I recently bought a Stoeger Luger .22LR from a fellow CGN'r. It looked interesting and the price was right, so I pounced. While waiting for it to arrive, I read any reviews or articles I could find on them. Some people said they were well built and reliable, while others called them outright junk. So now, with a little background info, I proceeded to impatiently wait to try it out, so I could form my own opinion.
First off, I have to mention what a pleasant surprise I got when I opened the box to find this massive piece of equipment in front of me! I am used to .22 pistols being scaled down, or downright dinky in some cases (Walther P22 for example). So, I was pleased to find the Stoeger Luger wasn't scaled down at all, but a full sized pistol! Overall length is 10 1/4", the grips measure 4 1/2" long and the circumference around the grips is 5". The pistol's frame is machined from forged aluminum, and a solid steel, hammer rifled barrel is pressed and pinned in place. It has no plastic parts internally, and all moving parts are steel on steel, with the exception of the magazine follower. Unfortunately, I have no scale to weigh the gun, but the Luger definitely has a nice heft to it. It has a solid feel, is well balanced and heavy enough so there is no mistaking... you have a real gun in your hand.
Now, the Stoeger Luger, manufactured between 1969 and 1986, is by no means a duplicate of the original Luger. It is in fact, more of an homage to the original, with the toggle function of the bolt and the overall "silhouette" being the only real similarities. According to Stoeger, they redesigned the gun to eliminate many of the operational faults and reliability issues of the original. The Erma Luger .22LR pistol much more closely resembles the Old WWI, WWII Lugers we have all seen in movies, and some of you are lucky enough to own. Stoeger can rightfully call it a Luger because they bought the name. My research (for what its worth) shows the Stoeger to be more reliable than the Erma, at least according to people who claimed to have used both pistols. As one person who owns/owned several of both said "One buys the Erma to look at, and the Stoeger to shoot."
The model I have acquired is one of the more rare versions, with the 5 1/2" barrel and adjustable rear target sight. Stoeger just machined off the fixed rear sight, and pinned a small steel box containing the rear sight assembly to the rear of the frame. Overall, it looks cool and adds to the intimidating appearance of the gun.
Even though the gun is large dimensionally, it fits my hand very well, I have smaller hands (well shorter fingers really) for your comparisons sake, I find a 1911 to be a little bit on the big side. The CZ 75B and Jericho 941 fit me like a glove, while the minuscule Walther P22 seems to get lost in my grip.
The Luger's trigger is well within reach, the safety is easily operated, not with the end of the thumb, but rather the first thumb knuckle if you will. The magazine release is a bit of a hassle, being too far forward and not high enough out of the frame to be easily accessible, but the mag drops free and clear when the button is depressed with my off hand. Even my wife can reach the controls comfortably, but with it's long wooden grips, and cut checkering, even a large handed shooter should be comfortable with it.
On to operational aspects.
I'll start with the trigger, the Stoeger Luger is definitely in the top 3 of the best trigger pulls I have ever felt in a pistol. I have owned more than 2 dozen handguns and fired many more. The Luger does have the slightest bit of creep, but has a very short overall travel, it breaks like glass and the pull is 3.5 lbs at most. Very impressive.
The Magazine is super easy to load, which is a nice change for a rimfire. It has a steel body with a circular plastic butt plate that adds to that "Luger look". The only issue is It doesn't always lock the bolt back by manually operating the toggle with an empty mag inserted. However, it always locks back properly when firing the last shot. I am contributing this to a weak magazine spring, as the side button on the mag (the one you use your thumb to push down on to load the mag) doesn't quite have enough jam to lift the slide stop unless you tap on it a bit. Otherwise, it works great, so I will leave that alone for now.
Function, was not 100% when it arrived, as was kindly disclosed by the previous owner "It has a tendency to be a jam-o-matic with standard rounds", or something to that effect. I quickly discovered what he meant, not really a jam, but stove pipes, at least 1 per mag, it could not throw brass far enough away from the big toggle bolt on top to clear the mechanism very well. If you couple that with one of the fastest actions I have ever seen in a handgun, it is a recipe for the classic stove pipe syndrome.
So, downloaded Owners manual in hand I proceeded to strip and clean the pistol, which at first looked as though it would be a daunting task. It was however, a fairly easy process, not as easy and my old Sig Mosquito, but not as difficult as a Ruger Mark II for example.
