What made this gun so popular with Allied soilders?
Was it the best pistol in ww2?
Although I haven’t search the whole web, searching, I’ve noticed that for some reason,
regardless of the bad reputation the Nazis gave to Germany, the most or one of the most attractive, sought after, discussed, valued ($) topics, items, posts, etc. are related with WWII Germany; e.g. If you search for Militaria items you’ll notice the German items, uniforms, guns, medals, pictures, documents, badges, etc. are some of the most expensive and desired ones; the forums with the most posts are in relation with WWII Germany.
The Nazis were the bad guys but… Go figure.
This link may help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luger_P08_pistol
aly_j, I think the spelling should be Luger instead of Leuger.
As far as as a military pistol goes, the P.08 Luger and other varients is a pretty poor design. It was expensive to manufacture, un-relaible and prone accidental discharge.
The main reason for its up-take by so many armies of the time was because there were so few other automatic designs available. But by the time WWII rolled round it was truely obsolete and on its way out.
The reason they were a popular souniver amongst allied soldiers was because of their mystique, and cosmetic appeal. They were a trophy to be taken home as a momento of the war, not a weapon to be used against its former owners.
Even today this holds true; the Luger is an iconic gun and has a value that is disproportunate to the number that were produced.
I did have luger but got second opinion of some one else and told me to spell it leuger.I cant win.:roll:
Luger was wery comfortable, easy to aim, and compare to, for example french, spanish, and english service pistols relativlely poverful pistol. Its design made him an icon, comparing it vith Colt Gowerment (also superb pistol) is like compareing Ferari vith dump Truck
It was also extremely unreliable in things actually resembling field conditions…
I think that you will find that the British .455 revolver cartridge trumps 9 mm Para… the original chambering of .380/200 probably trumps it as well.
German Luger 9mm Service Pistol (Mauser): The P-08 (Luger) was the primary German military service pistol throughout WW I and a supplemental service pistol during WW II. This Luger was manufactured in 1937. Many thousands were made between 1908 and the early 1940s. Lugers were made by several contractors, each with their own codes or markings. The example is marked s/42 on the toggle which indicates it was manufactured by Mauser. The example bears Nazi eagle acceptance markings, which indicates issue and service during WW II…
The Luger was named the Luger because that was the name of the designer…and in case you have wondered…Mercedes Benz…is named after Mr.Benz’s daughter, who had the name Mercedes…isn’t that touching
Whats giong on here.
Why do i have too completely different answers.
You guys are confussing some times;)
Aly J…to unconfuse you, just remember one thing about the Leuger…IT SUCKED!
British .455 revolver cartridge energy- 301 Joules
380/200 energy- 279 Joules
9x19mm Parabellum- 442 Joules minimum
7.65x22mm Parabellum 400 Joules
If that you cal trumping. Fact is that britan had some weakest pistol rounds douring WW tvo
Maybe you should go back to school and learn to read and write. Sorry if that sounds harsh but really there is no confussion at all.
What I said was that the Luger is poor military weapon because:
- it’s expensive to manufacture
- unreliable in the conditions it’s ment to be used (ie the battlefield)
- prone to firing when you don’t want it to.
What Rytis said is that the Luger is:
- Comfortable to hold
- Easy to aim
- Fires powerful ammunition (I beg to differ on this but its mostly irrelevent anyway).
Rytis then makes the nice analogy with the Ferrari and the dumptruck. Which supports what we both say, the Farrari is a finely tuned precision machine that looks nice and is a pleasure to drive under optimal conditions. But as soon as it hits the dirt it stops. The dump truck may be un-impressive to eye, unpleasent to drive but it keeps going no matter the road conditions.
(Btw Rytis you’re wrong on the 1911A1, very wrong. The very fact that the design is still going strong and has a very active following amongst the target shooting community (look up STIs sometime) is proof of this. Lugers on the other hand are now an antique from the past).
In USA thei stil make new Lugers (or made wel into nineties), in Germany the original manufacturer DWM also made Lugers in recent days. Thei were a real weapons, not the worthles replicas.
Colt Gowerment is my faworite pistol of them all, (I wrote that it is is Superb) I hold it in my hand once, and it felt superbly comfortable. I compare it with dump truck, because is ruged reliable and extreamly poverful.
Colts reliabilyti proves fact, that tehere is a lots of copies made vorldvide.
Muzzle energy is not actually terribly relevant when discussing effectiveness. Tomes have been written on the subject, and it turns out that cross-sectional area and projectile design are the most important factors .
It turns out that the heavy and slow .455 is battle proven as a much better man-stopper than 9 x 19, which tends to over penetrate and not dump its momentum into the target. This was even more true during the First World War, when .455 bullets were cast from soft lead. By the second war this was considered “not cricket”.
Correct. The Luger may have been a nice weapon for an (indoor) range or in a holster for a Wehrmacht officer on occupation duty in Paris. But there’s a reason why the Heer phased them out in favor for the Walther P-38.
And incidentally, perhaps some do not realize that one of the Colt1911 .45’s primary competitor was indeed a Luger in the caliber of .45 for the US Army service pistol. The Luger’s dismal realistically in dust and mud made it complete inappropriate for anything other than garrison occupation duty by older officers, which was probably the extent of their service in WWII.
I wonder if Adolf Hitler carried a luger?..I can’t really say I have seen a picture of him holding a weapon.?Experts pls?
The reason why some American soldiers (as shown in the Luger “incident” in “Band of Brothers”) held a fascination with “the infamous Luger” was because of its high tech, ‘ray-gun’ like appearance that would have been used as the basis for sidearms in some science fiction serials, or film shorts, during the period. (When I was a kid, a next door neighbor actually had a toy Luger/ray gun that was dated from the 1930s) And the fact that they didn’t know that the Luger had mostly been phased out in favor of the more reliable Walther P-38. It would have made a nice trophy, but for an actual sidearm, most GIs with any sense would have preferred a .45, a .38 police revolver, or the Walther…
I think he owned a Walther PPK (James Bond’s original gun), I have no idea beyond that…
Actually theres nothing wrong with my reading and writing.
Whats the point of having a gun that can fire powerful ammunition,when its prone to go off at any time and when you dont want it to, and its unreiable in some conditions. Think before you wright.
Cheers
Prone to go of easily vas lugers, that vere manufaktured not in DWM, but in other factories, that can not ahieve such a high tolerancy betveen parts. Original and well manufactured Luger’s had safety that hold just fine, dont believe anything that you sea on “band of brothers”. Hihgh cost vas main problem on luger, therefore thei vere withdrawn from service.
About british round- what a point to have slow and weak, but big round that can nock the soldier dovn, but can not penetrate tin cans in his backpack. British rounds vas so “good” that SAS used colts or Brovnings HP instead of webley’s, and Enfield’s