P.08 Luger Inspection and Repair

The Luger in this article was produced by Mauser in 1942 as indicated by the "byf" stamped on the toggle and the "42" on the receiver. 1942 was the last year that Mauser produced the Luger for military use. It has a 4" barrel chambered in 9mm and is a serial number matching gun with the exception of the grips and magazine. This example is in very good condition with solid, deep bluing having some minor wear on the front of the frame on both sides, on the trigger plate, and the muzzle.

The rifling is fairly sharp but there is some pitting. The sights are small, the front blade is dovetailed into the base and the rear sight is machined into the rear toggle link. The magazine holds eight rounds and it and the follower are steel with an aluminum baseplate and pull grips. The pull grips are necessary as the mag does not drop free when released. The issue that brought this Luger to me was the receiver would move freely on the frame without resistance (no spring tension).

When the toggle was pulled rearwa rd and released, it would not snap forward as it should. This is typically due to an error in assembly and it occurs when the coupli ng link (25) on the rear toggle link (26) is not correctly positioned in front of the recoil lever (17) and fails to engage the hooks on the recoil lever. Inspection showed that was in fact the issue with this Luger. History The history of the Luger is well documented so I will only touch on a few salient points.

The Luger was invented by Georg Luger in the late 1890s as a significant improvement over the Borchardt C93 which was arguably the first autoloading handgun design and was also the first to use a detachable box magazine. The C93 used a recoil operated toggle mechanism to cycle the action. While the action work ed fine, the pistol was unwieldly, fragile, and was a commercial failure. Luger used the toggle action and detachable magazine as-

Above far Magazine release button (18) is behind the trigger (9). Below far The bottom of the lever in the trigger plate assembly fits into the slot on top of the trigger. As the trigger is pressed rearward, the top of the trigger pivots downward, moving the bottom of the lever downward which causes the top of the lever to press inward on the end of the trigger bar assembly (3), releasing it and the firing pin (24). pects and designed an outstanding handgun, which went into production in 1900.

It aimed and shot well, largely due to the angled grip frame, and was reliable. Millions were manufactured in over 40 years of production for military and commercial use. Another successful autoloading design, the Mauser C96 "Broomhandle", preceded the Luger by a few years. The C96 is another iconic design, while a little ungainly appearing, that was very successful but was produced in smaller quantities.

The Luger was initially chambered Above far The lever pivots on the pin, the top of the lever fits into the slot on the top of the trigger, and the other end releases the trigger bar. Below far in 7.65x21mm Parabellum and in 1908 it was changed to the new 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge also invented by Georg Luger and the cartridge name became forever known as the 9mm Luger. The pistol became the classic P.08 Luger. Later versions of the C96 were chambered in 9mm Luger as well.

Lugers were made by several manufacturers;

Above far Below far The guide rod captures the spring and hooks onto the recoil lever. To disconnect the lever from the rod, a correctly-sized punch is installed in the hole in the bottom of the rod (left end in photo) and spring is compressed by pushing the punch to the right. initially by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionfabriken (DWM), then Mauser, Erfurt Armory, W&F Bern and others. DWM exported over 10,000 "American Eagle" Lugers to the United States between 1902 and 1912.

These had the image of the Great Seal of the United States roll-stamped onto the top of the receiver. World War I naturally put an end to any further imports of the American Eagle Luger. The Luger is an elegant and somewhat complicated design and such designs are often likened to Swiss watches. This may be one of the reasons that the Swiss military was the first adopter of the Luger, buying an initial order of 3,000 guns in 1900.

The Luger saw action in both world wars and is one of the most widely collected firearms in history. Disassembly Make sure the chamber and magazine are empty. Pull back on the toggle and it should lock open on an empty mag. Remove the mag, then pull back and release the toggle; the toggle should snap forward into battery. The easiest way to remove the trigger plate assembly is to place the muzzle on a padded surface and push down on the grip to retract the receiver against the frame.

Rotate the takedown lever (7) 90 degrees and pull the trigger plate assembly (8) from the frame. The trigger plate has a tab on its rear edge that slides into the frame and the tab must be inserted first during reassembly. Release the pressure and the receiver will slide forward off the frame. The coupling link (25) that is pinned to the rear toggle link (26) will slide over the frame when the receiver is pulled forward. With the frame and receiver separated, I inspected the interior of both.

