UBB.threads Forums General Militaria Historic and Period Firearms Forum LUGER BOOKS, PHAMPLETS AND CATALOGUES

I STARTED COLLECTING LUGER PISTOLS IN THE EARL1960�S. The gun shows were many and not fast enough as the new excitement wasn�t Lugers at first but Winchester rifles. Everyplace seemed to be exploding with gun shows and the first thing I knew I was following the sun every weekend to a different show. I soon found out I could drive to a show as far as Birmingham, Alabama or Atlanta Georgia or Charleston, South Carolina in one day. The whole family looked forward to the trips as we would stay at the Holiday Inns with their pools so I had no complaints there. I noticed I was ruining the stocks on the Winchester Rifles taking them in and out of the car and was getting fascinated with Luger Pistols so I changed to buying and selling Lugers. I could carry 3 times more than the rifles and they packed very easy. Even back then you could not carry firearms across the state line with out a Federal Fire Arms License and I would have to write to the ATF Office in Atlanta and obtain a letter of permission to other states. Books were the answer to the many questions facing me as I picked over all the newly found pieces of collecting delights. Most of the following books are from the 60�s and 70�s. The favored information came from the Robert B. Marvin �The Luger Journal� booklets that he put out. I use to see him at most of the shows. They say a GI can break down a rifle in the dark. I can tell you after awhile when you received a luger to look at you could take it apart in seconds. Strange, I can hardly cock one open today. Somewhere in time I realized I was chasing a blind horse as there were just too many Lugers to keep up with. I remembered Fred A. Datig�s Book �the Luger Pistol� said, �There were Approximately 2 million Lugers Produced by two firms DWM and ERFURT during the first World War. With all the other firms now showing up on the tables at the shows I realized it would be hopeless to try and collect everything. I was fascinated by the long barrel Lugers and that is what I ended up collecting.

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The reason for the first picture of the display:

One time I went to a coin collector�s show and on the way in there was a man in front of me with a friend and he had a sack of silver dollars. His buddy said lets shop these around. The man with the dollars said, Heck no I am going to the expert over there with the big silver dollar sign. Behind one of the tables hunt a large circle made out of two 4 x 8 sheets of plywood and a circle cut out and painted like a silver dollar. The lights went on and I got busy making the display you see for long barrel Lugers. It was truly magic. Men would come up to my table with old oily rages and un-wrap these beautiful lugers brought home from the war. The truly great Luger collectors would come over to me and spiff off that I didn�t know anything about Lugers and the people coming to the shows were coming to me first. The display sign was wonderful. It all folded compactly in the trunk of my car. I burnished the center of the letters with Gold Leaf.

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Photos number 7 & 8 are pages from Marvins booklets,

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I think if I had it to do all over again I would just collect Navy and Kreighoff Lugers.

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The reason I am posting this book twice is it was a great book at the time for a beginner.
Quote: I remembered Fred A. Datig�s Book �the Luger Pistol� said, �There were Approximately 2 million Lugers Produced by two firms DWM and ERFURT during the first World War. With all the other firms now showing up on the tables at the shows I realized it would be hopeless to try and collect everything. I was fascinated by the long barrel Lugers and that is what I ended up collecting.

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A photo of one of my long barrels in Kenyon's book.

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In those old days you never saw a Persian Luger. With all the long barrels they just did not seem to be around. I sold my whole collection years ago to a doctor in Gainsville, Florida as the Federal Goverment just passed the new gun laws and I figured they were going to come in and chain the doors closed to the gun shows. Which never happened. I still went on to the Gun shows and had two wall tables at the Lakeland gun show twice a year, for over 30 years. I went into another passion of collecting Forestry and Hunting daggers. A couple years ago Hermann's Gun cataloge in Germany came up with the following Persian artillery Luger for sale and I guess I had to settle an old mind problem as it is the only Luger I own or have had for years. You can't beat them they are really great stuff.

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I hope all you new collectors enjoyed this posting of books. They are not too hard to find with all the new web pages out there. I will be 80 years old tomorrow the 14th. I also hope you did not mind me rambling on. You just cannot beat a collecting hobby of anything so get out there and get your feet wet. It keeps your mind alert in your old age.
Sincerely,
HUBERTUS

Very nice, thanks for taking the time and sharing with us. My father found lots of joy in collecting bamboo fly rods. After he passed away I sold alot but my sister and I kept quite a few for ourselves. I have inherated the joy of collecting from him. I find quite time in collecting a chance for time for myself in a busy world. Thanks, Ian.

Thank you for sharing Hubertus..

The Lugers are still being found today..i was recently called to a house clearance in which builders found a navy model, wrapped in the front page of a 1918 Toronto Telegram newspaper.

Very sobering front page, as it listed pictures of all the casualties from the Toronto area for June and July..hundreds of pictures..

The story was the house belonged to the daughter of the soldier who had sent the navy model back with a friend on leave.
Unfortunately, he never came home to claim it as he managed to survive the war, but fell victim to influenza in a soldiers transit camp.

nice items on the lugers,,,i havent seen much or heard about Michael Reese III,he used to write a one page articles about Lugers in the GUNS and AMMO magazine,i really like his articles as they were concise and to the point,,,whatever became of him???...

Happy 80th birthday Ralph!
Wishing you many more....

Thank you - you provided a great education

Ralph, Happy belated Birthday! Hope you had a great day.

My fascination with the luger wasn�t only collecting them but later when I was really into them I started shooting just about every one I collected. The �Central Florida Rifle and Pistol Club� had a range near my home in the Windermere area and I was trying out each new piece I collected. I can tell you the novice in me was awful as they were real jammers and I was trying all kinds of 9mm and asking all the questions I could but Lugers were no favorite among the local shooters. This problem cleared up when I started picking up German 9mm ammo at the gun shows.
This article in the current issue of the NRA Official Journal of the Nation Rifle Association �AMERICAN RIFLEMAN� page 42 might be helpful to those who also like to run a few rounds down the barrel of their Lugers. If you really want to get the hang of handling one of these things buy an early Ruger 22 as everything will seem awkward if you are a match or an old army 45 shooter. Also the ammo is a lot cheaper.
Sincerely,
HUBERTUS

Rifleman page 42