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When people hear the word Luger, they likely picture a Nazi officer complete with a death head cap, a black trench coat, and a snarling look to him. That ignores the reality that the Germans used the Walther P38 during World War II, and the Luger supplemented it in relatively small numbers. Regardless, you likely don’t picture an American-produced ‘Luger’ chambered in .22LR. The Stoeger Luger is precisely that.
Table of contents
Stoeger
Nowadays, most people associate the name Stoeger with budget shotguns. Stoeger is a brand now owned by Beretta that imports Turkish shotguns. They import a few handguns, but they’re mostly known for shotguns. Stoeger started life in 1924 in the Garden State. Like the Stoeger of today, they mostly imported guns, specifically from Europe.
This includes early variants of the Stoeger Luger. Eventually, Stoeger began manufacturing the Stoeger Luger in the United States. My specific model is marked Made in the USA. Stoeger produced these guns from 1969 til 1985. The original guns used forged aluminum and machined frames; later, the firearms used steel. This is an older model with an aluminum frame.
These types of guns were marketed towards hobbyists and recreational shooters. The idea of taking a reasonably famous weapon and converting it to a .22LR remains popular even now. We’ve seen them do it with STG 44s, MP5s, ARs, AKs, and more. The guns sold for about $70 in the 1970s. They came with either a 4.5 or a 5.5-inch barrel and weighed 30 ounces! The weapon holds ten rounds in its relatively long magazine. It is simple but unique as far as rimfire pistols go.
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The Stoeger Luger – To Togglelock Or Not
The Stoeger Luger is a direct blowback semi-auto. There is no way to build a locked breech .22LR. The gun still features a toggle-esque slide, but it’s only for looks and doesn’t lock the breech.
Like a Luger, it moves upward and delivers a novel appearance. Instead of acting like a toggle lock, it is a slide that extracts and ejects the spent casing and picks up the next round in the magazine. I give Stoeger full credit for making this a feature. It is novel and a lot of fun for a simple blowback pistol.
The gun features what appears to be realistic Luger controls and ergonomics. The knobs on the toggle lock slide are used to cock the weapon and provide enough grip to make it easy to manipulate. Stoeger placed the front and rear sights accurately.
The safety has a longer throw than a standard Luger, but it’s still placed on the left side of the gun for easy manipulation with the left thumb. The magazine catch is the same, and the magazine has two pinch-point knobs which makes it easy to remove.
The Stoeger Luger even features the same grip angle as a real Luger. The grip wears a set of checkered walnut grips. Stoeger Luger pistols would later use smooth wood grips. The hefty 30 ounces also accurately match a real Luger’s 31 ounces.
The Stoeger Luger – Shooting A Classic
Why isn’t the Stoeger Luger well-known today? Why isn’t it a favorite plinker? Well, because it sucks. Historically, the gun has had tons of reliability issues, so many that it was always known as an unreliable gun. According to the manual, it can reliably shoot both standard and high-velocity rounds. That’s a lie because it doesn’t fire either type of ammo reliably.
Reliability
I used Winchester Whitebox and Aguila Super Extra, but neither worked well. The Super Extra functioned a little better in terms of reliability. I had lots of failures to load. When the gun fired, it usually ejected the empty case. Upon closer inspection, it seems like the feed lips are slightly deformed, which might be the main issue, but I doubt it.
Sometimes, it would fire five to ten rounds without a failure; other times, it would choke every other round. When it fired, it was a ton of fun. A 30-ounce .22LR isn’t going to move from recoil. The little gun just burps and wiggles a bit. The Stoeger Luger can be a ton of fun when it works.
It’s also reasonably accurate and capable of creating nice, tight little groups at 15 yards and hitting a B8 consistently at 25 yards. The front sight can be a little tricky to see. The rear of the gun is busy with a lot of different little knobs, so finding the sights isn’t always quick. A little white fingernail polish would likely make it much easier to see, but I won’t do that to my old Stoeger.
