By Mike Venturino, American Handgunner
Photos By Yvonne Venturino
All those autoloading pistols generically labeled Lugers make an immense and fascinating subject. They were first introduced circa 1900 as the brainchild primarily of Georg Luger, which makes for some irony. His name was never put on them and there never was a “Luger Factory.” Between 1900 and 1945, they were manufactured by no fewer than seven factories in Germany, Switzerland and of all places — England.
The first caliber was the bottlenecked 7.65mm Parabellum, a Latin term meaning “for war.” Then about 1902 someone figured out blowing the 7.65mm case out straight and fitting a 0.355″ bullet in it was better. This became the 9mm Parabellum. Along about 1907 some Lugers were made in .45 ACP and sent to America for participation in the US Army’s handgun trials. We all know who won the competition.
Lugers were made with a variety of barrel lengths. The most plentiful were Pistole ’08’s with 4″ barrels. Those were standard with the German Army between 1908 and 1938. The German Navy actually adopted Lugers first in 1906 and they chose a 6″ barrel. Those Luger .45’s made as test guns had 5″ barrels. During World War I, there appeared a Luger P’08 variation named the Artillery Model with 8″ barrels. As the name indicates, they were issued to artillery units to use as protection for a cannon’s crew in case of enemy breakthroughs. In actual fact, the P.08 Artillery Model became the first semi-auto “assault” weapon because by 1918 Germany was issuing them in great numbers to Sturmtruppen (Storm Troops).
Most Lugers during this time were built with their grip back straps machined to accept detachable shoulder stocks. Such stocks were standard issue for the artillery models, and the stocks were very rudimentary, simple slabs of wood with a metal fixture for attaching to the Luger. They were lashed to the backs of Artillery Luger holsters. Complete Artillery Luger outfits today run into several thousands of dollars, not to mention being very hard to find complete.
The custom Luger Carbine by Neil Keller (right) with Artillery Luger (middle) and standard P.08 Luger. Their barrel lengths are 16″, 8″ and 4″.
Above: Neil Keller’s custom Luger Carbine shown with Duke’s original Artillery Luger. The Carbine stock is fully contoured unlike the simple wooden “plank” of the Artillery model. Neil said he got his inspiration for working on Lugers from famous Luger gunsmith, John Martz, who passed away two years ago. Below: The Carbine’s forearm attached to the barrel by means of a wedge. Note the sling fixture was also on original Luger carbines.
Luger Carbines
Yet there is another version of Luger far rarer and enormously more expensive. They are the Luger Carbines. According to the Standard Catalog of Luger by Aarron Davis, DWM (Deutsche Waffen & Munitionsfabriken) built about 2,500 Luger carbines in 7.65mm caliber with 11.75″ barrels. Their stocks were not slabs of wood but about 1½” wide with a buttplate. These were the Model 1902. Their rareness is to the extent I’ve only grasped one in over 50 years of gun-handling. According to the above-mentioned book, some other versions of the Luger Carbine were made, but in such small numbers no one knows precisely how many were produced.
Now, I’m happy to say, I’ve been able to even shoot a Luger Carbine — well sort of, because it’s not an original. The American Handgunner editor, Roy, sent me an email saying in short, “Contact gunsmith Neil Keller. He has built up a Luger carbine. If you can talk him into loaning it to you write it up. I warned him not to, but he may do it anyway.”
Mr. Keller showed what Roy may consider bad judgment and indeed loaned me his excellent custom carbine. I’ll readily admit this, too; upon opening the package I actually uttered a “Wow!” Neil’s Luger Carbine is a beautiful recreation of the original German ones, with a little bit of accommodation to modern regulations and convenience. The barrel had to be a full 16″ to comply with today’s laws and the caliber is 9mm instead of 7.65mm.
Neil Keller’s basis for the custom Luger carbine was a P.08 made by DWM.
The buttstock of the Carbine attaches by sliding on from the bottom and is then locked tightly by the lever.
Below: The two cartridges for which most Lugers were chambered regardless of style or vintage: 7.65mm Parabellum and 9mm Parabellum (aka 9mm Luger).
Craftsmanship Excellence
The buttstock and forearm are crafted of elegant American walnut and according to Neil was checkered by Texan Hugh Clark. The 8.5″ long forearm ends with a schnabel, as is typical of so many commercial German sporting firearms. It’s secured to the barrel by a wedge inserted from the left side, which is akin to how stocks are held to muzzleloading rifle barrels. The buttstock attaches to the pistol grip exactly as does my Artillery Luger’s stock. It slides on the Luger backstrap from the bottom and then is locked on by a small lever on the buttstock’s left side.
Neil said he started this project with an ordinary Luger with all matching serial numbers. Normal Luger P.08’s have the rear sight as a notch just to the rear of the toggle. The rear sight on the Luger, which served as the basis of this carbine, was machined away. Instead, an open rear sight was set on the barrel above the chamber the same as with original Luger Carbines. It is adjustable for elevation from 100 to 300 yards. For a front sight, Neil set a dovetail-type blade front on a ramp. It can be drifted laterally for windage zeroing.
All together the entire package makes for an exquisite custom firearm, but I wondered if it shot as good as it looks. Neil gave me permission to try it but warned me he had not actually zeroed it and its trigger perhaps wasn’t up to target quality. First shooting was done at 25 yards and it proved to deliver perfectly adequate accuracy.
I fired a magazine full of Federal Eagle 115 grain FMJ’s into about 2½”. The widest shot was high, was the last, and I called it. Neil also warned me a fairly hot load was going to be necessary to get good functioning and he was exactly correct. I tried one factory load, which was noticeably milder than the Federal rounds, and none would cycle the action. Pretty typical of Luger performance, they seem to usually need full power loads to work correctly.
However, the group fired was a good 6″ low at 25 yards and about 4″ right of my point of aim. I wasn’t about to start beating on this fine creation’s front sight with a brass punch and hammer (I can feel His Editorhip’s glare at the thought) but I did fire away many more 9mm factory rounds just plinking.
For a rear sight, Neil Keller machined this one adjustable to 300 yards.
The custom Luger carbine was fitted with a ramp front sight with a dovetailed blade, which can be moved laterally for windage zeroing.
Duke fired this seven shot group with Federal 115-gr. FMJ factory loads at 25 yards. The flyer at top was the last shot and Duke called it high.
Velocity? — Answered
The afternoon I spent firing Neil’s great Luger Carbine gave me the opportunity to try something interesting. I own a standard P.08 with 4″ barrel dated 1939 and another with an 8″ barrel dated 1917. With this carbine’s 16″ barrel, I could check velocity increases by barrel length.
The mentioned Federal load gave 1,203, 1,305 and 1,392 fps respectively from 4″, 8″ and 16″ barrels. Black Hills 115 grain FMJ factory load gave 1,210, 1,357 and 1,497 fps in the same order of barrel lengths. The extra FPS gained as barrel length was doubled and then doubled again was impressive. A 115 gr. bullet at 1,497 fps is well into .357 Magnum territory!
Surely at this point some of you must be thinking, “What good was a Luger Carbine?” Those really sharp readers are adding, “Especially ones shooting a 7.65mm 93 grain bullet.” I must agree. The seven factories turning out Luger-designed pistols from 1900 to 1945 produced uncountable variations, to the tune of millions. I doubt if even the most knowledgeable experts could give an exact figure. Conversely, according to my admittedly superficial research, only a few thousand Luger Carbines were made. In other words, the demand was never great.
In the case of Neil Keller’s Luger Carbine, it was obviously an exercise in producing something of unusually fine quality. He succeeded. If you ask nicely, I’ll bet he’d build one for you!
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