'New' Lugers

I have been searching for a company currently making Lugers. As an example, you can purchase a variety of 1911 .45ACP's that are still made, but have had no luck finding a current 9mm Luger. Well, I found a one but they are custom and unfortunatley much above of what I can afford. I read something about a place in Houston, TX making them a few years back, but cannot find any info on the company.

If nobody's making new ones, it seems the next best avenue is to obtain an original and rebuild it.

Thanks for any help or ideas.

Hello Ray,


If you go to the "Links & Resources" section of the Forum, you will find a listing for AIMCO; they make the new S/S lugers. DFWarms.com in Texas also sells these new S/S lugers (under the name Stoeger lugers).


You might also want to consider a New In Box (NIB) luger made by Mauser and distributed by Interarms in the 1970-1980's.


These are real lugers made on orginal tooling from Mauser before and during WW2. If you do a "search" on past Message Board threads under "Mauser-Interarms", you will get lots of information (pros and cons...).


I just bought a NIB Mauser-Interarms from Tom Heller (he is listed in the Links & Resources section as Heller Arms, LTD) which I am very happy.


Price of the S/S lugers from AIMCO and these Mauser-Interarms lugers seem to be nearly the same...


Another S/S luger was made by Mitchell Arms in the early 1990's. You can find some of these on guns sites e.g. Gunsamerica.com and sometimes on Gunbroker.com or Auctionarms.com.


I have seen both S/S lugers, in person, as well as the Mauser-Interarms lugers and find the latter better from a fit & finish standpoint; since the Mauser-Interarms lugers were made in Germany for import to the USA.


Many members on this Forum do not consider a 4th. luger era (post WW2) as valid from a collector's stand-point; others do and this agrument continues...


I decided on a NIB Mauser-Interarms luger as my 1st."shooter" since it is a New gun that I do not have to worry about parts breaking and replacement parts chasing for some time to come.


Good luck...

[Aaron]

All Luger copies made in recent years are .22 caliber. One Mauser Lugers made in the 70's are mostly 9mm, but a few were .30 Luger. I think you are looking for a centerfire.

[Matt]

The stainless Lugers have been controversial on this forum as far as their quality. I have never owned one so I don't feel qualified to comment. You might want to do a search on the forum for more info.

[Jon]

Several years ago, my wife gave me a Mitchell "American Eagle" P-08, S/N 44xx. It does have "AIMCO" stamped on it.

It attracts a lot of attention at the range..matter of fact, nobody remembers my name, till someone says, "The Guy with the Stainless Steel Luger".

It is very comfortable and accurate, and quite well-finished. It likes my 125RNL's and will feed them rapidly all day. On some commercial ammo, it is a bolt-action.

I was mentioning taking it to the range today, and she cautioned me that though I have had it for a few years, Mitchell is either gone, or has stopped dealing them, and possibly I might want to reserve it in the box from now on.

What's the opinion from you Luger specialists? It is a nice sunny day, and I think it wants to go out and play.

If AIMCOis still making them, its original role as a shooter is still valid, right?

OK, it is not a "real" WWII Luger, which, if in good condition and matching _would_ stay in the box...

I bought a Mitchell Arms luger at a gun show two months ago. Took it to the range and it stovepiped after nearly every round. Found AIMCO's phone number here in the links. A fellow named Romo told me to send it to him. AIMCO fixed the gun (new springs all around) sold me a new magazine and threw in a hard case and manual for no extra charge ( repairs and shipping came to $141.00). Gun shoots like a charm although it doesn't like commercial ammo. So AIMCO does service the pistols and gave me great customer service. Thanks to luger forum for the info and link. Think I'm hooked on lugers now.

[Jon]

I can see the practicality of a popular rustproof shooter.

To someone who has had a lifetime admiration for the novel design, isn't it better we do our tonnage downrange with one of the new issues, rather than use a museum piece? I see no reason why they should be controversial here. Perhaps collectors of the WWII -and- before "real" issues need to make that distinction. So the new stainless issues have no history...I can understand that, and I do have a few odd collectables from that era, myself, but sadly, no "real" Luger.

But consider the Luger I saw at the range; It was built up out of mismatched parts, so I suppose it was not a great loss, but the guy had nickel plated it, plus the magazine release, safety, and toggle were gold-plated!

There were MANY comments at the range that day, but the funniest was,"I was not aware the Riech issued these to brothels!"

I agree If it's worth something to you, than it has worth!


Tim

[Marvin]

Jon & Tim,


I agree with both of you on this subject. I don't like stainless steel handguns, but that is just my opinion as they are nice pistols. A friend of mine recently bought one on the Mitchell SS Lugers and he is thrilled with it. It shoots great and is resonably accurate. For a plinking Luger, you can't do much better and then you don't have to worry about damaging a valuable piece.


