Stoeger American Eagle Luger

[HisSoldier]

Given the state of new CNC manufacturing, there is ZERO reason for someone not to make a Luger.

Hah hah hah, that's rich. I have a CNC shop, producing a P08 would be a huge and expensive undertaking. Besides all else there is the built in anti gun stigma all around, my insurance was cancelled TWICE now and all I make are triggers!

You have the anti gun society working against you, the lawyers, the insurance people, the gubmint who is always sleezing around threatening anyone involved in any way with owning or producing guns, then there is labor costs, tooling costs, and not least, production of specialty tooling that is good for nothing else. Insurance alone must add a huge amount to end prices, wasted money.
A very good reason to not make any gun is that there are other less stressful ways to earn a good living with a CNC shop besides gun making. No one threatens me for making electrical parts for the oil fields, though helping provide energy is also out of vogue today.
Our country is not a good place to start up gun manufacturing, and the current political situation makes it stupid to start manufacturing any product.
That statement just got to me, sorry.

And I'm an optimist.

 

[Jim K]

I keep saying this, but after all the gun cranks said they wanted a new Luger, Interarms teamed with Mauser to make them. And darned few of those people who just couldn't wait for a new Luger were willing to actually buy one.

If anyone will gather a half million orders, each with $1500 cash attached, I can pretty well guarantee someone will be very interested in making the guns. Until then, all that "I want a new Luger" is just blowing smoke.

Jim

 

[Gun Master]

Handmade Guns

It seems that even in Pakistan, and other 3rd world countries, people continue to make firearms and other products (knives, etc.) by hand, using simple tools (files, etc.). Some shops have sophisticated modern machinery.

I noticed a "primitive bowie", purchased from Cheaper Than Dirt, showed "Made in Pakistan" on it.

Some of these shops in Pakistan are shown on YouTube.

I believe government regulations would impede or block importing guns from most 3rd world countries.

I'm no expert on governmental regulations. The same for quality of handmade guns. These two topics could be addressed on THR, by those who are "in the know", and we each could be students regarding both, in the meantime.

If import is blocked or too difficult, no need to check gun quality, unless "that's your thing".

 

[krupparms]

I picked up a Stoeger Arms Luger in .22LR. as my first handgun when I went into the service. It was a great shooter. It was taken in a breakin . But I picked up another some years later. They both were very accurate & worked fine! I would love to have a nice WW2 model just as a shooter, but finding one that I can afford, well I guess my .22LR. will still make me happy! They are not the same gun on the inside, but they are well made.

 

[Y-T71]

I have a 1917 Erfurt that's been handed down from a great uncle who brought it back from WWI. For obvious reasons, it doesn't get fired anymore (although it used to go to the range with me occasionally in years past)
I've always had a "thing" for stainless steel.
Blued firearms are beautiful in their own way, especially a classic like the Luger, a 1911, or an older S&W revolver, but If there's a stainless version of a firearm, I'm drawn to it instead.
When Mitchell came out with their stainless Luger (made by Aimco and later sold by Stoeger) in the early 90's it became one of my "grail guns" but I was in no position financially to buy one.
A few years ago I finally found one AND had the cash so it came home with me.

Mine is a Mitchell marked gun made in 1991 which makes it an early production gun.

It's a nice shooter and while it's not quite as well fitted as my original it's still very nice.
There has been some contention that the materials used in its construction were soft and would beat itself out of spec in fairly short order.
Honestly, given the amount of claims one can find to that effect and how widespread they are, it's probably true so buyer beware BUT my particular example hasn't had any problems.
Maybe I just got lucky.

 

[Storm]

YT-71, that is a beautiful gun. From what I have heard the steel issues weren't present with all guns, just some of them. Yours is an early example and may well be from the right period of production. When I passed on the one that I came across I had heard of the issue but wasn't sure of that particular gun or how widespread the issue was. Glad you got a good one. I would add one to my arsenal if I had more info on ruling out buying a problem gun.

 

[Y-T71]

Thanks Storm. I agree with your comment about being patient and finding a shooter grade original.

If I didn't have such a "fetish" about stainless steel I probably wouldn't have "played the odds" on mine

 

[BLU]

HisSoldier....

From your 2nd paragraph downward.... a perfect description of 'soft' tyranny! IMHO, We absolutely have got to fight, (each of us has to decide how), every anti-gun nut we come across, some how, some way or the tyranny WILL harden. I support the gun companies by buying new products as I can afford them. If we don't support them and just buy 'used', they too will go away. All that's left then is to ban imports and we swing to full blown Communism.

 

[HisSoldier]

BLU you are right, of course.

But the nation we have now is what America deserves. I don't mean all Americans, but those who vote for politically correct candidates do, and hence we see what the problem really is with "democracy", if the majority is stupid the outcome is pretty predictable.

