John Martz Custom Luger Pistols - Babies, Carbines, and .45 ACP Conversions
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- John Martz was a WWII US Navy veteran who spent a career in metalworking before turning his gunsmithing hobby into a full time occupation in the 1960s. He is best known for his custom Luger pistols, and today we have a selection of them to take a look at. They fall into three main categories - carbines, baby Lugers, and caliber conversions. Most notable of the caliber conversions are his .45 ACP guns, made by cutting a Luger frame in two and widening it (plus extensive work to convert the upper assembly parts). With the extremely scarcity and value of original DWM .45ACP Lugers, Martz's conversions are quite sought after.
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That carbine is a thing of beauty
PootleMoonpig yeah its gorgeous
I own one and it is beautiful
Indeed. My eyes locked on it as soon as the picture came up. Wonderful work.
PootleMoonpig Indeed it is
I owned four of them. One went "MISSING" ATF is looking for it
"Custom gunmaker John V. Martz passed away July 15th [2013] after a brief illness. He was 88. John served in the Navy in WW2, then worked as an aircraft sheet metal worker for 25 years. In 1968 he started working on Lugers and P-38s as a hobby. He invented the Martz Safe Toggle Release, which one author once said was the one improvement George Luger should have thought of, but didn't. John was a self taught gunsmith and went on to create many beautiful Luger and P-38 works of art. He only used worn finish or mismatched Lugers as "donor guns", he would not cut up a collectible piece. He was a great guy with a great sense of humor. He will be missed."
I have several of his pistols and carbines Beautiful works of art
He was amazing
I'm proud to own one of his Lugers.
He was a Patriot, and is remembered in our prayers.
I have several of his pistols.
I have talked to him and his son several times. Amazing men.
Many years ago, I think in the early 70's, there was a small machine shop down the street from where I worked, in my spare time I would sit and watch the machinist at work. His name was Ed Korda, as it turns out, he made many of the parts for John, from scratch. There was another person who made parts for John, Bill Doorflinger.
I watched Ed machine various barrels from rifled barrel stock, I learned many of the tricks of the trade. Other parts he fabricated if I recall, the entire .45 cal magazine. He had a problem finding the proper gauge of steel, the first magazines were made form the lids of 55 gal oil drums, until he could find a proper source. He built a press and die that would fold up the sheet metal. He made the springs from music wire with a little home-built jig, then would normalize the springs after fabrication. He made the followers, the end pieces, everything that went into a magazine. It was proof that no matter how much they make magazines illegal, they can always be fabricated. He did not weld the mags, those he handed back to John who had somebody else do the welding. I recall he had drawers full of tiny parts he fabricated for the Luger. What was ironic, the machinery he used, it was antique junk The mill, don't remember the brand, I believe was a horizontal mill that he built a vertical head for. The press for fabricating magazines, he built from scratch.
By afternoon, Ed was drunk, knew enough to walk away from the shop and head to the local bar. Eventually his car died and he would have to walk home. I eventually moved on and lost touch. Years later I heard about an auction, sure enough, it was Ed's place, he had passed away. I recognized his old machinery, much had been replaced. I don't recall any of the gun parts but they could have been buried in the junk. I bid on some of the equipment, but was outbid, you have to know when to stop.
If anybody is interested, I could explain the different stages, especially of the gun barrels. This article on John Martz brought back many old memories. At the time, I had zero machinery, today I have a pretty-well stocked shop, for hobby.
Jim
Thank you for taking the time to comment this, that was a good story.
At 6:08 you tried to put the full size Luger magazine into the baby Luger, nice little edit to hide it... hahaha great vid awesome guns
Tim Campbell you can even hear him saying “Oh” as he realizes his mistake
Oh, that Baby Luger is the cutest gun l've seen in a while.
I actually got to see John Martz' workshop and a lot of the custom tooling (plus a lot of customized Lugers). Even did a little work for him in his later years. He was a fascinating guy. The tooling for the magazines he built was a sight to behold.
Wow
neat
Pulsarr1 lucky
Martz also made P38 in .45 acp and .38 Super which are awesome!!
Yes those Martz P38's are awesome. I would love the 45acp Luger and 45acp P38. The Baby Luger is badass too.
Never clicked the "like" button THAT fast before. That long-barreled Luger is epic!
