Ludwig Loewe (November 27, 1837 - died September 11, 1886), in Heiligenstadt, Germany and was a German merchant, manufacturer, philanthropist and a member of the Reichstag. Loewe’s companies became involved in the production of armaments, employing famous designers and creating notable guns.

    Loewe set up Ludwig Loewe Commanditgesellschaft auf Aktien für Fabrikation von Nähmaschinen A.G. in 1869 to produce sewing machines. In 1872 an agreement was reached with the Germany army to produce rifles for them. For this he set up a separate armaments company Ludwig Loewe & Company (also known as Loewe & Company).

    Loewe's armaments company was famous in that it held a controlling interest in Waffenfabrik Mauser so was able to reap financial success from the C96 pistol when Loewe's own Borchardt C-93 semi-automatic pistol, designed by employee Hugo Borcharddt, a native German who had worked at Winchester Singer, and Sharps, the Borchardt pistol that takes his name was the first semiautomatic widely advertised in both America and Great Britain. As introduced in 1893, it was an expensive and less-than-elegant gun, with a 90[degrees] grip-to-frame angle and a mechanism that overhung the shooter's wrist. It fired the 7.65mm Borchardt cartridge that was interchangeable with the later 7.63mm Mauser cartridge. The importance of the Borchardt is derived from the fact that it used a reliable and relatively powerful cartridge that was held in a removable magazine placed within the grip of the receiver, a characteristic that would influence almost all subsequent commercial self-loaders right up to today. Aditionally, the gun introduced the Maxim-derived toggle action and retracting barrel that would be refined in Georg Luger's pistol. The Borchardt was available as a pistol and as a carbine with a detachable stock and attached holster, a variation that Luger and Mauser employed.

    Ludwig Loewe & Company also employed Georg Luger(March 6 1849-December 22,1923), was born in Steinach am Brenner, Austria during the period of revolutionary turmoil in central Europe. An acquaintance of von Mannlicher's and an ex-soldier, Luger was hired by the Ludwig Loewe firm in 1891 to promote the Mannlicher rifle and the C-93 Borchardt pistol. He was soon involved in marketing the Borchardt pistol internationally, including in the U.S. Having failed at U.S. military trials in 1897, the Borchardt was submitted to the Swiss government in the following year in a version influenced by Luger. The Swiss stated that they wanted a smaller weapon with an external safety, and so Georg went to work on a gun that the then-DWM offered in 1899 with a modified 7.65mm cartridge.

    The new gun weighed only 30 ozs. and was only 9" long in comparison to the 14" Borchardt. The company named the gun Pistole Parabellum and the cartridge it used, the 7.65mm Parabellum. The name obviously came from a reference to the Swiss martial attitude and the famous Latin saying "Si vis pacem par bellum," which in German translates into "Bereite den krieg vor parabellum." If you desire peace, prepare for war,Parabellum.

    Finally, two years later in 1901, the Swiss ordered 3,000 Parabellums from DWM for service use. The Swiss authorities would refer to this historic gun as the Pistole 1900. These first guns bore grip safties and the Geneva Cross national emblem over the chamber. Success with the neutral Swiss led to new DWM trials in the U.S., after which a number of 1900s were in fact purchased by the American government, only to be disposed of soon after on the commercial market. The weapons differed in that they carried an eagle in place of the Swiss Cross in deference to the U.S. national emblem, thus subsequently they were referred to by collectors as the "American Eagle" Luger.

    The big potential catch for Luger and DWM was represented by the German military market. On requests that a more formidable cartridge be chambered by the Parabellum, Luger took the simple step of opening up the bottle-necked 7.65mm cartridge. The straightwall ammunition that resulted was the 9mm Parabellum.

     The original loading used a conoidal bullet with a flat tip. As the popularity of the round flourished in later years, being used in other pistols and SMGs, the bullet was changed in 1917 to a more rounded shape to facilitate better reliablity of cycling. The shape still dominates today, 84 years later.

    The first "German" Luger, were in 9mm had fatter, shorter barrels than the 7.65mm's, at 4" instead of 4.75". The simple solution paid off and finally, in 1904, the Marine Model 1904 was approved for acquisition by the German Navy. Thus was born DWM's first "German" Luger. This first official German Luger displayed flat toggle grips, a two-position (100m and 200m) sight on the rear of the toggle, the 1900's grip safety, a 6" barrel and a flat mainspring. Following the example of Borchardt and Mauser, in the same year a carbine model was introduced with an 11.75" barrel, detachable stock and additional wooden forend. It was chambered in 7.65mm only. The year 1906 saw some minor yet significant changes to the original design. A far more robust coil mainspring replaced the flat one and the gun was fitted with an extractor that was also a loaded chamber indicator, revealing the word "Geladen" (loaded) on charging. The indicator was tactile as well as visual. Soon after the Model 1906 was introduced, the Swiss ordered more Lugers in 7.65, followed by the Portugese and Dutch. American Eagle sales to the American public continued as did DWM perseverance on the military market, with the manufacture of two .45 caliber variants for new U.S. trials.

