No other pistol has ever matched the sheer mystique of the Luger.
Since 1900, this amazing handgun has had a special place in the heart of every one who has been lucky enough to own one.
It's roots lay with Hugo Borchardt, who in 1893, invented the Borchardt pistol, the world's first removable magazine semi auto pistol.
Based on the toggle action of the Maxim 1884 machine gun, the Borchardt also fired a slightly weaker version of what would become the 7.63 Mauser cartridge.
Georg Luger took this design, and refined it, making the grip ergonometric, a natural pointer, and he also recalibered it in 7.65 Luger. He redesigned the strange clockwork Borchardt mainspring into a more compact single leaf spring.
By 1900, the Luger had been adopted by the Swiss Army. By 1904, the main spring had become a coil spring, and the pistol had been upgraded to 9mm Parabellum. In 1906, the grip safety was deleted, and by 1908, the Luger we are most familiar with today was in production, complete with shoulder stock mounting lug on the rear grip strap. 1908 was also the year the Luger was adopted by the German Army, thus the designation Pistole 08, or P-08. Countless variations occured over the next few decades, and several different manufacturers produced the largely hand fitted pistols.
A Luger in one's collection is usually one of the last pistols one would ever part with. They just feel special. One can choose a target, close one's eyes, and raise the gun to where one thinks the target is, and with a Luger, chances are you will be pointing dead at it.
They are unmatched in the history of handguns for sheer artistry and recognizability.
*Everyone* knows what a Luger looks like.