Old & New Lugers

[Abasmajor]

I recently added this replica Luger PO8 gas powered pistol to my collection and did a little sympathetic aging to the finish. There has always been a great admiration for the Luger in the USA and there can be no doubt where the inspiration for the Schimel pistol came from. The Schimel is credited with being the first pistol to use disposable CO2 capsules and could therefore be considered the forefather of all the replica gas powered air pistols so popular today.



Brian

[Binners]

Two nice pistols there Brian.

[johnbaz]

Beautiful pistols!

I had a copy of Wesley's airgun book when I was about 13 and always wanted to collect one of every gun in that book, The Schimmel luger was up there with 'Nicest' of them all but i've never even seen a real one in the flesh!!

I ended up buying a couple of Gletcher Po8's and I sold one of those last year at the airgun fayre!!

I still have the stripable Parabellum (Black one), I reckon those old ones will be better though!!



John

[Josie & John]

The Gletcher is the only CO2 Luger I don't have. I think it does look better with the brown grips than the 'Black Widow' on the Umarex and KWC.

Does the Gletcher partially field strip John?

Nice pair Brian.

[Abasmajor]

The Gletcher is the only CO2 Luger I don't have. I think it does look better with the brown grips than the 'Black Widow' on the Umarex and KWC.

Does the Gletcher partially field strip John?

Nice pair Brian.

Hi John,
The Gletcher Luger PO8 does field strip in the same manner as the KWC and Umarex versions and I agree the brown grips do look better. I thought about modifying some reproduction wooden Luger grips, but apparently this is extremely difficult and time consuming with the end product being so thin it could easily break with use.
Out of interest, a shooting friend of mine has the Umarex version of the Luger which is identical in every way to the KWC pistol suggesting they were both made by the same company.

Brian

[Dutch]

A bit of wood- and metal work and you get really good results with the WE version of the P08. Its quite a match with the real steel version actually!

[johnbaz]

The Gletcher is the only CO2 Luger I don't have. I think it does look better with the brown grips than the 'Black Widow' on the Umarex and KWC.

Does the Gletcher partially field strip John?

Nice pair Brian.

The Parabellum does, The brown gripped ordinary Po8 doesn't, It's why I kept the parabellum!

[Josie & John]

Thanks John, Brian,

I handled the KWC and Gletcher at Crawley Surplus some years ago and opted for the KWC as it was fully field strippable. Only problem is mine does not like copper coated lead, so I can only fire steel BBs at home into a padded box, which is somewhat limiting. I thought from memory the Gletcher partially field stripped, which was another minus at the time.

That WE does look nice Dutch - an excellent display piece.

John

[AllanM]

I have the brown grip Gletcher version and never tire of watching the toggle action.

The Luger must be one of the most distinctive pistols of all time -- I just wish they would make the CO2 pistols available with different barrel lengths as I would love the 8" Artillery model.

[Abasmajor]

Thanks John, Brian,

I handled the KWC and Gletcher at Crawley Surplus some years ago and opted for the KWC as it was fully field strippable. Only problem is mine does not like copper coated lead, so I can only fire steel BBs at home into a padded box, which is somewhat limiting. I thought from memory the Gletcher partially field stripped, which was another minus at the time.

That WE does look nice Dutch - an excellent display piece.

John

My KWC Luger PO8 will feed copper coated BBs but they group low at 6 yds due to their heavier weight whereas steel BBs group to point of aim. I tried the much lighter plastic BBs which are very light and group quite nicely but well above the point of aim. The Gamo pure lead BBs did not feed so well and shot slightly lower on the target than the steel ones. I only shoot the pistols at a club range where the steel backing plates can be angled down to limit ricochets when using steel BBs.

Brian

[harvey_s]

So do any of the models tick all the following boxes...?
* Full metal
* Blowback
* Field strippable
* Brown grips

Can be either 6mm or 4.5mm...