 

[Jaymo]

As much as I hate to say this, investment cast and MIM parts would make a new Luger a lot easier to make than forging and milling.
Maybe, someday, we can 3D print our own Lugers

 

[BLU]

You may just have planted a seed, (I hope!). 3D printing of firearm parts..... a liberal's nightmare! LOL. A middle easterner is hammering out crude weapons in a tent. I don't consider a Luger a simple firearm, but with our technology?!

Oh... I agree... those that voted for these changes deserve what they get. Too bad they're taking us down with them. (This rat WILL leave a sinking ship!) We're suppose to be a Republic. A Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what they should have for dinner!

 

[Savage99]

I heard the Stoeger Luger .22 was made in CT by a mfg. co.

That the frame is aluminum.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=444118343

 

[Gun Master]

I heard the Stoeger Luger .22 was made in CT by a mfg. co.

That the frame is aluminum.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=444118343

The aluminum frame model was made 1970-1978. An all steel model was manufactured 1980-1985, which is more sought after than the earlier model, due to more reliability and durability.

I think IMHO, that the aluminum framed Luger shown, with opening bid of $499, is way too high. The auction ends in a little over 15 hours. Since no one has bid, I guess others agree with me. If you like it, make a bid. Hey, it's only money.

 

[Storm]

Looks almost as much like a Lahti.

 

[CoalTrain49]

The smart thing would be to do it in the Southern US, namely around Pensacola, FL...
wages are low there, you could get tons of ret. military workers for 10-12 an hour...
taxes are nearly non-existant...as long as you aren't on the beach...
two railroad hubs, right on I-10, close to I-65, can get anything anywhere in the US within 2 Days.
and the land is CHEAP away from the beaches...like the idea of 1K per acre??
Construction costs are again low, we don't even have an illegal problem here...
due to the regular folks working for 8-10 per hour, even illegals won't do it that cheap

You forgot to mention hurricanes. Those can be a lot of fun too.

 

[Gun Master]

Lahti Clone?

Looks almost as much like a Lahti.

Yeah, except for the toggle "thingie" on top.

 

[Confederate]

I understand that reliability was an issue with Lugers, regardless of who produced it. Still, it's a beautiful gun. I had one of the old ones in beatiful shape. After the War, a German officer, seeking to gain some favor from his captors, gave it to a U.S. officer as a "gift." It went through one or two others and was subsequently smuggled...er, liberated...and sent to the States. I couldn't afford to keep it, however, and ended up selling it.

My father was having lunch with a few friends when one of them mentioned he had the gun. My dad offered him $500 s ight unseen and they shook hands. My father went over afterwards and gave him the money and picked up the gun. The friend's wife was livid over the sale, but they had shaken hands and that was that. My dad later gave me the gun and that's how I got it.

 

[Storm]

Yeah, that toggle thingie does make a difference. That said, I wouldn't mind also owning a Lahti.

 

[Pilot]

I understand that reliability was an issue with Lugers, regardless of who produced it. Still, it's a beautiful gun. I had one of the old ones in beatiful shape. After the War, a German officer, seeking to gain some favor from his captors, gave it to a U.S. officer as a "gift." It went through one or two others and was subsequently smuggled...er, liberated...and sent to the States. I couldn't afford to keep it, however, and ended up selling it.

My father was having lunch with a few friends when one of them mentioned he had the gun. My dad offered him $500 s ight unseen and they shook hands. My father went over afterwards and gave him the money and picked up the gun. The friend's wife was livid over the sale, but they had shaken hands and that was that. My dad later gave me the gun and that's how I got it.

Lugers are reliable if they are maintained, and kept fairly clean, thus the full flap holster in which they were carried. I have a 1941 Mauser P08 that was a Russian capture, and it has never failed with any kind of ammo, including hollow points. It is stone cold reliable, and accurate. I would not hesitate to use it as an SD/HD gun if I had to.

 

[Gun Master]

Yeah, that toggle thingie does make a difference. That said, I wouldn't mind also owning a Lahti.

Ditto.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Lugers are reliable if they are maintained, and kept fairly clean, thus the full flap holster in which they were carried. I have a 1941 Mauser P08 that was a Russian capture, and it has never failed with any kind of ammo, including hollow points. It is stone cold reliable, and accurate. I would not hesitate to use it as an SD/HD gun if I had to.

I also had a 41 Mauser P08 that was a Soviet capture. All parts except the trigger side plate were matching. The barrel was badly correded inside near the chamber, but it was a real tack driver.

I had it checked by my gunsmith when it wasn't functioning properly, and he did some work on the sear (may have replaced it.) The first time I tried it at the range it went full-auto. Apparently some junk on the end of the sear bar caused the problem. Luckily (not because I was smart) I only had a few rounds in it. I think I had to go change my underwear...

Surprisingly, parts were never a problem. I'd get one again, if I can find one for a reasonable price. (I traded that one for a unfired (pre-B) CZ-75, back when they were just starting to get popular. I only paid $375 for the Luger... I'll probably have to pay 2-3 times more than that the next time...

