GREEN RIVER — The Sweetwater County Historical Museum recently researched an example of what is arguably the most readily-recognized pistol ever made: the Parabellum Automatic Pistol, far more commonly (and simply) known as the Luger.
The handgun that became the P08 Luger, adopted by the German Army in 1908, was patented in 1898 by Austrian designer Georg Johann Luger. His pistol featured a toggle-locked, recoil-operated semi-automatic action that owed much to a previous design created by Hugo Borchardt, a German.
Luger also created the P08’s principal cartridge, the 9x19mm, also called the 9mm Parabellum, 9mm Luger, or 9mm NATO, probably the most widely-circulated center-fire handgun cartridge in the world to this day.
Officially, the Luger was replaced as the standard German military service sidearm in 1938 by the Walther P-38 pistol, another 9mm, but many remained in service. Millions were made by the time mainstream production ended in the 1950s.
Over the years, a number of companies manufactured the Luger, including Mauser, Erfurt, and Krieghoff. The pistol researched through the museum’s Vintage Firearms Research Program was made by the Luger’s original manufacturer, Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM), in 1918. (DWM Lugers made through the Word War I era, 1914-1918, were known to be of a particularly high quality and are much valued by collectors.)
For a video graphic that illustrates the Luger’s unique toggle action, go to the YouTube link here.
The museum’s Vintage Firearms Research Program is available to the public at no charge. If you have a firearm (or firearms) you would like to learn more about, contact them at (307) 872-6435 or via email at [email protected].
