How Hard Is My Luger...?

My new R. Gibson Krieghoff Parabellum book talks about a Rockwell hardness test on the metals comprising parts of the luger especially the frame and receiver. Itâ??s a test apparatus that punches little indents on a section of metal and measures the force needed to make the indent/nipple mark a certain depth. The higher the Rockwell hardness number, the harder the metallurgy.


Mauser, Simpson, and Krieghoff all typically had numbers of B-31, B-33, and B-32.


The Weimar and Imperial lugers from DWM, Erfurt, and Spandau all had numbers of B-22, B-21, and B-21.


Surprisingly, all Swiss Bern made lugers (actually made by the Swiss) have numbers of B-10 only.


It seems the Germans went to a harder metals over time, while the Swiss stayed with a very soft metal. I would guess this allowed the Swiss tooling to stay in production longer, but probably means the Swiss Bern guns can wear out much sooner with shooting and might also mean they can get scratched or dented much more readilyâ?¦


Interesting how when you read about Krieghoff lugers you end up learning something about Swiss Bern lugersâ?¦