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The Luger pistol was and has always been manufactured to very high standards and thus has a very long service life, far in excess of 100 years if properly maintained and cared for. Because the barrel is fixed to the frame, Lugers are very accurate pistols.
The first Luger pistols fired the 7.63 mm Borchardt pistol cartridge, which was anemic by any standard.
The Swiss Army evaluated the Luger pistol and after a change to the more potent 7.65 mm Luger cartridge adapted it as its military sidearm, named the Ordonnanzpistole 00 or OP00.
Next the Luger pistol was accepted by the German Navy, and in 1908 (P-08) by the German Army after the caliber was changed to 9 mm Luger as the 7.65 mm Luger cartridge was considered as being too weak.
The Luger P-08 was the standard sidearm for the German army during both world wars, but was being replaced by the Walther P38 by 1942. By that time the Luger pistol was simply too expensive for military use due to its high standard of manufacturing. By that time Walther was manufacturing both the Walther P38 and the Luger P-08.
Reasons for the demise of the Luger pistols military career have been its dislike of dirt and dust resulting in malfunctions and its inability to fire various types of ammunition56 mm ammunition Ammunition is a generic military term meaning (the assembly of) a projectile and its propellant. It is derived through French from the Latin munire (to provide). For rifles and handguns, it is called bullets. For large caliber guns, it is as it was designed for a specific power level. The Walther P-38 was less problematic in these fields.
Although obsolete in many ways today, the Luger is still sought after by collectors both for its sleek design, good accuracy, great durability and to some extent by its connection to Nazi Germany. In Switzerland, the OP00 is still being used in sports shooting events because of its accuracy.
Production of the Luger P-08 ended when Walther refurbished a lot of Lugers in 1999For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the UN. Events Kosovo War Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy Y2K prep for the pistol's 100 years anniversary.
Thousands of Lugers were brought back as souvenirs by American GIAlternate uses: GI (disambiguation In common American usage, GI is either an adjective used to describe government-issued products such as those used by the armed forces, or as a noun referring to American soldiers, especially US Army enlisted personnel .s after World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, and are still in circulation. Modern look-alike pistols are built by several companies.
The Luger uses a jointed arm (the joint is sometimes called a knee) that locks in the extended position. Upon recoiling with the barrel, a cam strikes the joint, causing the arm to hinge and the cartridgeA cartridge or round packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisly made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head ( case to extract, beginning the firing sequence again.