1915 DWM LP08 Artillery Luger

Lloyd, Are you rich or insane? Shooting a 1915 Artillery....Well, since you have a lot of money I will make this suggestion; I don't believe you can adjust the sights enough to compensate for a nine inch adjustment at 25 yards. They just won't move that far over. You need a tool to move the sights unless you are quite the machinist. There are two incredibly small pins inserted into a small diameter rod that make this tool. They are fragile too since they are so small and you can easily break the tool by trying to crank over a sight that has come to a stop. They are often seen on eBay or I am sure you can buy one from Ralph, Randy Bessler, or Bob Simpson or maybe Tom Heller.

If you want a good shooter LP-08 you could easily trade for one and have some spare change left over and preserve this fine example for posterity but I am not sure it is wise to run a caseload of ammunition through that 1915 pistol. It's a purty one! Hate to see it broken...Jerry Burney

lugerholsterrepair

"For those who Fight For It, Life has a flavor the protected will never know."

Windage adjustment can only be made with the front sight. The rear sight adjustment is for fine tuning elevation only. Jerry (lugerholsterrepair) is correct that it is easy to break an adjustment tool since the pins are so small. That, and the fact that the front sight may have been happily sitting in its present position for most of a century and may be reluctant to budge.
Looking at your photo of the front sight, it is apparent that someone has adjusted, or attempted to adjust, the front sight at some time. The small holes are a little burred and out of round. That could be why it is off so much at 25 yards. If you must shoot it and really want to adjust the sight, you need to get a sight adjustment tool to preclude further injury to the adjustment screw. I would also recommend soaking the screw and front sight with oil for several days before attempting any adjustment to break up any accumulated oxidation and crud. Make sure the gun is well secured from moving around and the barrel is lying on a firm surface. Apply firm downward pressure on the tool to preclude slipping out of the holes. If you cannot turn the adjustment screw in either direction with reasonable force, I would recommend giving up the attempt and leave this nice weapon as is. But in the final analysis, it is your gun and you can do with it whatever pleases you.

One additional thought that may sound a little goofy. If perchance it is also shooting a bit low, by elevating the rear sight with the slider, it will also move the impact point to the left. This is because there is a built in adjustment of the rear sight that cams it off to the left as it is elevated. This is done to offset the drift of the bullet at longer ranges due to the right-hand twist of the bore. I don't know if you can move it enough to bring the windage back to center without having to hold too much Kentucky elevation to compensate.

If it is made after 1918...it is a reproduction.

Bob, You may be right..The rear sight may be able to be drifted over. I have two Artillery's but have never really looked closely at the rear sight and how it is affixed. This is a possible remedy.

As far as shooting your valuble collector pieces, go right ahead. Smoke em if you got em... I have many I shoot and many I do not. I am a collector and a shooter but an investor as well. I see no reason to risk a valuble historical artifact when I have one just like it that is a shooter and if a part breaks I won't be out a thousand bucks. Money comes more easily to others perhaps but I work hard for mine and it's not just the money. I feel we all have some responsibility towards preserving these rare pistols. I am not saying don't ever shoot them, I am saying we should be careful to preserve what little is left. They are disapearing at an alarming rate. Pieced out and sold on eBay. When one gets hold of an Imperial 1st issue altered or a 1915 Artillery is it prudent to go out to the range and blast away a couple hundred rounds? Like I say, you own it but in my opinion it is a poor choice of preservation. But that's just me. Jerry Burney

lugerholsterrepair

"For those who Fight For It, Life has a flavor the protected will never know."

Michael, I understand the wanting to shoot every gun you own, but it might not be the smartest thing to do with all of your guns?

A $1,500 85% Artillery, you break the breechblock or another major numbered part, doesn't this knock about $800 off of its value?

I have some Lugers I shoot and several "collector" guns that I simply can't afford to have broken or damaged. Money isn't the main reason I collect guns and specifically lugers, but to have a Weimar Police Luger worth $1,000 of hard earned money, and break a numbered part, well when it comes to re-sale, it is worth half the value to the vast majority of collectors in the USA.

quote:Any wear that it incurs in your custody will become part of its history.

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I have a really nice, original 1914, police, and if I carried it in a holster and shot it, it would develop a lot of wear over time, I know because I have a 1914 Artillery reblue, and it has honest wear from me using it over the years. When I bought it in the early 1980's, it was brand-new looking and over the years, use has made the wear normally, wear away. So, if it had been a pristine 96% gun, it now would be a 93%, I would have lost a lot of the value of the gun.

And Michael, I would take an honest original condition gun with history, any day over a desk drawered condition gun that sat its way through the war on the shelf or in the drawer.

Ed

Thanks to Ed for a thoughtful response. My choice in this matter is to avoid the one-off items, be they so designated in virtue of their rarity or their provenance. This means that, regardless of the hoped for growth of my collecting budget, I will never own an original .45 Luger, nor Papa's favorite twelve-gauge Boss shotgun; neither, for that matter, Paul Smart's 750 Ducati, nor a Group IV Maserati Bora. But a well-made centerfire pistol is well nigh impossible to wear out with a conscientious feeding of non-corrosive ammunition. As for disintegrating P08 breechblocks, that is something I hear about a lot more than I witness. Should it come to pass, my concern for the integrity of my body (and those of innocent bystanders) would by far trump any worries about diminishing collector value. Even so, all major replacement parts are available either as originals, or as modern replicas of at least equal quality. I would regard a breakage of this sort as a welcome opportunity to rebuild the gun to original specification.

cordially, -- Mikhail [email protected]
7576 Willow Glen Rd, Hollywood, CA 90046 323-876-8234 323-363-1860
All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
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