Artillery Luger with holster and attachable stock
There are few
firearms are so easily recognized, admired, coveted and evoke mystery as the
Parabellum or Luger self-loading pistol. Its superb ergonomics, intricate
mechanics and luxurious bluing, so out of place in a military service sidearm,
completely sets it aside from myriad other guns.
Its sensual
lines and dark skin reminds me much more of a beautiful and mysterious
middle-eastern or South American femme
fatale than of an athletic and blond German fraulein, while the steep price tags and relative scarceness may
bring to mind a Parisian exotic dancer.
An although
primarily a military weapon adopted by many countries in the early XX century,
which would probably make it the Glock of its days, I really like the
Parabellum because it was never out of place in many other environments, be it Cinema Noir, pulp mysteries or the great
outdoors.
I remember
reading an article from the great Jack O’Connor where he mentions a relative
that used a .30 Luger to shoot desert big horn sheep, but two of my all time
favorite mentions to the Luger come from classic books from the early decades
of the XX century. I researched Theodore Roosevelt’s Through the Brazilian Wilderness to write a feature The Guns of Doubt that was once
available at Amazon Shorts, and the other is Beryl Markham’s West with the Night, and I present
extracts below to illustrate how the desirable Parabellum self-loading pistols
transcended battle fields and morphed itself into both hunting and survival
firearms.
“The last gun
of notice of the American team is Kermit’s Luger, which he uses to shoot birds
and small game. Although as in the previous case, the gun specification is not
clear, we know it had a detachable stock because Colonel Roosevelt refers to it
in a passage as a “belt carbine”. There are also strong evidence that this
particular Luger was a pistol chambered in 30 Luger, or 7,65 mm Parabellum with
barrel length around six inches, instead of the Model 1902 Carbine which had a
much longer barrel, around 12 inches, with a forearm and a much more elaborated
detachable stock.
The reason for
the conclusion above is that Mr. Fiala mentions in the Appendix B of Through the Brazilian Wilderness that ‘a
25 or 30 caliber high-power automatic pistol with six or seven inch barrel
would prove a valuable arm to carry always on the person.’ He goes on
describing the several possible uses and advantages of having such gun,
including the need to carry several loaded magazines, but he strangely
complains that ‘there is nothing in the market of this character.’
A strong
reason for always carrying the pistol on the person is that Mr. Fiala, who took
a different route than the main body of the expedition before they went down
the Rio da Dúvida and into the Green Hell, lost all their guns in a canoe
accident and had serious problems in securing food through hunting.”
Rodrigo Meirelles – The Guns of
Doubt
“Meanwhile,
haven’t I got two quarts of water, a pound of biltong — and the doctor’s
bottled sleep (should I be hors de combat and the Siafu hungry that night)? I
certainly have, and, moreover, I am not defenseless. I have a Luger in my
locker — a gun that Tom has insisted on my carrying, and which can be used as a
short rifle simply by adjusting its emergency stock. What could be better? I am
an expedition by myself, complete with rations, a weapon, and a book to read
— Air Navigation, by Weems.”
Beryl Markham – West with the
Night
Maybe a day I
will have a Luger in my haversack.