[basa]

Hi guys, as a 15 year old in Belfast, I had a friend call to my home, he handed me a luger, and asked if it was real, seems he was walking through an alley way, and two young kids were looking at this luger, and told him they had just found it, he took it off them, soon as i felt it, i knew it was real, it was in really good condition, i first noticed that the checkering was very sharp to my touch, and noticed that the toggle had letters engraved into it, ,I thought it was probably the owners initial's, i had the thing for 24hrs, and then it was passed to the Ruc, turns out the alley way were it was found, was behind the king Richard bar, [ east Belfast, a UDA haunt ] and the night before it was found, a gun had been used in a shooting, that was linked to a feud, between the uda and the UVF, a few years after this, i was reading a piece in, guns and ammo , and there was my luger looking at me, it was, as new, with the same initials, DMW [I think ] turns out it was a special edition, and worth around $2000, at that time, [ the one in the mag ] although my one was missing the mag, but i loved the feel of that gun, so simple to strip, rotate the little knurled button on the left hand side, then lift out the little square plate above that, then the receiver and butt just slid apart, i nearly cried when handing it over, probably got destroyed.

[Josie & John]

Hi guys, as a 15 year old in Belfast, I had a friend call to my home, he handed me a luger, and asked if it was real, seems he was walking through an alley way, and two young kids were looking at this luger, and told him they had just found it, he took it off them, soon as i felt it, i knew it was real, it was in really good condition, i first noticed that the checkering was very sharp to my touch, and noticed that the toggle had letters engraved into it, ,I thought it was probably the owners initial's, i had the thing for 24hrs, and then it was passed to the Ruc, turns out the alley way were it was found, was behind the king Richard bar, [ east Belfast, a UDA haunt ] and the night before it was found, a gun had been used in a shooting, that was linked to a feud, between the uda and the UVF, a few years after this, i was reading a piece in, guns and ammo , and there was my luger looking at me, it was, as new, with the same initials, DMW [I think ] turns out it was a special edition, and worth around $2000, at that time, [ the one in the mag ] although my one was missing the mag, but i loved the feel of that gun, so simple to strip, rotate the little knurled button on the left hand side, then lift out the little square plate above that, then the receiver and butt just slid apart, i nearly cried when handing it over, probably got destroyed.

What a story! I enjoyed reading that and would have kicked myself too. Still, better to hand it in than risk a prison sentence, especially during the troubles.

The letters may have been DWM - a P08 manufacturer.

John

[basa]

HI John, the quality was superb, even as a 15y old, the engineering stuck out, I was in the cadets from 13 to 18, shot at Bisley every year, trips to scotland, 5-6 times a year, shooting out to 1000yrds, with the old lee enfield .303, great rifle,mk4's I think we mostly used, our first visit we were gob smacked to see these old ladies, also using the .303, we boys thought this was really funny, on the same visit, we were coached by a major White[ I think ] from the sas, small arms school, but we nearly pee'd ourselves, when we clocked the crossed rifles badge he was wearing, but the only thing that we saw was the SAS part, major white was a superb shot, after our morning shooting he approached a few of the worse shots,to offer advice, and after each excuse for poor shooting/ grouping, he got into prone, position, with their AH HEM, dodgy rifle, and proceeded to bang the centre of the targets, time after time, at 600yrds, I never seen him again, but fantastic times, with a lovely guy.

[Josie & John]

HI John, the quality was superb, even as a 15y old, the engineering stuck out, I was in the cadets from 13 to 18, shot at Bisley every year, trips to scotland, 5-6 times a year, shooting out to 1000yrds, with the old lee enfield .303, great rifle,mk4's I think we mostly used, our first visit we were gob smacked to see these old ladies, also using the .303, we boys thought this was really funny, on the same visit, we were coached by a major White[ I think ] from the sas, small arms school, but we nearly pee'd ourselves, when we clocked the crossed rifles badge he was wearing, but the only thing that we saw was the SAS part, major white was a superb shot, after our morning shooting he approached a few of the worse shots,to offer advice, and after each excuse for poor shooting/ grouping, he got into prone, position, with their AH HEM, dodgy rifle, and proceeded to bang the centre of the targets, time after time, at 600yrds, I never seen him again, but fantastic times, with a lovely guy.

Sounds like a real character. I was in the cadets too during the 1980s and shot at Bisley a couple of times, albeit only at 200 -300 yards with No4s and L81s if memory serves.

We were coached by a serving police marksman at the time, who was our Warrant Officer. He certainly knew how to shoot too and was somewhat boring to watch as it was bull after bull with not an inner or magpie in sight!