Once apart, cleanup is a breeze, I re-assembled the Luger finding nothing wrong other than a little to much oil and powder residue. Still determined to find a cause of the stove pipes, I sat staring at the open action, going through the function in my mind. "It is a very simple system" I thought, "so, if it is not ejecting well, look at the ejector". So I did, the ejector is a small stamped steel piece that protrudes from the bottom left of the bolt visible with the action open, it was very sharp at the end. I filed it slightly to blunt the sharp edge, although it looked as though the edge was not really meant to contact the spent brass, I tried it anyway. Test fire, no joy. Back to the drawing board.
This time I looked at it from a few different angles and saw it looked as though it was not in line with the magazine lip at the tip, even though they were in line at the other end. "Is that sucker bent?" I said. Yep, it was, a slight tweak with a small screw driver and everything lined up as I thought it should, then off to the range I went.
Now the fun part... This thing is a rocket sled on rails!!! LOL
The ejector tweak was 400 rounds ago with not a malfunction since! I am using cheap federal ammo, and Winchester 333s with great success and big smiles
Accuracy, is up there with my Astra TS-22 and my Mark II target bull barrel for sure. but she really shines with the double taps and rapid fire. Even firing as fast as I can pull the trigger, this baby can hold a 4-5" group at 15 yards! Much tighter groups under regular rate of fire of course.
What a rush, the wide open toggle bolt system up top makes this little .22 sound like a freakin' AK! AWESOME! I just wish it had a higher magazine capacity than 10 shots (and they were legal), and I had a truck load of free ammo to burn through, what a great time. I already have a second magazine coming, I can hardly wait for it to arrive.
All in all, it is a great gun and I am really enjoying it. The Luger is a classy and unique piece, too bad they are no longer in production, but, apparently they were too expensive to manufacture and sell at a reasonable profit margin. Overall rating... 9 out of 10
Pros:
Fast, smooth and reliable action
Beautiful trigger
The size fits me perfectly
I don't have to worry about anyone at the range having the same gun as me
Looks awesome and she is a real attention getter
Cons:
It may be tough to get parts if I ever need them
slide lock only works for last shot hold open (for now)
Magazine release not easily accessible
Feel free to chime in and let me know what you think. Also, how many others here own one?
First off, I have to mention what a pleasant surprise I got when I opened the box to find this massive piece of equipment in front of me! I am used to .22 pistols being scaled down, or downright dinky in some cases (Walther P22 for example). So, I was pleased to find the Stoeger Luger wasn't scaled down at all, but a full sized pistol! Overall length is 10 1/4", the grips measure 4 1/2" long and the circumference around the grips is 5". The pistol's frame is machined from forged aluminum, and a solid steel, hammer rifled barrel is pressed and pinned in place. It has no plastic parts internally, and all moving parts are steel on steel, with the exception of the magazine follower. Unfortunately, I have no scale to weigh the gun, but the Luger definitely has a nice heft to it. It has a solid feel, is well balanced and heavy enough so there is no mistaking... you have a real gun in your hand.
Now, the Stoeger Luger, manufactured between 1969 and 1986, is by no means a duplicate of the original Luger. It is in fact, more of an homage to the original, with the toggle function of the bolt and the overall "silhouette" being the only real similarities. According to Stoeger, they redesigned the gun to eliminate many of the operational faults and reliability issues of the original. The Erma Luger .22LR pistol much more closely resembles the Old WWI, WWII Lugers we have all seen in movies, and some of you are lucky enough to own. Stoeger can rightfully call it a Luger because they bought the name. My research (for what its worth) shows the Stoeger to be more reliable than the Erma, at least according to people who claimed to have used both pistols. As one person who owns/owned several of both said "One buys the Erma to look at, and the Stoeger to shoot."
The model I have acquired is one of the more rare versions, with the 5 1/2" barrel and adjustable rear target sight. Stoeger just machined off the fixed rear sight, and pinned a small steel box containing the rear sight assembly to the rear of the frame. Overall, it looks cool and adds to the intimidating appearance of the gun.
Even though the gun is large dimensionally, it fits my hand very well, I have smaller hands (well shorter fingers really) for your comparisons sake, I find a 1911 to be a little bit on the big side. The CZ 75B and Jericho 941 fit me like a glove, while the minuscule Walther P22 seems to get lost in my grip.
