[Guest]

Hi. I have an old luger, .30 cal model. Made by DWM.

It has wooden grips, and is in pretty decent shape. Shoots like a dream. Blueing is not scratched anywhere, but has some wear on the raised areas. It is engraved with an "N" with a small crown on the body, just behind the barrel on the same side as the safety lever. The same "N" is on the barrel above the serial#. There is also a small "omega" type of symbol just below the serial on both the body and the barrel. The numbers all appear to match where I have located them.

It has "germany" engraved on the body just above the serial. Also has "GESICHERT" engraved under the safety lever.

I have looked a lot of other pics posted online, and though the numbers appear to all match on mine, it does NOT have any numbers on the top (looking from above), nor on either side. Just on the front above the trigger, the barrel and two fo the last two digits only beside the trigger from below and on the takedown lever.

Serial is 43xx "O" (I am guessing here - the mark looks like a stylized O, located just below the serial number and above the trigger guard. See omega comment above)

Grips are wooden, good checkering. Could use a cleaning, but otherwise nice. I have the original magazine as well as a repro I use for actual shooting (I don't shoot it often, probably 30 rounds in the last 5 years.)

The gun was obtained by my father in North Africa during WWII. He traded for some smokes to a marine who indicated he had taken the gun from a Nazi prisoner.

I do not have the original holster, but rather a nice leather #14 holster made by George Lawrence in Portland Oregon.

I have attached a pic.

I am wondering if this is of great value which I should not be shooting, or rather a gun more of a "shooter" nature. I am not looking for an appraisal per se, but if you could give me any idea what I have and what it might be worth, I would certainly appreciate it. Anything you might be able to tell me about the origin would also be of great interest.

Ther is a pic located at http://s93795793.onlinehome.us/magna/luger.JPG Sorry the pic is so big, but I wanted to include as much clarity as I could.


Thank you.

Gary Bashor
Washington State

 

[Olefogey]

Gary,
What you have is a nice 1920 Commercial Luger in .30 cal. The word Germany indicates that it was made for export and If you can believe the story, may have been pressed into service. While not as desireable as a WWI or II manufactured piece, it is worth in the $500 to $700 range (others will differ with me), and if you have a source for the ammo, is a good shooter and a representative piece!!! Hope this helps.

Dave

 

[taudelt]

Gary..... I would agree with what Dave just posted. I have heard the story often enough over the years from Vets who brought back "Germany" stamped .30 Lugers to accept the possibility that guns that perhaps were meant for export never left Germany. I would also agree with the $$$$ that Dave mentioned.

 

[Guest]

Well - since my father was the one who told me the history, and he was a WWII Vet from North Africa, I think I can place at least some stock in the legitimacyof his story. How the Marine got it may be less verifiable, but I can safely assume he got it in North Africa during his tour there.

If what I am hearing is accurate, mine would be more of nice quality shooter as opposed to a retirement account . Kinda glad, cuz it is a blast to shoot.

I have located the ammo pretty reasonably priced from a company called the Sportsman's Guide (http://www.sportsmansguide.com/). The .30 cal is apparently manufactured in Finland. I have ordered some and will post after examining the quality. I have been able to buy shells in most gun shops, but the price tends to be rather high.

 

[Guest]

BTW - Thank you both for the info!

 

[Edward Tinker]

Gary, I bought some of this same ammo from them, have not shot it yet! But service was fast, I got it in under a week.

Ed

 

[Guest_V]

This would be LAPUA .30 Luger ammunition. Is it new or old stock? It´s no longer available in Europe and I was told that they stopped production some time ago. As Lapua was by far the best quality Luger ammunition, it would be good to hear that they´ve run a new production batch. If not, I´d advise purchasing as much as possible for the future.

 

[Guest]

From the looks of the packaging (plastic) it looks pretty new. Casings look to be new also. I got 250 rounds for approx $81.00. It is from the Lapua cartridge factory, but there is no date of manufacture that I can find.

Given you post, I may get some additional.....

Check them out:

http://s93795793.onlinehome.us/magna/lupua1.JPG

http://s93795793.onlinehome.us/magna/lupua2.JPG

The actual rounds are stamped as "LAPUA 7.65 MM PARAB"

 

[Olefogey]

The LAPUA .30 Luger ammo is great shooting ammo, but, If you are a reloader, this is berdan primed ammo. BTW it was manufactured in the 80's.

Dave

 

[Richard C]

Gary,
The frame on your 1920 looks like one of the older long frame types which have a larger radius on the front than later guns. Odd. I think it was Jones that remarked anything is possible in 1920s. Best, Dick

 

[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]

Well - though not as cheap as the above, the Lupua ammo is still available at the following site: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=97228

A quote from the page is as follows:

Stock up on .30 Luger Ammo... PRICED LOW!

Click image to enlarge...
All the way from Finland to you! 93 grain, manufactured in the 80s by Finnish supplier Lapua, no doubt while Duran Duran blared over the factory radio. It's non-corrosive and Berdan-primed, with full metal jacket. Muzzle Velocity: approx. 1,115 F.P.S.; Muzzle Energy: approx. 275 ft.-lbs.

Enjoy

 

[taudelt]

Gary.....I guess this might confirm what I thought back on 2/25/05.
http://www.gunboards.com/luger/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6108