Luger Pistol - Service

Service

The Swiss Army evaluated the Luger pistol in 7.65×21 mm Parabellum (.30 Luger in North America) and adopted it in 1900 as its standard side arm, designated Ordonnanzpistole 00 or OP00, in 1900. This model uses a 120 mm barrel.

The Luger pistol was accepted by the German Navy in 1904. The Navy model had a 150 mm barrel and a two position (100/200 metre) rear sight. This version is known as Pistole 04.

In 1908 the German Army adopted the Luger to replace the Reichsrevolver in front-line service. The Pistole 08 (or P.08) had a 100 mm barrel and was chambered in 9×19 mm Parabellum. The P.08 was the usual side arm for German Army personnel in both world wars, though it was being replaced by the Walther P38 starting in 1938. In 1930, Mauser took over manufacture of the P.08 (until 1943).

The Bolivian Army adopted the DWM Luger in 9 mm Parabellum as the main officers side arm in 1908; a few hundred were bought starting with a batch of about 250, that were included in an order of 4000 Mauser DWM 1907 rifles and 1000 Mauser DWM 1907 short rifles, both in caliber 7.65 x53 mm, and continued with smaller batches every year until 1913. Only the first batch wore crests and the Legend "Ejercito Boliviano" stamped in the receiver.

The Lange Pistole 08 (German: "Long Pistol 08") or Artillery Luger was a pistol carbine for use by German Army artillerymen as a sort of early Personal Defense Weapon. It had a 200 mm barrel, an 8-position tangent rear sight (calibrated to 800 metres) and a shoulder stock with holster. It was sometimes used with a 32-round drum magazine (Trommelmagazin 08). It was also available in various commercial carbine versions with yet longer barrels.

The firm Armeria Belga of Santiago Chile, manufactured the Benke Thiemann retractable stock that could fold out from the grip section.

The United States evaluated several semi-automatic pistols in the late 19th century, including the Colt M1900, Steyr Mannlicher M1894, and an entry from Mauser. In 1900 the US purchased 1000 7.65 mm Lugers for field trials. Later, a small number were sampled in the then-new, more powerful 9 mm round. Field experience with .38 caliber revolvers in the Philippines and ballistic tests would result in a requirement for still-larger rounds.

In 1906 and 1907, the US Army held trials for a large-caliber semi-automatic. DWM provided two sample Luger pistols chambered in .45 ACP for testing, with serial numbers 1 and 2. The fate of serial number 1 is unknown, as it was not returned. The serial number 2 Luger .45 passed the tests, and survived to be traded among collectors. Its rarity gives its value of around $1 million US dollars at the time the "Million Dollar Guns" episode of History Channel's "Tales of the Gun" was filmed, recheck by Guns & Ammo as of 1994.

At least two pistols were manufactured later for possible commercial or military sales, and one is exhibited at the Norton Gallery, in Shreveport, Louisiana. The other was sold in 2010 and remains in a private collection. After initial trials, DWM, Savage, and Colt were asked to provide further samples for evaluation. DWM withdrew for reasons that are still debated, though the Army did place an order for 200 more samples. A single .45 Luger carbine is also known to exist.

In 1941-42 Mauser switched from "straw finishing" to blueing the small parts and levers on their pistols. In combination with black plastic grip panels, these pistols were named the "Black Widow" model by a post-war US arms dealer as a marketing ploy.