The Luger's trigger is well within reach, the safety is easily operated, not with the end of the thumb, but rather the first thumb knuckle if you will. The magazine release is a bit of a hassle, being too far forward and not high enough out of the frame to be easily accessible, but the mag drops free and clear when the button is depressed with my off hand. Even my wife can reach the controls comfortably, but with it's long wooden grips, and cut checkering, even a large handed shooter should be comfortable with it.
On to operational aspects.
I'll start with the trigger, the Stoeger Luger is definitely in the top 3 of the best trigger pulls I have ever felt in a pistol. I have owned more than 2 dozen handguns and fired many more. The Luger does have the slightest bit of creep, but has a very short overall travel, it breaks like glass and the pull is 3.5 lbs at most. Very impressive.
The Magazine is super easy to load, which is a nice change for a rimfire. It has a steel body with a circular plastic butt plate that adds to that "Luger look". The only issue is It doesn't always lock the bolt back by manually operating the toggle with an empty mag inserted. However, it always locks back properly when firing the last shot. I am contributing this to a weak magazine spring, as the side button on the mag (the one you use your thumb to push down on to load the mag) doesn't quite have enough jam to lift the slide stop unless you tap on it a bit. Otherwise, it works great, so I will leave that alone for now.
Function, was not 100% when it arrived, as was kindly disclosed by the previous owner "It has a tendency to be a jam-o-matic with standard rounds", or something to that effect. I quickly discovered what he meant, not really a jam, but stove pipes, at least 1 per mag, it could not throw brass far enough away from the big toggle bolt on top to clear the mechanism very well. If you couple that with one of the fastest actions I have ever seen in a handgun, it is a recipe for the classic stove pipe syndrome.
So, downloaded Owners manual in hand I proceeded to strip and clean the pistol, which at first looked as though it would be a daunting task. It was however, a fairly easy process, not as easy and my old Sig Mosquito, but not as difficult as a Ruger Mark II for example.
Once apart, cleanup is a breeze, I re-assembled the Luger finding nothing wrong other than a little to much oil and powder residue. Still determined to find a cause of the stove pipes, I sat staring at the open action, going through the function in my mind. "It is a very simple system" I thought, "so, if it is not ejecting well, look at the ejector". So I did, the ejector is a small stamped steel piece that protrudes from the bottom left of the bolt visible with the action open, it was very sharp at the end. I filed it slightly to blunt the sharp edge, although it looked as though the edge was not really meant to contact the spent brass, I tried it anyway. Test fire, no joy. Back to the drawing board.
This time I looked at it from a few different angles and saw it looked as though it was not in line with the magazine lip at the tip, even though they were in line at the other end. "Is that sucker bent?" I said. Yep, it was, a slight tweak with a small screw driver and everything lined up as I thought it should, then off to the range I went.
Now the fun part... This thing is a rocket sled on rails!!! LOL
The ejector tweak was 400 rounds ago with not a malfunction since! I am using cheap federal ammo, and Winchester 333s with great success and big smiles
Accuracy, is up there with my Astra TS-22 and my Mark II target bull barrel for sure. but she really shines with the double taps and rapid fire. Even firing as fast as I can pull the trigger, this baby can hold a 4-5" group at 15 yards! Much tighter groups under regular rate of fire of course.
What a rush, the wide open toggle bolt system up top makes this little .22 sound like a freakin' AK! AWESOME! I just wish it had a higher magazine capacity than 10 shots (and they were legal), and I had a truck load of free ammo to burn through, what a great time. I already have a second magazine coming, I can hardly wait for it to arrive.
All in all, it is a great gun and I am really enjoying it. The Luger is a classy and unique piece, too bad they are no longer in production, but, apparently they were too expensive to manufacture and sell at a reasonable profit margin. Overall rating... 9 out of 10
Pros:
Fast, smooth and reliable action
Beautiful trigger
The size fits me perfectly
I don't have to worry about anyone at the range having the same gun as me
Looks awesome and she is a real attention getter
Cons:
It may be tough to get parts if I ever need them
slide lock only works for last shot hold open (for now)
Magazine release not easily accessible
Feel free to chime in and let me know what you think. Also, how many others here own one?
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