44WarmocK77 haha same here what a beautyfull collection
Carbine dude lol
It looks like a Thompson Contender
Those are some impressive looking and well crafted mechanical devices.
This is the sort of dedication to a craft I would love to see in other fields (aviation, electronics housings, vehicular, home design) as small scale and ad hoc manufacturing systems become increasingly available/viable.
Sadly, govt regulation increases apace, and doing such work becomes more difficult to do so legally.
Truly amazing work on these. That carbine is gorgeous.
I never thought lugers were interesting but thanks to this channel I've had my eyes opened. Lots of history here and cool mechanics. And custom pieces like these... wow!
Beautiful guns. I have a 1977 issue of Guns & Ammo that features the stocked Lugers and Walthers. Interestingly the article states that magazines are 'mated' to each gun and may not be compatible with others.
One of the rare cases where Im okay with heavily sporterized firearms.
These look amazing.
Lugerman is making new .45 and 10mm Lugers. They're also doing baby Lugers and conversion kits for various versions. I used to go to the Barrett site to dream and drool, now I go to theirs.
Martz actually preferred to display his guns "in the white". I met him at a gunshow (Pomona Crossroads of the west) in the late 1980's, he was very gracious and is work was flawless.
Never was a Luger fan but those are beautiful. Martz clearly loved his work.
I'd carry a compact Luger
Just Another Fanboy i d do that too, damn those look beautiful
I'd carry a luger to I think their amazing guns
Just Another Fanboy if you are ever attacked and you pull it out, it is mandatory to start shouting in German
The baby in 380 he mentioned really intrigued me, that'd be an a cool little gun
Armin, it's "ZURÜCK", you subhuman.
:P
This literally brought a tear to my eye
Oh what I would give for that luger carbine.
The top estimate is 6k so have at it
DiggingForFacts yeah when I saw that I figured I could go with out it you know I feel like my land lord wouldn't like the excuse I bought a gun so I won't be able to pay rent for the next oh couple months.
It will sell for more
I want one of those babies theyre adorable
I might consider taking my top pinky off for it🙀😺
What gorgeous examples of truly beautiful gunsmithing!
The quality of these pistols is fantastic.
Beautiful work, thanks for sharing his works
Thanks for the video ian, I’m very tempted to buy a Luger now!
I'm going to have to do some research into how the carbine functions. That's super neat
Very nice work on those - thanks for sharing them with us :)
And now you know what happens when a 1911A1 and a Luger get it on.
David Green Nice!
Martz was talented for sure. I'd love a copy of one of his copy's copy's, just to tell people about it. Lugers look so cool.
I would bid on that luger carbine, but I *highly* doubt I'll snag it for $145
Theblastback yeah, I think you're missing some zeros there!
Theblastback it's worth a shot
Michael Carnes $000000000000001
Meme Watch I wish!
I’m having impure thoughts about that carbine... they are all gorgeous though!
I have one
Bravo.
Made in California
Also illegal here
the irony it burns
Big bear would be a beautifull place to shoot. also, says 3 comments but only one available. I smell youtube trickery
Handguns have to be on the California Department of Justice approved list, which requires the manufacturer to perform drop safety tests and meet a list of standard requirements. Oh and pay big fees to license each model for sale.
I've always loved Lugars, and this just makes me envious. I'd love to own that Navy Lugar, but I feel it would be too precious to shoot.
The carbine is like : im a rifle to! I'm not just a pistol!
Imagine open carry in the grocery store. Half the guys in the store would be following just to get a look at it.
It's actaully pretty surprising, given how pistol caliber carbines have seen a bit of a resurgence (though they're typically rifle patterns parsed down to a pistol caliber, rather than a pistol action upscaled into a carbine)
Those are simple and gorgeous, love to have the 45s or hell any of them
techforhire7557 "simple" on a luger video? I've never seen THAT before lol
I'd love to see a .30 Carbine Luger or C96
Wow, those look amazing.:D As a guy who loves Lugers (even named my dog Luger) I can honestly say that those look so incredibly good.:D
Thanks for a rare treat.
That Navy Luger with the Tiger stripe grips is so incredible. Though I wish it was in 9mm.
