Pistol Parabellum
| Luger (Parabellum) | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Luger P08
|
|
| Type | Semi-automatic pistol |
| Place of origin | German Empire |
| Service history | |
| In service |
German Empire (1904–1918) Weimar Republic (1919–1933) Nazi Germany (1933–1945) Switzerland (1900–early 1970s) Other countries (1900–present) |
| Used by | See Users |
| Wars |
Boxer Rebellion World War I German Revolution Spanish Civil War World War II Second Sino-Japanese War Indonesian National Revolution Chinese Civil War Korean War (limited use) Vietnam War (limited use) Rhodesian Bush War |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Georg J. Luger |
| Designed | 1898 |
| Manufacturer | Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, Imperial Arsenals of Erfurt, Simson, Krieghoff, Mauser, Vickers Ltd (final assembly only), Waffenfabrik Bern |
| Unit cost | $13 or 32 RM |
| Produced | 1900–1943 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 871 grams (1.92 pounds) |
| Length | 222 mm (8.74 in) |
| Barrel length | 120 mm / 4.7 in (Pistole 00) 100 mm / 3.9 in (Pistole 08) 200 mm / 7.9 in (Artillery model) |
|
|
|
| Cartridge |
7.65×21mm Parabellum 9×19mm Parabellum |
| Action | Toggle-locked, short recoil |
| Rate of fire | 116 rpm (fired semi-automatically, one shot per trigger pull) |
| Muzzle velocity | 350–400 m/s (1148–1312 f/s; 9mm, 100 mm barrel) |
| Effective firing range | 50 m (9mm, 100 mm barrel; short barrel) |
| Feed system | 8-round detachable box magazine, 32-round detachable drum |
| Sights | Iron sights |
The Pistole Parabellum—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known in the United States as just Luger—is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol produced in several models and by several nations from 1898 to 1948. The design was first patented by Georg Luger as an improvement upon the Borchardt Automatic Pistol, and was produced as the Parabellum Automatic Pistol, Borchardt-Luger System by the German arms manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). The first production model was known as the Modell 1900 Parabellum. Later versions included the Pistol Parabellum Model 1908 or P08 which was produced by DWM and other manufacturers such as W+F Bern, Krieghoff, Simson, Mauser, and Vickers; The first Parabellum pistol was adopted by the Swiss army in May 1900. In German Army service, the Parabellum was later adopted in modified form as the Pistol Model 1908 (P08) in caliber 9×19mm Parabellum. The Model 08 was eventually succeeded in and partly replaced by the Walther P38.
The Luger is well known from its use by Germans during World War I and World War II, along with the interwar Weimar Republic and the postwar East German Volkspolizei. Although the P.08 was introduced in 7.65mm Parabellum, it is notable for being the pistol for which the 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as the 9×19mm Luger) cartridge was developed. Because of its association with Nazi Germany, the pistol has been used in fictional works by many villainous characters over the past several decades.
One of the first semi-automatic pistols, the Luger was designed to use a toggle-lock action, which uses a jointed arm to lock, as opposed to the slide actions of almost every other semi-automatic pistol. After a round is fired, the barrel and toggle assembly (both locked together at this point) travel rearward due to recoil. After moving roughly 13 mm (0.5 in) rearward, the toggle strikes a cam built into the frame, causing the knee joint to hinge and the toggle and breech assembly to unlock. At this point the barrel impacts the frame and stops its rearward movement, but the toggle assembly continues moving (bending the knee joint) due to momentum, extracting the spent casing from the chamber and ejecting it. The toggle and breech assembly subsequently travel forward under spring tension and the next round from the magazine is loaded into the chamber. The entire sequence occurs in a fraction of a second. This mechanism works well for higher-pressure cartridges, but cartridges loaded to a lower pressure can cause the pistol to malfunction because they do not generate enough recoil to work the action fully. This results in either the breech block not clearing the top cartridge of the magazine, or becoming jammed open on the cartridge's base. While this phenomenon of malfunctions with under-powered cartridges can and does occur with Browning-type and other pistol designs, it is true that the Luger tends to be quite sensitive to changes in cartridges made to specifications other than the high-quality German-made brass-cased ammunition it was designed to use exclusively.
...
Wikipedia