    As a result of these army tests the Ordinance Department submitted an order for 200 Parabellums. Nothing became of this request as the DWM agent in New York failed to follow through, and the rest, as they say, is history. Experts speculate that the Luger came within a hair's breadth of becoming the U.S. official sidearm, doomed only by a negligent clerk in New York. We will never know. In any event, it is intriguing to imagine how close the Luger came to being the weapon of choice for both sides of a world war.

    In the following year the Luger, in the guise of the 9mm P-08, became the official pistol of the German Army. Army Adoption The P-08, the most famous incarnation of Georg Luger's improvement on the Borchardt, initially had a 4" 9mm barrel. The grip safety was done away with and the crest was that of the Erfurt Royal Arsenal of Saxony, accompanied by the year of manufacture. The Navy followed with a new Luger variant which matched their original specifications, but following the Army's lead, was without the grip safety. Over 250,000 P-08s were made for various countries in this period, so correctly identifying a member of a given series is challenging. In general, a specific model's identity can be deduced by examining the individual gun's serial number, which run up to the high 70,000s plus one letter of the alphabet. The crest, usually depicting the national emblem of the purchasing government, is also an identifying mark as is the date of manufacture.

    In 1914, the Model 08/14 Navy Parabellum was introduced. It sported an 8" barrel with a tangent sight at the rear, a shoulder stock/holster and a 32 round snail-drum magazine. Unreliable, the magazine was soon discarded. After the war, the variations on the standard Luger theme grew significantly, despite the strictures of the Versailles Treaty which forbade Germany's making handguns in calibers above 8mm or with barrels in excess of 3.75". Naturally, the immediate Teutonic response was a retooling to 7.65mm and a 3.675" barrel. As a result of the war footing of the nation, thousands upon thousands of Lugers had already been made, in addition to thousands upon thousands of Luger components that were never assembled. Companies such as Vickers of England and Simson & Son of Suhl took advantage of this and manufactured, or assembled, their own versions as they obtained access to these parts. In 1924, the Swiss made minor modifications to the design and proceeded to manufacture the resultant gun domestically with markings from the government aresnal in Bern.

    In 1930 DWM's Luger tooling was transferred to the Mauser plant in Oberndorf, home of Heckler & Koch today, where commercial pistols were manufactured between 1936 and 1940 and bore the Mauser banner. As war footing was reinstated, Krieghoff also began manufacture of the Luger, predominantly for use by the Luftwaffe, but also for the commercial market.

    While the Luger is a finely-made gun, it really is not a finicky one. When you hear tales of bad reliability, you should remember that the original cartridge for which it was designed was fairly hot, original DWM loading pushed a 124 gr. bullet at 1,250 fps, with some contemporary loads pushing 1,350 fps. The toggle-action needs such loads to function properly.

    The possibilities of another world war eventually forced Berlin to move towards a more cost-efficient family of weapons, ranging from the P-38 and the Sturmgewehr to the Panzerfaust. As a result, costly guns such as the Luger would have a limited life. Production halted in 1942, in favor of the Walther P-38. Even so, conservative estimates have it that there have been at least 3.5 million Lugers made by the various companies and governments. The Luger was chosen to serve by Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Holland, Iran, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and, of course, Germany. In fact, not even the combined effect of the arrival of cheaper handguns or Germany's defeat could ring the deathknell of Luger's wonder. Since 1945, the gun has reappeared in numerous guises. Mauser brought out a version. There was a .22 LR imitation from Erma and a stainless one by Stoeger. There's some history here, as this company traces its roots back A.F. Stoeger, the New York distributor of Lugers in the 1920s. It was this company that actually registered the word "Luger" as a legal trademark in the U.S.

    After Loewe died in Berlin his younger brother Isidor Loewe took over the running of the company. The name of the main company was eventually changed to Gesellschaft für Elektrische Unternehmungen Ludwig Loewe & Co. A.G.. This 'Loewe Group' of companies had three main products: electricity, machinery, and armaments. Considering everything that he had contributed to Germany, Loewe was still criticised because of his Jewish faith, something which also affected his family. (It is to be noted that no mention was made whether he was practicing his faith.) His estate was later claimed by the Nazi government in the 1930s, and a claim was made against this action later on by his descendants.

    In the end, the Luger remains a perfect gun to serve as the center of a collection. The dozens of versions on the collectors' market means that such a hobby will prove a long-term one, full of challenges. At the same time, the keen gun show participant can still pick up a functioning yet mismatched "shooter" for less than a new S&W revolver. Even if the gun is a .30 caliber instead of 9mm, there are manufacturers making cartridges in .30 Luger today.