The interior of the gun was spotless. I used a cotton swab to check the various surfaces and found no dirt or debris. This firearm had been thoroughly cleaned at some time and not used much since, possibly due to the assembly Far It must drop down in front of the recoil lever, not over the top of the lever.

Pin is pushed out from right to left, it has a small rim on the left end that fits into the counterbore on the receiver. Leg on toggle pulls firing pin to the rear to cock it when the toggle is cycled. The blade of the ejector (21) that fits through the slot in the receiver is missing. error. I removed the grip panels to check for rust on the frame (did not find any) as it can go unnoticed if the grips are not removed during inspection.

I removed the toggle pin (20) by pulling back on the toggle slightly and pushing the pin from right to left. The left end of the pin has a small rim that fits into a counterbore on the receiver. The toggle and bolt assembly slides out of the receiver. The extractor (35) moved freely, had good spring tension, and a sharp edge.

The extractor also acts as a loaded chamber indicator, protruding slightly above the bolt (31) when around The angled face on the tab in the center, on the blade side, had a small amount of material removed so the ejector would fit properly. is in the chamber. The word "GE- LADEN" is stamped on the left side of the extractor which translates into "loaded". The tip of the firing pin (24) looked fine and the spring (23) had good tension.

Since these parts were clean and functioned properly, I did not disassemble them any further. When I checked the trigger bar assembly (3) and the ejector (21), something didn’t look quite right. It took me a moment and then I realized that the business end of the ejector that projects into the receiver had broken off at some point. I removed the ejector by prying lightly on the other end at the recess in the receiver. Sure enough, the blade was missing.

I ordered anew ejector from Numrich and reassembled the Luger when it arrived. Reassembly The new ejector required some minor fitting to snap into place. I had to file a small amount of material from the angled face of the tab in the middle of the ejector, on the blade

P.08 Luger (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 1 Barrel 2 Barrel Extension 3 Trigger bar 4 Trigger bar spring 5 Hold-open latch 6 Frame 7 Takedown bolt 8 Trigger plate 9 Trigger 10 Safety Bar 11 Safety pin 12 Safety lever 13 Recoil lever pin 14 Magazine 15 Mainspring 16 Mainspring guide 17 Recoil lever 18 Magazine catch 19 Magazine catch spring side of the tab.

The bolt and toggle assembly is inserted into the receiver, the toggle is articulated slightly to line up the holes, and the toggle pin (20) installed, left to right.

The receiver is slid back 20 Toggle pin 21 Ejector 22 Firing pin spring guide 23 Firing pin spring 24 Firing pin 25 Coupling link 26 Rear toggle link 27 Coupling link pin 28 Toggle pin 29 Toggle pin retaining pin 30 Forward toggle link 31 Breech block bolt 32 Breech block pin 33 Extractor pin 34 Extractor spring 35 Extractor 36 Grip plate 37 Grip plate screw onto the frame, making sure the coupling link (25) drops down into the frame in front of the recoil lever (17).

Holding the pistol vertically initially and then horizontally will help. This ensures that the pins on the link are engaged by the hooks on the recoil lever. The receiver is pushed rearward until the toggle is against the frame ramp. If this requires some force, it indicates that the link and recoil lever are engaged and the assembly is correct. The trigger plate assembly (8) is installed on the frame, sliding the tab on the plate into the frame first.

While still maintaining pressure to hold the receiver rearward, the takedown lever (7) is rotated to the closed position. Allow the receiver to go forward. Perform a function check; the toggle should lock open with an empty mag in place. With the mag removed, pulling back on the toggle and releasing it should allow the toggle to go completely forward. I checked that the trigger, the trigger reset, and the safety functioned correctly. At the Range I fired a few rounds at a B-27 target from 10 yards.

Due to the small front and rear sights, I rested my hands on a sandbag to minimize my influence. The first round was in the 8 ring, the next two were in the 10 ring. I shot a 7.65mm Luger a few years ago and its accuracy was rather poor. I wasn’t sure where this one would impact, hence the large target. I fired a few more rounds, standing at 10 yards and all were in the 10, 9 or 8 ring. The empty cases ejected straight up, about three feet. I don’t profess to be a Luger expert.

In researching the history of the Luger, I found that some of information such as production dates, design changes, volumes, and other information varied depending on the reference source. I attempted to be as accurate as possible and welcome any corrections or comments. The Luger that I inspected is a nice example of a collectible handgun and I appreciated the opportunity to examine it, fix it, and shoot it. AG