The O rings were made of gas-permeable material, and were prone to expand up to 50% in use, causing the pistol to leak catastrophically. The materials used in the Schimel weren’t always sensibly utilised – die cast, pot metal parts were used in stressed areas and were prone to cracking, a steel barrel was press-fitted into a die-cast outer shell, and electrolysis quickly welded the barrel in place. There were a number of good reasons for this. However, despite its visual appeal, power and claims of extreme accuracy, the Schimel didn’t sell particularly well. Police department tried unsuccessfully to have the Schimel banned, claiming it looked too much like the real firearm. Up to 580 fps was claimed when the pistol was first sold. The Schimel uses an 8g CO2 cartridge (commonly available in the 1940s as soda siphon bulbs) to shoot a single. Early work was done in Orville’s garage before a plant was set up in North Hollywood and manufacturing begin in 1946. The brothers were fascinated by the Luger, and soon after the end of World War Two they set out to make an air pistol replica. Both were machinists and Orville was also a die maker. The Schimel GP-22 is a pretty good CO2 powered replica of the Luger, produced In California by brothers Orville and Clifford Schimel. I haven’t included any of the spring powered Luger replicas because they are, without exception, crap. Thereafter, sales to German military forces accounted for the vast majority of Lugers produced.īelow is a list of the Luger replicas I’m aware of, in approximate chronological order according to when they were released. The Luger was adopted initially by the German Navy and then by the German Army in 1908 (at which time it gained the P.08 designation). The Luger was updated in 1904 to take the 9mm cartridge, and at this time a safety on the right side of the frame was added. Concerns that the Luger lacked stopping power led to the design of another new cartridge, the 9 x 19mm, which became known as the 9mm Luger and has been used in a range of handguns since. 30 Luger in the US) and the Luger was adapted by Swiss armed forces in 1900. Early versions were chambered for a new cartridge, the 7.65mm Parabellum (also called the. The base of the magazine on most early Lugers is made of wood, something no replica has yet attempted to recreate. The Luger used a seven round, drop-out magazine in the grip, which was more steeply angled than most pistols (145° between the barrel and grip, compared to 120° on the Colt 1911, for example). The artillery version featured adjustable sights, a wooden holster which doubled as a stock and an optional 50 round, drum magazine. The Luger was available in 4″, 6″ and 8″ (Artillery) form. The Luger wasn’t a completely new design, being partly based on the existing Borchardt C/93 self-loading pistol, though it was a neater and much more compact design than the earlier pistol. The toggle operates to very tight tolerances which made manufacturing costly and expensive and the mechanism is also prone to jamming if dirt, dust or debris are present. It’s a neat technical solution which causes relatively little recoil, though it does have disadvantages. A spring then forces the toggle closed, pushing the next round into place. Venting gases cause the barrel and toggle to move backward until hitting a cam, which hinges the toggle knee-joint, unlocking the breech and extracting the spent cartridge. Most later designs used some form of moving slide to extract the spent shell casing and load a new cartridge, but the Luger employed a unique toggle mechanism. The Luger was an early attempt to produce a self-loading pistol, a handgun which could be fired and reloaded more quickly than a revolver.
Reproduction german luger pistol license#
The Luger was later manufactured under license in a number of other locations in Germany, and even at one time by Vickers in the UK. Manufacture began in 1900 with German firearms company DWM ( Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken). I’ll refer to it as the Luger in this article for the sake of simplicity. It’s known as the Luger because it was designed and patented by German engineer Georg Luger in 1898. It’s actually called the Pistole Parabellum 1908, or P.08. To celebrate the release of the KWC Luger, I thought I’d take a brief look back at some of the Luger replicas produced since World War Two and consider how they stack up as shooters and visual and functional replicas.įirst thing to mention is that what we’re looking at here isn’t officially called a Luger at all. But with the release of the KWC CO2 powered blowback Luger, it looks as if we may finally have a replica worthy of this incredibly iconic handgun. Sadly, most of the available replicas up to now have had some drawbacks. Instantly recognisable even to people who know nothing about firearms, no wonder it has been the subject of a number of replicas over the years. The Luger is probably one of the best known handguns ever made.