Tag Archives: DWM Luger

Why the Lange Face, Luger edition

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I’ve seen hundreds of Lugers come through the Guns.com Vault in the past few years, ranging from Swiss-made Berns to American Eagles, Naval Lugers, Black Widows, and 1980s commemoratives, but the “Artillery Luger” is more of a unicorn.

Officially dubbed the Lange Pistole 1908, or LP.08, while the rest of the Imperial German Army was using the regular 9mm P08, it was decided the cannon cockers of the field and fortress artillery, in 1913, were to be issued a lengthened (lange= long) version with a 7.87-inch barrel and a graduated tangent leaf rear sight marked to a wildly optimistic 800m.

The LP.08 would take the place of both the short carbine and the revolver for the artillery, making it something of a Ragtime-era PDW.

And it is just so friggen cool looking…

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Can you spot the difference between these two Lugers?

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One of these things is not like the other:

On the left, you have a DWM-made M1900 Luger in 7.65 with a skinny barrel, dished toggle knob, and push-grip safety, among other features. On the right is a gun that was made just 15 years later, am Erfurt-produced P08 in 9x19mm Parabellum with a thicker barrel, serrated toggle, and no grip safety.

Fundamentally, the one of the left is a commercial model, based on the original Luger adopted by the Swiss Army in 1899, and made for export, while the pistole on the right was the German Army standard for the Great War.

Further, the M1900 is an American Eagle, a breed of guns that proved unusually popular on the U.S. consumer market with Western lawmen and cowboys in the 1900s and 1920s.

More on the American Eagle Luger in my column at Guns.com.

Souvenir of the Big Advance at Cambrai

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Turned over in a police firearms surrender, a trophy Luger from a historic Great War battle on the Western Front is now in a museum.

The pistol, a 1911-marked DWM, was collected by the Wiltshire Police during the UK’s National Firearms Surrender this summer. While the majority of firearms collected will be torched, the Luger was passed to the famed Tank Museum in Bovington for them to display.

“Firearms handed into the police during surrenders are sent for ballistic tests to ensure they haven’t been used in crime and are usually then destroyed,” said Wiltshire Police Armourer, Jamie Ross. However, an exception was made for the Luger, which was transferred in unmolested condition. “This live firearm is a part of history and I know that it is a welcome addition to the collection at the Tank Museum,” said Ross.

The intact DWM Parabellum was made in 1911 and, brought back as a war trophy the UK, is in a holster marked “Souvenir of the Big Advance at Cambrai November 1917.” (Photo: The Tank Museum)

More in my column at Guns.com