Pistole 08
| |
| Luger Pistole 08 | |
| Specifications | |
| Type | Semi-Automatic Pistol |
| Caliber | 9mm Parabellum |
| Feed System | 8 Round Clip |
| Muzzle Velocity | 381m/s |
| Maximum Effective Range | 50m |
History
The Pistole 08 (P08, or more commonly called the "Luger") automatic pistol traces its ancestry back to Hugo Borchardt’s 1893 design. In 1900, George Luger, with Borchardt, refined the gun and helped produce the famous pistol that now commonly bears his name. It chambered the bottlenecked 7.65mm Luger cartridge, and Switzerland adopted it that year as a service pistol.
A year later, the manufacturer, Deutsche Waffen and Munitions-fabrik, officially designated it the Parabellum and in 1902 upped the caliber to 9 mm. The German Navy adopted it in 1904 and four years later, the German Army accepted it into service and called it the Pistole 08 (P 08). This version of the Luger saw front-line service throughout World War I and remained the standard service pistol until 1938.
The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to stop producing P08s, although production restarted in 1923. The P08 remained the principal sidearm of the German military throughout the interwar period. It was issued to all German armed forces and in the infantry found use as an officer’s sidearm, as well as with weapon crews, dispatch riders, signalers, and NCOs.
For all its popularity, the P08 was far from an ideal service pistol, having both poor sights and a complex trigger mechanism. The toggle breech mechanism required precision machining (unsuitable for mass production), was open to the elements and the entry of dirt and grit, and demanded virtually perfect ammunition to function. These drawbacks were somewhat compensated by the weapon’s superb potential accuracy and, considering its precision tolerances and open toggle breech, remarkably reliability in the field.
When the Winter War started in 1939, there were well over 10,000 Luger pistols in Finland. The M/23 Parabellum service pistol was the most widely used handgun in Finnish combat units in World War II. The Finns lost half the Lugers during the Winter War(1939-1944) due to attrition and losses.
There were at least 35 variations of the Luger in existence.
The Luger hangs well, is pleasant to shoot, and takes advantage of the exceptional 9mm Parabellum cartridge. It is prone to jam if mud or sand gets into the action, but otherwise it has no faults. Germany produced over four million P08s, and very similar pistols can still be found on the market today.
The P08 is the German pistol in game.
