Shooting a 1917 Artillery Luger Range report.

Skinny 1950

Skinny 1950

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For some reason I felt that I must have a Luger and when one came up for sale which was not prohibited and was not altered to make it "Restricted" I went for it.
This gun has been restored meaning that the original rust and pitting has been removed and a better finish applied. It looks a lot better than it did but it is no longer a collector piece and so must be shot. The working parts of this gun show no signs of rust or pitting and for war time production it is incredible how well made this thing is.
It is cold,wet and miserable at the range but I have to try this thing out..the seller had advised to only load 5 rounds in the mag this being a warning that maybe the Luger is not going to be as reliable as say a normal gun.
To be honest going in I had not expected the Luger to be very reliable and I was not disappointed, at least two jams per mag but one mag made it through no problems. Maybe there is some magic ammo out there that will work every time.
Still I think this is a keeper.

 
You can play around with some handloads try a few recipes get bullets that have similar weights to what would of been issued try to match fps to those of issued ammo before all that get some new mags and maybe a new recoil spring. I usually replaces recoil springs in all the used firearms I'd purchase even a whole spring kit if you can find one. Beautiful gun regardless id keep it hope you can get it running right.

And I believe corwin arms has the mags in stock for a responsible price
 
Your piece looks real good. When they say must be shot... It doesn't mean you really have to if you don't want to. You can simply register it a the range once a year. I'm not aware of any known verification to validate if the gun was actually shot during your visit.
 
PerfCenter said:
Your piece looks real good. When they say must be shot... It doesn't mean you really have to if you don't want to. You can simply register it a the range once a year. I'm not aware of any known verification to validate if the gun was actually shot during your visit.
Click to expand...

Um... what? Firstly, No. Nowhere in the rules, laws or regulations does it state you ever have to take any gun to the range at any point in time. Secondly you completely missed what OP said: "it is no longer a collector piece and so must be shot". As in it's a shooter, not a collection piece.

Beautiful gun by the way. I recently rebarreled a Luger myself and I can say that you really have to balance the operating mechanism properly. My first iteration was so heavy the gun would not cycle at all, and thus I had to reduce the weight of the barrel and receiver assembly to get it to work properly. Conversely, loading more powerful rounds offsets the weight and makes a heavy barrel much more reliable. Original Luger Artillery loads were very stout and are likely closer in power to 9mm +P than regular 9mm. Other than anemic north-american spec ammunition often used in Lugers, weak magazine springs also contribute to reduced reliability. Enjoy your gun, they are a great deal of fun.
 
Lugers need powerfull ammo to function properly. 123-125grs bullets @ 1200fps will work fine. I use older Dominion FMJ ammo, you can find these at Shows...
Best magazines are the late WWII ones, the so-called FXO or 122 code extruded types. They even work better than modern repros...
Mk
 
I got a spare magazine from Corwin Arms...great service, anywho it binds up in the last inch or so very tight.
Do I start pounding on it to make it fit??? The metal is thin so I cant see taking too much off using a file as a solution.
It would be nice to get this mag to work as it cost $60+ and the ones I saw at the gun show were $125.00+.
 
I found that if I load my ammo with a slightly longer OAL they function through the mag flawlessly. I will measure them and report back later.

Sammi OAL spec for 9mm Luger is Min 1.000 to Max 1.169
I found that shorter 9mm round nose tends to grab on the front of the magazine, causing them bind. So I started to reload to the same length as some original ammo I have for the Luger.

I measured some of the rounds I have
Original WW1 1918 - 1.168 OAL
Original WW2 1944 - 1.164 OAL
If you make them to at least 1.150, they should function ok.

The guys on the Luger forum swear by Winchester White Box although I have never tried it.

IMG_1196.jpg
 
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