The strength and raw simplicity of the Colt M-1911 pistol has kept it in long service to this day, while the Luger P-08 has long since become a historical relic.
In the late 19th century, in Germany, Austrian designer Georg Luger designed a handgun, which operated in a recoil mechanism using an internal hammer and a novel elbow mechanism. When fired, the barrel and the crank mechanism move backwards until they touch a camshaft linked to the elbow, pushing the cartridge out. Then a spring pushes the elbow to close and feed the next bullet into the barrel. The result is a handy sized pistol that holds up to 7 7.65mm Parabellum rounds in a removable cartridge. In 1904, this pistol was upgraded to accommodate the new 9x19mm cartridge, in 1908 it was used as the main gun of several German military units, officially known as P.08 or Luger. The Luger pistol has a beautiful design, smooth crank mechanism, and is a durable, quality gun, but the manufacturing process is complicated and time consuming. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were no modern equipment to produce parts with detailed precision, so each part of each Luger was machined by hand. Small variations in size and finish require skilled people to assemble each finished gun, ensuring smooth and reliable operation. This is a laborious process and when completed, each part of the gun will be serialized. The gun was then disassembled, and the parts were water-stained with blue steel and hardened for durability. Once completed, the gun will be reassembled based on the serial number to ensure that the parts match. That’s why a genuine Luger has a serial number stamped on almost every part and each gun is a finished work of German precision technology. But the Luger gun is not perfect. The mechanism for linking the trigger to the internal hammer is quite long and complex. The trigger is weak and inaccurate despite being light. The rear sight is mounted on part of the elbow, so when firing the elbow rises, blocking the target’s view for a while. However, the Luger worked well, and the elbow mechanism absorbed a lot of the gun’s recoil, making it easy for the shooter to keep aiming. The Luger barrel is a detachable part, with three different barrel lengths: 100mm, 150mm and 200mm. Also at the end of the 19th century, in America John Moses Browning was also designing a self-loading pistol. His first design was completed in 1897, it had a slide that pushed back by gas and ejected the cartridge. A set of springs then pushes the slide forward to load the next round into the barrel. This .32 ACP pistol proved to be extremely reliable and easy to manufacture. In addition to the safety lock on the left side, Browning’s new gun also has a grip safety device, meaning it can only be fired when the rear portion of the handle is compressed. So the gun will not explode if dropped. During tests held in 1910, the new gun fired 5,000 rounds in a single batch, and when the gun overheated, simply dipped in a bucket of water to cool. In 1911, the gun was chosen as the main pistol of the US military, with the designation M-1911, using .45 ACP ammunition. Like the Luger, the early M-1911 pistols weren’t perfect. The rear aiming point is quite small and some people find the reach to the trigger too long. Furthermore, for the first time, shooters learned what a “smasher bite” is, a condition in which the skin between the thumb and forefinger can be painfully clamped between the hammer and the barrel when the cap slides. backward. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, two pistols faced each other in combat for the first time. The Luger may look like the ultimate weapon, a model of precision engineered advanced engineering. Compared to Luger, Colt looks a bit rough. Early M-1911s had a slide that didn’t fit into the body of the gun and could make a rattling noise if the gun was shaken. However, this also means that manufacturing tolerances are less stringent and the Colt can be manufactured cheaper and faster than the Luger. Luger does not perform well in sandy, dusty or muddy conditions. Small tolerances in the crank mechanism tend to jam the gun too easily. Worse still, if a Luger is damaged that cannot be repaired by taking parts from another Luger, it must be replaced with a brand new Luger. In contrast, the Colt M-1911 pistol can fire in all conditions. Its greater tolerance means it is less likely to jam, even after being dropped in the mud, the .45 ACP bullet has much stronger resistance than the 9mm Luger bullet. Parts are also interchangeable between Colts making field repairs much quicker. The relatively simple Colt proved superior to the complex, precision-built Luger. From 1938, the Luger was gradually replaced by the simpler Walther P.38. During World War II, only colonel officers were equipped with Lugers, due to limited numbers. However, the demand for pistols was growing at the time, causing production of the Luger P-08 to continue until 1944. The strength and raw simplicity of the Colt M-1911 allowed it to continue to serve long to date, while the Luger has long since become a historical relic. Image source: Pinterest. Close-up of the performance of the M1911 pistol. Source: Shwence.
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