 

[Confederate]

If you have one that works well, you're very fortunate. I've had friends who have shooters, but none fired hollow points. With mine, I never tried to shoot it. When I got it, it wouldn't open, nor function. I took it apart and found that a case had lodged in the gun backward. It was a bear to get out and I have no idea how it got that way, but my dad nor the previous owner had an idea how to break it apart and fixed it, nor did either know how there was a problem. They just thought it was tight and they couldn't cock it. I wish I had fired it before I sold it. I've had several guns that were so expensive that I couldn't afford to keep. One was my Italian Beretta 92, which shot up in price after the government announced it would replace the Colt .45. I sold it and bought two revolvers and still had some change for a good meal. There was also my Walther .22LR that my dad gave me. I used the money I got for it to buy a Ruger Single-Six (stainless), a Ruger Mark II stainless and a Beretta .22LR mouse gun. And again some change. I just couldn't resist the bounty. It was an astoundingly beautiful gun with superb bluing and a horrible DA trigger. Finally, there was a an Astra .32 that was a bit ugly and made in the war years. I never liked it much and I had no .32ACP ammo nor was I so inclined to purchase it for SD. I was able to use the $$$ I got for it to buy a new S&W 5906, some ammo and a great holster. It wasn't one of those ugly two-tone models. Anyway, I have no regrets as the pistols I bought appealed more to me. Still, I treasure the photos of them that I took.







This 5906 is a gun I would never part with, mostly because I'd find it difficult to replace. It may be a bit heavy by today's standards, but I'd carry it anywhere. I don't think a gun manufacturer could make this gun today and have it sell for under a grand.

 

[Confederate]

I've always had a "thing" for stainless steel. Blued firearms are beautiful in their own way, especially a classic like the Luger, a 1911, or an older S&W revolver, but If there's a stainless version of a firearm, I'm drawn to it....

Me, too, though I'm not sure why you don't shoot it. If you're not going to sell it, it doesn't really matter how scarce it gets. Your photo is outstanding and I filched a copy for my photo collection. I've found, though, that first production runs are pretty spot on, so your gun should be fine. S&W's first runs of its 686 .357 revolvers, for example, were touted by the company to be equal to or better than the legendary Colt Python. And since Colt's accuracy was primarily due to stricter tolerances, Smith set tolerances to stricter standards. And when gun writers shot the Python gun to gun, with the 686, the accuracy was at least as good as the Pythons.

Whether Smith stayed with those tolerances I don't know; but if you have an issue from the first few runs of 686, you most likely have a super accurate revolver. The same may be true for the Mitchell guns. That's not to say subsequent runs of the 686 were any worse than the first, but we do know that Mitchell tended to lose interest in his projects fairly rapidly. Some of his guns worked well; others didn't.

When I was new to guns, I looked at the guns on dealers' shelves, primarily the .22LRs, I thought, "Oh, right...this is an obvious rip-off of 'Luger.'" And I pretty much wrote it off. This was the late 70s and I was loath to follow the advice of pawn shop employees. Then I bought a few gun magazines and found that yes, there was a guy named Ruger and that he made outstanding handguns and that his blued Standard Auto began to be sold the year after I was born. So I shelled out $169 for a stainless Security-Six and $92 for a blued Standard Auto. And I've been a fan ever since.



When Ruger began offering its first stainless Mark IIs I was enthralled. I had previously bought an AMT stainless knock-off, quite a few of which didn't work reliably. The ones that did work worked flawlessly and are still working. I still think of Lugers when I look at them and I think they have the same grip angle. Both guns shoot flawlessly.

 

[Jim K]

Around the same time as the Ruger Automatic Pistol came out (it was not called the Standard Model at the time), there was a cheap scaled down Luger copy, made from plastic and firing a shotgun pellet using the force of a toy cap. The gun was called the Kruger, and they were advertised in the back of every "mens" magazine for about $3.00. A lot of folks turned up their noses at Rugers, assuming they were just more toys, trading on the Luger name. It took a while for some people to realize that not only were Rugers real guns, but darned good ones!

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=219380

Jim

 

[HisSoldier]

I've always wanted one of the stainless Texas P08's, they are so beautiful, of course it is double whammy, the Parabellum is, in my mind at least, far and away the most lovely gun ever made, lines that say "Weapon of the warrior" but with gorgeous lines.

And then as stated above there is something about stainless steel that attracts me, beyond the fact that I can easily touch up the finish.

But stories I've read about the stainless P08 cause me to hold onto my money, the Parabellum unlocks by the bottom of the toggle striking the ramp behind it, and it is said that some of them have been beat up and widened enough to stop function, flared because of soft steel at the ramp. I really like to read of one that functions well.
I had a chance to buy one once long ago for $895 brand new. I should have cashed in all my secret stash and gotten that, it's worth it as art alone.

I also had a Parabellum go FA on me, I had worked over the trigger and got the striker sear too short, an easy replacement. There is a hole in the roof of my shop from that.

I'm blessed to own three Parabellums now, one unfired P08 from the Mauser factory, plus another Mauser 1970's P08 and a 1920 commercial that is nearly new condition. I'd love to have a stainless one.