlyon]

The inspectors initials have nothing to do with just one luger. These inspectors looked at thousands of lugers. So no connection just because they are the same. It was never mismatched at the factory. Bill

[Sky Zero]

Buffed and reblued but totally fine as a shooter

[Sergio Natali]

JMO it looks like a very nice shooter grade LUGER.
As usual in these cases I add to avoid heavy loads.

Enjoy yourself, go to the range and crank it out!

[L1329]

Originally Posted by luger.parabellum

JMO it looks like a very nice shooter grade LUGER.
As usual in these cases I add to avoid heavy loads.

Enjoy yourself, go to the range and crank it out!

That's just what I thought when I found it. There's virtually no wear on the parts, great barrel condition, not a collector's piece so no worry's about shooting it out. It does seem a little odd for a gun that old to have somewhat fresh blueing and really look fairly new, but it does look good in person. Cost me $750, which I think is not too bad for the condition it's in, and I didn't have to spend any time hunting one down. It found me!

[4 Scale]

Congratulations, you did well on price. A very nice and desirable shooter. I'd suggest look at some of the YouTube videos on both field strip and full disassembly and learn what all the parts do and how they interact. When I got my first I took it apart and reassembled it a lot, to get to know how it worked.

[Sky Zero]

good price for a shooter. use Winchester white box, 115gr. heard some people using 124 but I wouldn't use anything higher than that. another new user on here was talking about the damage done to his gun from what we precieved to be high velocity ammo

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by Sky Zero

good price for a shooter. use Winchester white box, 115gr. heard some people using 124 but I wouldn't use anything higher than that. another new user on here was talking about the damage done to his gun from what we precieved to be high velocity ammo

It ain't the weight but the weight x velocity!

Original 9mm ammo was 124gr and still works just fine in a standard or normal velocity load.

Just stay away from NATO spec 124gr, it is hot.

[Sky Zero]

Originally Posted by DonVoigt

It ain't the weight but the weight x velocity!

Original 9mm ammo was 124gr and still works just fine in a standard or normal velocity load.

Just stay away from NATO spec 124gr, it is hot.

doesn't higher weight mean more gun powder, thus hotter? maybe I've been getting definitions of grains totally wrong

[rhuff]

Originally Posted by Sky Zero

doesn't higher weight mean more gun powder, thus hotter? maybe I've been getting definitions of grains totally wrong

In the "loading business", as you increase the bullet weight, you decrease the powder loading in order to maintain chamber pressures within the std. pressures.

[Mac Cat]

I think you did well. Looks like a nice Luger and it should like it's working well.
I never load up 8 rounds anyway, so I can't really share that experience.
I usually load up 6 or 7 rounds.

[L1329]

So it looks like it may have been me not getting the hook in place, I've taken down and reassembled the gun a bunch of times and it function checked good every time. going to shoot it again on Wednesday, and looking forward to it. Just gotta pay more attention evidently!

[Chickenthief]

Originally Posted by Sky Zero

doesn't higher weight mean more gun powder, thus hotter? maybe I've been getting definitions of grains totally wrong

Gunpowder is a funny thing:
Black powder will burn and build up pressure to a point (@3700bar~53.7kpsi) and then nothing much more happens.
Smokeless on the other hand will readily push 180kpsi given the posibillity.
Wich pretty much mean that you walk a razors edge when reloading modern powders.

This is a standard 45 ACP low pressure load with a bullet set back @1/4" and ended in the 176kpsi range give or take:


Oh, and the good old Kongsberg Colt needed a new barrel and it up and running happy again. And i learned to crimp my bullets in place!

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by Sky Zero

doesn't higher weight mean more gun powder, thus hotter? maybe I've been getting definitions of grains totally wrong

No,
the amount of power = what someone decides to put into the cartridge.

You can buy 124 gr cartridges(124gr is the weight of the bullet) loaded to 1000 fps or "hotter" ones loaded to 1250 fps.

The amount of powder is also weighed in grains, but WAY fewer grains than the bullet weight, perhaps 3.0 gr to 10gr, depending on the powder.

[L1329]

So, I just had the chance to put another 150 rounds through it today, all Win white box. Not one issue, both new mags and the original mag worked perfectly, I couldn't be happier with how it functions. It's also really accurate, and surprisingly more than my other semi's. As you all know the sights make it a little difficult, but man it's right on as long as I hold the picture correctly. Holes in holes! My other half shot it very well too, and really likes it. Much more than any other semi auto she's tried. I can see that this gun is going to get a lot of work (or aquire some brothers), going to have to be careful not to use it up too fast.

Without a doubt, this is the most satisfying gun purchase I've ever made. Having something from an entirely different place in time, with so much unknown history to it, that still functions as if it were new is something really cool.

[rhuff]

Sounds like another happy Luger owner to me!!! Life is great when one's Luger works as advertised. Now, about your next Luger...