Back in the 1970's when he started making the 45 conversions I seem to remember he used two 9 mm lugers to make one 45 which added to the cost of the gun. I always wanted one but even new I seem to remember they cost over twice as much as a new Colt made 45 acp, which was around $400.00 in 1979 which would be about $1500.00 in today's money for the Colt.
Mr. Martz used two Luger frames and cut them off center and then welded them back together. I have talked to him on the phone a couple of times but, his hearing was going bad. I have a baby Luger
I've been thinking about practical purposes for these stocked pistols and one thing that came to my mind was that these would be so perfect for some early 20th century explorer/adventurer. Of course lugers or c96s wouldn't do much against a wild animal but maybe for some kind of indiana jones-type of situation, where you are against angry natives or some nazis.
Those short Lugers are super cool looking. Bada** carry gun.
Simply Amazing Martz was a Genius
those are all beasutifully machined and detailed. not your average gunsmith!
i am really interested to see what these go for. i hope there included in the auction wrap ups he dose.
Awesome video
it's so shiny it looks like it belongs to a star wars game
That baby luger is pure love
Awesome pistols!👍👍👍💯
Maaaaaan that carbine is making me knock-kneed.
I need it.
Great upload. Thanks!
Oh boy the small one👌👌👌
Oke, I'm drooling... Please do the P38 too! Pretty please with sugar on top!!!
Man those guns are awesome I would totally love to have one of those, I just want to see someone shooting that car being off hand without the stock.
Can someone please explain me something?
Why "navy" pistols seens to have longer barrerls???
they expected to see ship to ship combat, i think, like repelling boarding actions; Still i may be wrong
Theoretically you have a longer range on your sidearms if for some unusual reasons you as a navy riflemen/officer actually need to shoot someone from your ship.
It is not a universal rule. Dutch Navy Lugers have 4" barrels and Rust on them.
The idea of navy pistols being separate versions of a regular gun stems from the time, when semit-automatic (or even fully automatic) rifles were not really a thing. The navy pistol in that case replaced carbines, which necessitated higher accuracy than was possible in a pistol with a normally sized barrel.
You'll see similar arrangements for artillery pistols, where the troops using them would use the "pistol" as their primary weaponry, because they were never expected to actually use them.
This whole practice fell out of use, when semi-automatic rifles became widely used, and it never was a big deal to begin with - these weapons were almost exclusively used by NCOs and above (for example in German service during WWI, a regular sailor would be handed a normal G98).
German Navy ordered different style from Army.
I love pistol/carbines with detachable stocks. Fortunately you can own a Black Powder combo without paperwork. I think the ATF has changed their definition for original stocked C96s & Lugers from SBR to C&R that do not require paperwork. Can another commentor confirm that?
This video made me drool into the keyboard of my laptop, like Homer Simpson when he is watching a donut commercial. Thor(god) help me !
Of course, there is always a catch-22. As if a repro stock is going to make any difference whatsoever.
I own a C96 and have the letter from the ATF which says stocked C96s have been removed from NFA controls. It explicitly states that repros are fine as long as they are "close approximations" of "original stocks", which I suppose could be pushed to include a variety of prototype/experimental stocks for the C96 as well.
Thank you so much. I made a solid wood stock for my C96 and it works great. Does the letter include Lugers, Brownings, etc.?
I'm reasonably sure that Ian mentioned the Inglis Browning Hi power's had to be a matching stock to comply with the NFA (something about being produced after the NFA was introduced).
I'd imagine Luger's and even Astra 900's made before the NFA was adopted would be the same as the C96.
The letter I have makes no mention of other stocked pistols. It is also explicit on what constitutes an "original" C96. Here is the text:
"Original Mauser Model 1896 semiautomatic pistols manufactured prior to 1940 with original or reproduction wooden holster/shoulder stocks have been removed from NFA controls.
Note: Reproduction shoulder stocks, must duplicate or closely approximate the originals."
Quite impressive.
Good video
3:44 - "I got, front back, and side to side"
My god as a collector these blew me away especially I been jonsing for a new toy lately
I didn't know J Martz offered a blued Luger version. I had thought all of his were left in the white.
I thought there were only 3 .45 Lugers made for testing: One was lost, one in a collection and one in the R.W. Norton Art Gallery in Shreveport, LA (near me). Have I been lied to my whole firearms life?
