ammo for p38 and luger
ammo for p38 and luger
Would shooting winchester, american eagle, blazer be harmfull to fire through these? I replaced the original springs in both guns, as am afraid of the originals being weak causing more heavy slamming back and forth compared to new stiff springs. Dont fire 100's of rounds per rare outing, just enough to stretch their legs for excersize. Im shocked at how accurate a luger is with all the moving parts.
-
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS
- Field Marshal
- Posts: 2452
- Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2005 12:24 am
- Anti-spam: Mg42
- Location: Minnesota
Re: ammo for p38 and luger
No. Most commercially made ammo is actually near the bottom end of the power spectrum within the tolerance that the cartridge was originally designed for. Lugers are ammo-finicky as a rule. Most will eat weak commercial ammo just fine. I use Winchester 115 or 124 grain in the white box or Fiocchi brand (very nice). The Luger can jam if you use bullet shaped that are not the original ball shape, such as hollowpoint and others. Lugers are pretty finicky with respect to changes to the overall length of the cartridge too. Some Lugers can have jamming problems, others don't, if the dimensions of the cartridge are altered.
Even though the springs are old, the gun springs usually still have plenty of life in them. The Luger is a careful balance between cartridge power and spring strength. If the rounds you shoot are too weak or too strong, you get feeding problems and jams. The typical Luger jam is when the bullet is pointing skyward and the casing is trapped between the breech and the breech block, called a "stovepipe". The biggest enemy of the Luger as far as reliability is dirt. This is not a problem for the occasional target range shooter. To save wear on the original magazines, buy yourself a couple MecGar mags for the Luger for about $25 each. They appear slightly different that the originals, but are much more reliable and better that using original mags. Use these for shooting practice and save the original mag as collectibles, because they do wear out. Me and my brother occasionally shoot our Lugers and P-38's with few problems. If your gun is all matching with its original finish, you probably want to not shoot it, keep it as a collectible only, and shoot reblued or mismatched shooter grade guns.
Even though the springs are old, the gun springs usually still have plenty of life in them. The Luger is a careful balance between cartridge power and spring strength. If the rounds you shoot are too weak or too strong, you get feeding problems and jams. The typical Luger jam is when the bullet is pointing skyward and the casing is trapped between the breech and the breech block, called a "stovepipe". The biggest enemy of the Luger as far as reliability is dirt. This is not a problem for the occasional target range shooter. To save wear on the original magazines, buy yourself a couple MecGar mags for the Luger for about $25 each. They appear slightly different that the originals, but are much more reliable and better that using original mags. Use these for shooting practice and save the original mag as collectibles, because they do wear out. Me and my brother occasionally shoot our Lugers and P-38's with few problems. If your gun is all matching with its original finish, you probably want to not shoot it, keep it as a collectible only, and shoot reblued or mismatched shooter grade guns.
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS
Knight's Armoury
Knight's Armoury
Re: ammo for p38 and luger
Thanks for the tip.. So far the luger and p38 havent jammed once, and have been tack drivers. Ive shot only winchester whitebox, or american eagle out of them, but read somewhere someone warning against modern commercial ammo out of them (im not retarded enough to shoot +p out of them 
). The luger is I think a reblue, so im not totally concerned, and P38 gets MAYBE 2 clips an outing through it. Just wanted to get a consensus on toggle/slide damage using new ammo, even if springs were swapped (originals put away). Here in MA, its not common to come across a luger or p38 on the range due to our laws on handgun transfers (thank god for c&r's!), and find it neat when old wwii vets come over to see some of the wwii weapons I bring out. Had one guy who said he was a (cant pronounce the name) equivilent of a Captain in the 140th something grenadiers, and hadnt seen a luger p38 or k98 since the end of wwii when he came here. And had my grandfather turn pale white when he came over to wire some lights in the armory for me, and saw the m53, as he has 3 bullet holes from a mg42 in his thigh and side fromfighting in france witht he 26th infantry.
Good tip on mags, as I just looked at original mags for both. I was looking to pick up a spare of each for the holsters, and cant believe their cost now compared to 7-8 years ago. So ill look into a couple repros for both, and save the originals.
). The luger is I think a reblue, so im not totally concerned, and P38 gets MAYBE 2 clips an outing through it. Just wanted to get a consensus on toggle/slide damage using new ammo, even if springs were swapped (originals put away). Here in MA, its not common to come across a luger or p38 on the range due to our laws on handgun transfers (thank god for c&r's!), and find it neat when old wwii vets come over to see some of the wwii weapons I bring out. Had one guy who said he was a (cant pronounce the name) equivilent of a Captain in the 140th something grenadiers, and hadnt seen a luger p38 or k98 since the end of wwii when he came here. And had my grandfather turn pale white when he came over to wire some lights in the armory for me, and saw the m53, as he has 3 bullet holes from a mg42 in his thigh and side fromfighting in france witht he 26th infantry.Good tip on mags, as I just looked at original mags for both. I was looking to pick up a spare of each for the holsters, and cant believe their cost now compared to 7-8 years ago. So ill look into a couple repros for both, and save the originals.