Just picture it for a second. It’s 1910. You walk into Abercrombie & Fitch, arguably the premiere outfitter for American sportsman of the day. As you get to the gun counter you see something different; it’s not the typical wheelgun dominating the American market.
You’re taken in by the fine checkering on the grips and the side toggles, the bluing on the pencil barrel that ends in a sharp front sight. Working the action, you are overcome by a sense of mechanical impressiveness that brings joy in the form of tactile sensation. Asking to see the cartridge it shoots, you are again surprised. No rim? A bottle-neck cased .30 caliber?
You, my friend, have just been introduced to the commercial Luger.
The Background
Designed right at the end of the 19th century, the Luger pistol is now extremely well known. Most folks recognize it as the gun that introduced us to the 9x19mm cartridge. Additionally, this was the main military sidearm of German forces in the first world war and at the beginning of the second. While most people associate the Luger with the above-mentioned attributes, it would seem that few people realize how popular the commercial variants of the Luger really were.
The Luger was originally chambered in 7.65 Parabellum (30 Luger.) This hot little .30-caliber, bottle-necked cartridge pushed a 93-gr. FMJ bullet around 1,200 fps. This is extremely impressive for the day. The .30 Luger was the chambering adopted by the Swiss military in 1900, as well as other various militaries in smaller contracts. It was in fact the German military that requested a larger bullet diameter, and thus the neck was blown out on the .30 Luger giving the world the 9×19 Luger.
While most military and police Lugers on the market are in 9×19 Luger, the commercial variants will be more commonly had in the original .30 Luger chambering.
While not a 1911 by any means by popularity, quite a few commercial Lugers made their way to the USA for sale to the American public both before the first world war and in between the wars. Companies such as Abercrombie & Fitch or Stoeger could special order different barrel lengths, custom options and even carbine versions.
In addition to the commercial guns, many German military Lugers made it back to the USA after both world wars. Because of this, most people with any basic gun knowledge can recognize a Luger pistol.
My Path
I have always been a fan of Lugers. While I have owned a handful of military and police variants over the years, I always ended up trading them. While I understood their appeal, the fit/finish on war-time guns are not near what a commercial variant is. While I enjoyed shooting those previous guns, I always told myself I would hold out for a nice commercial model.
Earlier this year when I was back in Louisiana helping my mom get her house ready to put on the market, I walked inside for a break. I noticed my phone on her kitchen counter kept buzzing … and buzzing. When I checked I had three missed calls and a slew of texts from two different people about a local gun collection that was to go up for sale soon.
I stepped outside and called the gentleman. It was the typical situation of a member of the family who had passed away and, aside from a few deer rifles, no one had any interest in the rest of the guns. He gave his best description of a pistol that sounded a lot like a Luger, and he agreed to hold it for me until I got back to South Carolina.
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Upon my return, I drove three hours that Saturday to a barn in the middle of nowhere. Inside of an old sock was this absolutely beautiful commercial Luger chambered in .30 Luger, built by DWM in 1910 for the American market. We agreed on a price and I drove home with my latest obsession.
A gentleman cannot have a sidearm without proper gun leather to go with it. My next call was to Rob Leahy of Simply Rugged Holsters. For those who may not know, Rob is one of the greatest to ever cut beef hide and turn it into a useful piece of equipment you can literally bet your life on.
Now, let us be realistic. While not my preferred choice for self-defense, the Luger makes a fantastic field sidearm for driven hunts where I frequently have to give a finishing shot to a wounded boar. I found a photo of a vintage Luger holster in an SD Myers catalog from 1930. I sent Rob a picture of the holster and he recreated it. Now I have my pre-war field rig for the driven hunts.
In the Hand
I find it very hard to put into words what makes shooting a Luger such an amazing experience. For starters, the trigger is admittedly pretty awful. While the trigger does break cleanly, there is considerable take-up that culminates in a tactile feeling that can best be described as squeezing a sponge. The sights are inverted triangle style military sights. While not impossible to see, let’s just say I hope I don’t need to present a sight picture in a hurry.
However, what this gun lacks in the sight and trigger department, it makes up for in other aspects. It may sound cliche, but you have to be there to understand it. This is a gun from another era.
Pulling the unique “toggle action” of the Luger back is an experience. It is a “knee-joint-type” system where you feel the deeply checkered toggles on either end of the bolt dig deep into your fingers. They don’t dig in a bad way, but in a way that makes you fully aware of the checkering. In that moment, you realize some guy over a hundred years ago did that by hand on a bench with a file.
Aligning the sights, you find the very top of the triangle and settle it neatly into the notch on the back of the toggle joint. In the process of pressing the trigger, you keep pressing to the point you start second guessing if you left the safety on until the shot breaks extremely cleanly.
In the midst of the recoil, for just a split second you see the knee action pop up and strip another cartridge off the magazine and into the chamber. It is a very mechanically satisfying experience.
Conclusion
While we may have a plethora of exceptional polymer-framed pistols from which to choose today — and all of which are technically superior in handling and performance — there is just something appealing about this weird old pistol with the drastically raked grip angle.
From its odd toggle joint action to its detailed checkering and exceptional workmanship, at the end of the day, this is a gun that brings me a great deal of joy. I hope all of you find that in a gun of your own, no matter what make or model it may be. For me, it’s this commercial Luger that’s never leaving my collection.
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