WANT
We're Lugers available on the surplus market after ww2? Or were most of these .45 acp conversions done by veterans who brought them back and wanted a more common caliber in the us? It's my understanding that 9mm didn't gain popularity until later in the US.
When we're most of these conversions done?
I want one of those
God, i want that cute compact luger
I want to see a .50AE one.
How does that Luger carbine cycle btw? The barrel seems heavy and attached to the foregrip.
Hey if you ever get the chance would you do a video on the Hungarian gm6 lynx anti matter rifle?
Genius
Love it!
The baby Lugers are cute :)
People love the 45 cal Luger because they think the 45 aarp is the next best thing since sliced bread.
Sliced bread is WAY over-rated.
Is anyone in the Martz family providing production details of Johns work? I've admired Lugers for over 20 years, and finally purchased one in October of 2019. I came upon a John V. Martz (has the oval with JVM under sideplate, stamped on frame) rebuilt/refinished 1900 American Eagle DWM, early production (S/N 784*, a few hundred units after the US Trials Lugers, per Bannerman). Gun has long frame, wide trigger guard, small grip safety, Type II safety lever (high pad, cross hatch pattern), fast taper 30 Luger 4.75" barrel, NO "GERMANY" export ident on frame, NO external proofs, internal "smoking bomb" proofs on several parts, all numbers matching (even grips), nickel finish mag, no S/N on firing pin and mag/mag base (all period correct). Bluing, strawing, and flame bluing of toggle pins/grip screws/front sight are ALL +99% condition. Truly looks like a museum item. Parts exhibit no edge wear.I intended to fire it, but one look at overall condition when received (purchased off GB, based on pics/discussions with owner) has me shopping for an enclosed display case, to be displayed in the "man cave", alongside my display cased Walther P5 Lang.
Do they make luger replicas? That seems like a great market to get into.
Sir kindly inform me about extralong pistol i like it its price and where it is avalible
Hey there, does anyone know where to find out more Information about the history of my personal luger (s42 697 from 1941) any book or website recommendations?
I would like either a baby luger in 9mm or a dreyse pistol in .32
I love the carbine
Something like that carbine, I am not able to own.
The pistols I could, as long as I compete with them at least 4 times a year and maintain a membership with a pistol club.
Yes, we have strange gun laws.
I think Iraqvet8888 or whatever mentioned this is his broomhandle video recently
or something about the Luger 45 conversion
Baby Luger😍😍
Do they come in 10mm?
Luger carabine are sexy AF.
Fucking gorgeous
👍
Is there a discount for buying bulk? 😄
I wonder if the original owner of the $1m .44 was happy to see someone manufacturing other
.44s, then watching as the value of his Luger plummeted?
Might be a bit peeved I imagine.
Hey Ian would you be able to make a video on the weapons of Red Dead Redemption 2 like you did for Battlefield 1?
You mean the era/style of weaponry used during the time setting of RDR2? Pretty sure Ian has a few videos on his channel that cover at least some of them.
Thoe are some fine guns! love it! Thank you gun jesus!
God bless America.
It's too bad Martz was not trained in modern CNC machining techniques. A CNC machining center could produce new parts for .45 Lugers faster than piecing together two existing guns. I so badly want a .45 Luger...
Q arma las lindas
I bet if they make more of these nowadays ppl would buy it. In fact why don't gun manufacturers make these anymore? They still make lever guns :/
HexPallett they do make these, they're about 1200 a piece last I saw
The last attempts to make reproduction Lugers (Mitchell's) turned out rough unreliable lumps of stainless steel that resembled a Luger from a distance. Some worked OK, but most were lemons. Hold an original in one hand and the Mitchell in the other and you can feel the difference in quality.
You can also still find original shooter grade Lugers for $5-700 and no reproduction could beat that price.
The Luger design is massive and horribly complex compared to later auto-loader technology. It's simply not worth making them. The same way it's not worth making a cloth-wing biplane.
.45 luger is the sexiest thing i have ever heard of.
German engineering with a twist
Lemins!
The .45 Luger just looks out of shape to me.
ممتاز جدا متابعك من السعوديه
Very excellent indeed.
I don't know, but it seems to me that the .45 luger isn't a nice gun to shoot...
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