Marvin

Without any axe to grind- as you know our government only trusts criminals with handguns in most of the UK - I have to put my 5 cents worth in. I will never be in the position to buy a 'real' handgun again, unless I emigrate, but I would like to have stainless pistol that looks like a Luger, feels like a Luger and functions like a Luger. Don't call it a Luger, though, because it isn't. Just like there isn't a single Colt .45 M1911a clone that's a Colt .45. M1911a. Unless it's made by Colt. Hadn't noticed the millions of keen US shooters trashing all these clone makers, and there are many of them out there that just happen to be totally indistinguishable from the 'genuine' article, without naming names....

Enjoy what there is, and be grateful that someone out there has had the courage to make an affordable replica of one of the world's most desirable weapons. We are not all able to afford the woundrous work of Mr Martz, and I say that with the greatest of respect. If I could afford it, I'd buy one and shoot the rifling out of in a year! But remember, not even THAT is a Luger.


Terry Foley [owner of two Luger paperweights]

[Johnny Peppers]

Terry,

Colt is making a copy of their wartime 1911A1, and even it is not an exact copy of the wartime version. It even comes with a Kraft shipping box like the originals. You would think that in this day and time that the small parts could be made identical, but for some reason their production facilities will not let them exactly duplicate the small parts. Even the grips don't look like wartime Colt grips. Wartime Colt grips are identifiable by the large rings around the screw holes. The Remington Rand, Ithaca, and US&S used Keyes grips which are identifiable by their smaller rings around the screw holes. So what does Colt use? Grips with small rings around the screw holes, and the color is way off also.

Thompson Arms made a 1911A1 copy about 10 years ago, sold for $250, really a good copy. Its a tribute to both Luger and Colt that there are still copies being made and actively sought for shooting. My favorite guns are a 1918 Erfurt Police and a Remington 1911A1 and a AC44 P38 and a Radom and a 03 and a 03A3 and a M-1 Carbime and a M-1 Garand and .....and....and......and........


Roadkill

A couple years ago I purchased one of the SS lugers from AIMCO. Nice looking piece, although not an exact replica, being dissimilar in certain of the dimensions, chiefly those of the grip handle. I found, however, that functioning with all but the FMJ ammo was about impossible. At first, I had an extraction problem. I sent the gun back to the factory and this was corrected free of charge. But the gun would still after that not chamber rounds reliably or efficiently. It was extremely finnicky about ammo types, which I have not found the case to be with the 2 original Lugers I own (which incidentally I do not shoot. I got so exasperrated with the SS luger that I ended up trading it in on a brand new Sig Sauer P220, which digests any type of ammo with gusto.

Cheers,

Gary

I own a '93 Mitchell Arms luger. It's accurate, sharp looking and feeds fine with the right loads. You may have trouble with one of these if you don't hand load, but if you do you'll find the right recipe and be really happy.

As much of a ww2 buff as I am I like new things. I own an Auto-Ordnance m1911a1 .45 caliber I bought used. It field strips, functions(even more reliably) than ww2 colt pistols. All the fancy guys at my range who bought ,1991s and said mine was a cheap knock off were embarassed when i pointed out their plastic triggers.


As for my stainless steel aimco luger, it is covered in a black lacquer giving it an original look. So yes it stovepipes from time to time but it shoots and field strips like the original and i can get 1.5 inch groups at 25 yards shooting free hand(6 bbl really helps).


Anything original that is in good condition aint worth shootin! A new well made replica as in my cases offer fun nostalgia and with my 45 even personal protection. excuse my innocence but i dont understand why people would want to spend tons of money on any guy they would never shoot?

[Johnny Peppers]

I agree that if your only interest is shooting, the replicas are the way to go. If you are a collector, you collect because of your interest in your selected field. Coin collectors don't spend their scarce coins, and stamp collectors don't use their rare stamps to mail letters, yet that was what the coins and stamps were originally minted for. They have exceeded their utilitarian purpose, and are now highly collectible as only a tiny percentage have survived in original condition. Same applies for weapons that haven't been made in the last 50 to 100 years. If a weapon has survived in almost new condition for almost 100 years, I would feel guilty about possibly destroying the weapon. I will own the Luger of Colt for only a brief time, and it is my interest to preserve it for the next owner.

[Ron Wood]

Well said Johnny! We are just the brief "owners" of anything worth having, whether it is a pristine coin, stamp, Luger or our ever diminishing natural environment. It is our priviledge to enjoy while we can and our duty to preserve for generations to come.