Miniature Arms Journal - January, 2009 - p. 12

MakingaMiniatureNavyLugerrrrr

Miniature chest open,showing thePO4 with

all its accessories .

MichelLefaivre

Miniature Arms Journal - January, 2009 - p. 13

model rather than a miniature.Tomyopinion, the term �Miniature� shouldbe used for a piece made below ½scale�. A reduction of 2/5, 1/3 orsmaller makes the miniature moredifficult to realize. We have alreadyseen a marvellous set of Lugers at ¼

For many years, I would saysince the early sixties, I have had�Miniature-Luger-fever�. I caughtit, when, for the first time, I saw thequality of the ½ scale Lugers be-longing to my friend Jo Kramer,which were made by the late RayHutchens of Indianapolis and LeonCrottet from Switzerland. Thepieces made byMaster David Kucerof Montreal also contributed to mystrong desire to join these fine miniLuger makers. Although I�ve tem-porarily put on hold the making ofminiature Boutet flintlocks in favourof Mr Hugo Luger, I�m still a loverof the Manufacture of Versailles.(See MAS bulletin spring 2004)

�Make your dream come true�was simply my motivation.

To my knowledge - as far as Ican observe - in the past forty yearsthere are only three master makers,as mentioned above, that have beenable to make such outstanding trea-sures.Two of them havewonderfullymade their models at ½ scale, theother at 2/5th scale . I personallyconsider a ½ scale reduction a scale

scale, (that won the 2001 MAS sil-ver medal, if I remember right) but itwas too small to show any engrav-ings, knurlings and grips checkering.There is a scale limit, below which itbecomes almost impossible to createthe tiny details.The well documentedJoKramer�s book �ScaleModel Fire-arms� clearly reflects and describeswhat perfection means.

It was also fascinating to recentlydiscover 1/6 scale �Mini marvels�coming from Japan, but I have notyet seen a Luger at this scale ! I amconvinced that hidden somewhere inthis world there are other miniatureLugermakers that would also deserveto be known�.

So, making a fully functioningminiature Luger with all its details,whatever the model, in strict accor-dance with the original, without anycompromise and that can even fire,is a real challenge in itself. This re-quires not only adequate tooling, es-pecially a high precision milling ma-chine, a good lathe, and a drill press,but also the skills of a good fitter and

Miniature on top of its walnut chest. A full scale pair of tracing compasses anda clockmaker /jeweller eye magnifier are shown for scale comparison .

Miniature shown in Michel�s palm hand.

Miniature Arms Journal - January, 2009 - p. 14

machinist. Not to mention a greatquantity of small hand files, burrs,mills, taps, polishing discs, drills, ofany size and shape. Everything startsby engineering work, establishing allthe manufacturing drawings, withscale dimensions and tolerances,based on full size parts.

Among the fewminiature Lugersthat I have made so far (Only 3) I�mpleased to present here my last work,which is a 2/5 scale Navy Luger

Below: Closeup showing details of markings on the mini:Note typical Imperial Navy stamps and proofs on the receiverside and barrel..

Left: Magazine is beingpulled out of the pistol.Note the typical threeconcentric rings on knobof the plain-wood bottom.

Left: The 2/5 scale Navy Lugermagazine loaded with one 2.7mmKollibri cartridge.

model 1904, dated 1916, short frameversion, as originally ordered for theImperial Kaiserliche Marine, andmanufactured by the DWM (DeutchWaffen und Munitions) factory inBerlin. This Navy Luger has sometypical features with a longer barrel(6" instead of 4" for regular models)and is also equipped with an adjust-able two positions rear sight, locatedon the toggle, which give to this mili-tary pistol an outstanding and impres-sive look. For a long time this beau-tiful and rare gun, when in good con-ditions, has been a much sought af-ter collectible.

To start the work, the quantity ofraw material required was less thantwo pounds of 25CD4 Carbon steel(Chrome-Molybdenium). This isnegligible compared to the enormousnumber of hours of labor spent atthe work-bench: not less than tenmonths full time work to completethe miniature, including its case andaccessories! The frame and receiverwere milled out of a 3" diam. carbonsteel bar, which was first sliced/sawnto the proper thickness, and thenmachined.Afew small parts aremadefrom a much harder steel. Coilsprings are made on the lathe frompiano wire of different diameter.

