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Last Updated: Aug 28, 2009 - 10:45:21 AM |
The firm of H. Krieghoff GmbH (Jagdwaffen und Sportwaffen) is now best known for its "best quality" shotguns and rifles, but the company also made 14,000 Luger Model P08s (Pistole 08) from 1934 through 1945, but a small portion of the estimated 3.5 million made. (Krieghoff received a large machine gun contract in 1940, so P08 production was severely curtailed.) The P08s were ordered by Herman Goering for the Luftwaffe, but few were ever carried by pilots. Instead, they were issued to ground troops – primarily the anti-aircraft units which were part of the German Air Force. In any event, a Krieghoff Luger is a desirable Luger collector item.
My interest and knowledge of this version was reignited when I had occasion recently to work with one of two attorneys where I was retained as a firearms expert for the defense (involving an unrelated handgun). One of the attorneys mentioned knowing Dieter Krieghoff, grandson of the firm’s founder who lives in the immediate area, and asked if I would be interested in having lunch with the two of them sometime. He also then brought me "The Krieghoff Parabellum Luger" book by Randall Gibson (pub.1980), which I read during breaks.
We didn’t connect for lunch and I thought no more about the subject until I was at the IWA Show in Nurnberg, Germany and passed by the Krieghoff booth – three times and by mistake. Taking this as some sort of "sign," I found and spoke with Dieter who, after the usual small talk, asked if I had noticed the Luger they had on display, mounted on a rotating and lighted pedestal. He then went on the explain that it was a brand new gun made following the original blueprints and following, as closely as possible, the original methods of manufacture, down to remaking the Bakelite grips using the original plastic composition. He assured me the magazine fits and functions in all Krieghoff Lugers. He also said the remake was done just to see if it were possible and not in anyway intended to contravene company policy, established after World War II – to never again make weapons of war; to only make hunting and sporting arms.
The guns are numbered from 18,000 to 18,200 and replicate the commercial P08 of the original manufacture. He does not anticipate them being imported into the USA, as he estimated the gun would have to retail at about 15,000 euros. With the exchange rate what it is right now, U.S. retail would be in the $18,000+ range!
The bad news is he was not inclined to take the sample out of the showcase for inspection or photographs, but the good news is he provided a CD with a few photos which, in their original TIFF format, show great detail. Unfortunately, due to website limitations on digital photos, what appears here is the best that can be done.
Click on picture to enlarge.
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"They don’t make them like the used to" – and I’m sure glad they don’t. We could not afford to own any!
© Copyright 2006 by DOWN RANGE TV
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