Philosophy

I love it, but I don't know why.....

Well, it certainly does look eccentric and out of the ordinary. But then again it is very easy to recognize the Luger Parabellum Pistol. Even when I was still a child, I learnt to treat the words "Parabellum Pistol", "Luger" and above all, the Imperial German Army classification "Null-Acht" ("Zero-Eight") with respect.

Later, when I was an apprentice gunsmith, it often saved me from heaving to file endless, monotonous surfaces onto a series of different objects: gun sights, telescopic sight mounts and above all, on the mandatory steel cubes that all German apprentices have to practice on.

It was just these cubes that led to my first doubts as to whether I had chosen the right profession. These simple pieces of ferrous metal would always get smaller and smallerwithout ever conforming to the exacting standards of a precise cube. And then one day, a "Zero Eight" appeared on my work-bench. Even though it was badly rust-pitted, I spent the next few weeks on a complete restoration project...

Apart from achieving my gunsmith's Master Craftsman title, I also gained extensive insight into all aspects of military weapons maintenance as Inspector, Quality Control Armaments, as Foreman, Small Arms Repair and as Chief, Small Arms Repair with the United States Forces in Germany (U.S. Army).

And it was due to my experience with American weapons systems that I came to realize that various adaptions of Hiram Maxim's toggle action breech-block are still much in use in today's light machine guns. Thus, it can hardly be denied that the toggle action can also be subjected to an evolutionary process. Technological innovation and improvements have always rightly been founded on the basis of previously proven systems. What could be more conclusive than to revive the Parabellum Pistol in accordance with its conception as a "universal weapon", utilizing modern military technology?

Would Herr Luger have approved of this? I sincerely believe that he would have recognized that this method was identical to his own approach. And it is much easier for us today to provide an affirmative answer to this question. Georg Luger re-designed and improved the unwieldy and awkward Borchardt C/93 Pistol to make it serviceable and practical for military use. He never regarded his adaption of the Borchardt Pistol as a sacrilege and Luger would have been the first to approve the application of further improvements.

The toggle action may well be obsolete and many would regard the Luger Pistol as a part of history. But it is often of great value to learn from and to revive history. John Martz in U.S.A., Nedbal in Vienna, Hakan Spuhr in Sweden, Böddecker & Wagner, KTS and many others have followed this path.

Where can we possess our own genuine piece of history and participate in this adventure in technology? The many mismatched "VoPo 08 Lugers" present us with a creative opportunity. And maybe even an opportunity to measure our own skills against a masterpiece!

I believe that I unintentionally achieved this aim with my design of a new "Baby Luger" the "Toggle Release" and the "Gasoperated Luger Carbine". Mr. Georg Luger made his own pistol for personal use with a magazine capacity of seven munds. To achive this, he adapted the grip-safety design. But to achieve six rounds this was only possible by utilizing a grip-frame with a stock lug...

These experiments with the original design lead to a great respect for the ingenuity and the achievements of original craftsmen and designers who made the Luger Pistol with the machinery and the equipment of that day and age. We can keep history in museums or we can keep it alive.

I believe that we owe it to our predecessors to keep their traditions alive.