Right: Top view showing the two positions(100 � 200 meters) rear sight on the toggle .

Miniature Arms Journal - January, 2009 - p. 15

Thermal treatment is applied once thecoils are machined. Flat springs aretaken out of small bars.

The last step was the hot deepblueing process off all the parts, be-fore the final reassembling and test-ing for the smoothmechanical opera-tion of the pistol.

A Luger includes many (morethan 50) complicated, functioningparts. The majority of all internalparts require machining, then pains-taking hand filing for final fitting, inorder that the firing system operatesmoothly.

The hardest parts to make werethe frame and receiver, each havinga quantity of difficult and precisemilling operations, with tight toler-ances. Abrasive stones are used onparts that have been previously hard-ened. Many parts were rejected,scraped and remade because theiraspect, dimensions and/or toleranceswere not perfect.

Theminiature is presented insidea walnut chest, with all its accesso-ries: a spare magazine, oiler, clean-

Above: All the 2/5 scale parts includedin the gun are shown on a tray. Left: Mill cutting

(parting) the completedfiring pin from a rawcarbon steel bar.

Below: Machiningoperation on the framemounted on a specialjig. ( 2 were required )

ing rod, take-down tool, box of am-munitions, inner case for spare car-tridges. On the lid of the chest isinserted a brass plate showing en-graved the DWM logo, 1916, theyear of the pistols manufacture, andKaiserliche Marine in gothic letterswith, in the middle, the historicalImperial Navy blazon. TheKaiserliche Marine, created by Kai-ser Whilhem II, was formed in 1871and ended after the treaty ofVersailles, in 1919 after the WWI.After that period, the German Navywas formed and called�Kriegsmarine�.

Miniature Arms Journal - January, 2009 - p. 16

This fully functional, mini NavyLuger will feed, shoot and eject 2.7mm Kollibri cartridges. The barrelwas riffled, with six grooves at theright twist, using a specially designedhand riffling banc, with a master spi-ral cylinder, index guide, and adjust-able HSS steel cutting tool.

Once completed, it was superblyengraved by Master Engraver YvesSampo of Paris. The unit is dated1916 above the chamber, on theframe rail, and on the front sight base.Like the original, all parts bear thesame serial number either in full orwith the two last digits. The term�Gesichert� (Locked) appears whenthe safety lever is on. The beautifulDWM logo is engraved on the toggleconnecting link. The typical Impe-rial Kaiserliche Navy stamps andproofs are engraved on the upperframe side. Tiniest striking detail:when the pistol is loaded with aKollibri cartridge in its firing cham-ber, the extractor seizing the shell, isthen protruding from the breech-block, showing on its side �Geladen�(loaded) . These details are so smallthat they can hardly be seen withouta magnifier, unless you are a Lugerspecialist and have real good sight!!.

All the accessories such as safetycatch, takedown lever, magazine re-lease button, and toggle knobs are

Below: Michel performing a precisionmilling operation on the main frame.

Left: Riffling the barrel with aspecial hand riffling banc installedon the milling machine..

nicely surface machined and knurledat scale, like their full size counter-parts, as well as straw colored wher-ever required.

The magazines took me a verylong time to reproduce, as theirshapes are complex and are made intwo parts. Special dies were designedandmachined to press the steel sheetsof the external body into the correctshape. Then, like on the original, thetwo parts were press-crimped to-gether. Tight tolerances were neces-sary to get the Kollibri cartridges tofeed correctly into the pistol. With-out the tremendous help and advicefrom �Ace of Aces� David Kucer, Iwould not have obtained such goodresults. The plain wood-bottommagazines are numbered to the gunwith their handling knobs havingthree concentric rings, another pecu-

liarity for all these Navy models.Checkering: a very fine checker-

ing of the walnut grips was done byMaster James Corpe, at 2/5 scale.At this scale, this means 60 lines perinch ! Believe me, this is very smalland besidesmaking the right tool, thisoperation requires great skills andexperience as well.

Should anyone of you desiring toundertake such work, I will be happyto give guidelines, tips, or recommen-dations to avoid many disappoint-ments and save precious time.At theend of all the time spent on this diffi-cult work, I can guaranty that therewill be tremendous personal satisfac-tion and pride to have realized, inminiature, the most complicated andmythical of pistols.

M.L.