[Whale]

Just got myself a .30 cal. Luger. I would like to know the year it was manufactured and, if possible, it's worth.

Again, it's a .30 cal. Serial number is 3843. There is a letter that looks like an "l" (the way 1st graders are tought to wright it) under the serial number. Straw intact. Numbers are on the frame, barrel, rear of the toggle, sideplate(not on the front, but on the bottom of it), takedown lever (also, on the bottom), trigger. Following parts have no numbers (does not look like they were ground off): sear, extractor, safety, front of the toggle, toggle pin, slide stop, magazine.

The gun has original blueing at, I estimate, 85-90% with some discoloration on the portion of front strap (1 inch by a quater inch) and right side of the frame (small areas). No pitting, great bore, sharp edges. Original grips. Crown and "N" proofmarks on the barrel, frame and toggle. Extractor marked with "Geladen" and frame (by the safety lever) with "Gesichert".

Wooden bottomed magazine. The bottom marked with the word "Germany" in english.

And, there is another "Germany" mark on the rear portion of the frame by the toggle pin.

I'd really appreciate any help with IDing this gun. Thanks in advance.

Eugene.



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[Olefogey]

Eugene,
From your description, it appears you have a 1920 commercial Luger that was made for export. This is indicated by the GERMANY stamps on the frame and magazine. Commercial Lugers were not numbered on the magazine. Value is in the $500 -$700 range. It appears that they are not quite as desireable as a Military issue model. However, if you are going to collect Lugers it is nice to have a representative piece. Ammo is also a little scarce. Good luck with this nice piece and welcome to the forum!!!


Dave

 

[Whale]

Thanks a lot. About the ammo - I just came across some Finnish made .30 Luger for $17 per 50. I suppose, I'll grab it and see how it shoots.

I also have an S/42 piece, but it's not nearly in a shape this one is.

 

[Olefogey]

Eugene,
The Finnish stuff is made by Lapua in the 80's. It shoots great, but if you are a reloader it is berdan primed!!

Dave

 

[Whale]

I probably will reload this round in the future. I just can't wait 'till Ammoman will get their Fiocchi lot replentished.

 

[Edward Tinker]

You can buy 30 luger from Sportsman something or rather, I just bought 100 rounds a month ago.

Ed

 

[Whale]

Sportsman's Guide? I just ordered that Finnish Lapua ammo from them.

 

[Whale]

O, another question: Is it normal that my gun doen't have ser. numbers on the safety, sear, upper receiver, holdopen and front toggle?

 

[Edward Tinker]

commerical guns are not marked like military ones, commercial do not have obvious markings.

Ed

 

[Whale]

Thanks.

 

[Whale]

Just added couple of photos. Any additional opinions about the worth of the gun are welcome.

 

[Guest]

I just ordered some .30 cal luger ammo from a place called the Old Southwestern Scrounger. 1-800-UPS-AMMO I have not fired it yet so I don't know how it is primed, but it is new ammo. I believe it is made by Fiochi or something like that. I'll look at the box when I get home for more information.

Corey

 

[Whale]

How much was it per box? And, do they have a website?

 

[Guest_V]

Fiocchi works OK in the .30 Luger. Reloading needs a bit more care as the cases are very soft and crush easily at the shoulder. The .30 Luger takes quite a high load. I use 4.0 - 4.2 grains of Bullseye with a 75 grain, full jacket PMP bullet (as it has a crimp mark). The original bullet was 93 gr. FMJ that got up to 400 m/s (1250 fps). Another problem is keeping the length of the cartridge down. A bit over 29 mm works OK. Anything over 30mm tends to cause an occasional stoppage. Penetrating power is much higher than a .45 ACP and even higher than 9mm Para which brings it up to date with all the other smaller cal. military rounds . I haven´t been able to find a 6g (93 grain) .30 (7.86mm) FMJ bullet - am still experimenting.

 

[Guest]

Greetings all,

This will probally make some of you cringe at first. However, it works well. I cast my own bullets for the .30 luger, If I wish a 93 gr bullet I use wheel weights, if I want lighter I use alloy mixes and can drop it by 10-15 grs. depending on how hard I wish to make it. Now here come the fun part. We all know how much of a pain in the rump and wallet is in finding .30 luger ammo. I came up with a viable solution. First you must realize that head spacing on the .30 luger is done via the bottleneck shoulder on the case and not the case overall length. If you look at a 9MM case specks you will see that they are within .001 of each other. I ran 9mm through a .30 luger sizing die. seated the bullets to a COL of 1.120 I also used 4 grns of bullseye powder with a 93 grn lead bullet. The case neck length is shorter, extremly shorter, just enough to hold the beullet. However by keeping the bullet out to length you will have enough to hold it in place. I just got back from target shooting about an hr ago with this round. I saw no sign of any over pressure. I get my 9mm brass from the police range for free. So with the cost of my own cast bullets, primer and powder. I can make and reload plinking ammo for about $1.25 for 50 rds. It is important to remember that as long as you have the overall length close, the RD. will not erode the throat by jumping into the throat. I examined many of the emties after firing them. They look good. I am not going to worry about picking them up and using them again due to the cost of the brass I have and get. Picking it up for free. So for you folks that want to BLAST me for trying this, go for it! It is my way to shoot .30 luger cheaply.

5.56

 

[Guest_V]

5.56,

Thanx for the good idea-especially with the bullets.Quite by chance, I put a 9mm para case thru the .30 sizer yesterday. The case neck is not quite 1mm. I realize that it would just about hold a round but you´d have to be careful transporting the finished product. How does the barrel react to lead fouling? Rick Wagner seems to have an even better solution re-chambering .30 cal.

 

[Guest]

Patrick,
I use lee's liquid alox on the bullets. As long as they are lubed well the leading is minimal. The bullets I size and tumble lube using a very in-expensive lee sizer. Being able to shoot the old friend again without paying through the nose for the ammo is worth soaking the bble in the solvent tank once in awhile. I got my luger as a gift for my 18th birthday. That was 32 yrs ago. I now can aford to shoot it again! The bullet mold I got from lee is a 2 cavity mold. Cost here was about $18.00 U.S. Midway.com is where to locate casting supplies reasonably priced.

5.56

 

[Guest]

Patrick,
The only downside I see to this load is this. If you shoot a .357 magnum revolver with the shorter 38 speacial rounds or a .22 rimfire with shorts or longs instead of long rifle rds. You will get a powder bulid up that will need to be cleaned prior to shooting the full length cased ammunition. I would imagine the same thing will apply to the .30 luger made from 9mm para. Since it is shorter case, it will create a powder reszidue ring. It will not matter when you continue shooting the converted 9mm rounds. But it will need to be cleaned to switch back to the normal .30 luger rds. Myself, it is not going to create a problem since I plan on shooting the converted 9mm's and cleaning the luger well by soaking the bble in the solvent tank.

5.56

 

[Guest_V]

5.56-I´ll give it a go-first of all with the .30 PMP bullets I´ve got. I always wanted to get started casting my own.