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The Experience
I’ve only had one chance to shoot a real Luger, and it was years and years ago when I was a wee lad. I can’t say accurately how close the Stoeger Luger is to a real Luger, but it looks and feels fantastic. The reliability certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Stoeger did a great job capturing the vibe of a Luger but didn’t capture the most critical aspect of its performance: reliability.
According to Firearm Blog writer Sam S., there is speculation that the chambers are spec’ed to European .22LR and too tight for American .22LR. I didn’t know there was a difference. Legend has it that having the chamber polished can help with reliability.
I may also be having some magazine issues. The feed lips look banged up like they’ve been shot to death and back. I’ve ordered a new magazine, and that may help. The toggle lock slide might be part of the issue. The force required to make it move may be too much for the humble .22LR.
The only good news about reliability comes down to the gun’s price. Even though it’s an old gun with a novel design and look, it’s still cheap. I paid a mere $200 for the little Stoeger Luger. The reputation of these guns has kept the price low, and it’s understandable.
I’m still happy with my purchase. I’m more prone to look at it than shoot it, and it does the job well for looking purposes.
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Travis Pike is a dedicated firearms writer, a Second Amendment Advocate, and a subject matter enthusiast for all things firearms. He is an amateur competitor with dreams of one day not coming in 4th place at a local defensive match. If he’s not putting text to word processor, he’s likely spending time with family, enjoying Florida’s Nature Coast, or drinking hipster beer. As the resident Florida man he has a preference for obscure guns and calibers.
Experience
- Hunter – Long time deer and hog hunter in the swamps of Florida
- Instructor – Volunteers to teach basic firearm safety classes to kids, adults, and cats
- Wannabe Competitor – Has recently dipped his toes into competitive shooting and has happily discovered an expensive hobby.
- Marine – Served five years with the infantry before transferring to the First Civ Div.
I have two Stoeger Lugers one aluminum and one steel version both with 4.5 barrel. They work flawlessly but didn’t at first. I worked on them myself. They did not jamb all the time but enough that it was a bother to me. I bought a Ironing swage and cleaned up the front of the chamber with it and no problems since using any ammo I want. I think that it is a really fun and accurate gun to shoot. I will not sell them because they are so unique. People are always looking and asking about them at the range.
Interesting review! While this Stoeger Luger sounds finicky, it’s cool they tried to capture the original Luger’s feel.
The reviewer who did the testing on the Stoeger Luger when they went to market it, said that it worked flawlessly and had no problems with it. the Tester for the magazine, obviously had gotten a Hand Picked gun that was gone over with a Fine toothed comb at the factory before they sent it to the one who did the review. Two people I know both got a brand new Stoeger Luger, and though they looked good, Neither of them worked correctly. One of the people had a High Standard Sport King, that worked flawlessly out of the box and in their opinion it was a much better gun than the Ruger, standard. The High Standard Sport King was also easier to break down to clean than the Ruger Standard. The High standard frame and Slide was either milled or cast as opposed to the Ruger’s stamped frame. One of the Stoeger Luger guns had extra metal on one side the frame where the grip went, and the grip was not flush with the frame, which is an example of poor quality control. One gun was sent back to the manufacturer to resolve the firing, feeding and extracting issues, and when it was returned, did not work any better than before it was sent in. In fact it did not work at all. The other person worked on his own gun and got it to function a bit, but it still had problems functioning. They both said that they would never buy another firearm with the Stoeger name on it. The Stoeger Luger even though it looks impressive and the frame is stout, has to be one of the worst firearms that was ever made and sold. Obviously Stoeger or their manufacturer did a poor job of not making sure that the gun was reliable and worked out the issues before they marketed it. The Stoeger Luger, is one gun that no one could ever rely on for protection. To shoot one is very frustrating. It is a much better Wall Ornament than it is a gun that one would enjoy as a Shooter. Due to the review Many people will no longer buy something that a tester/ reviewer has to say about a product unless they go to the store and buy it with their own money before the test the product.
I also have one it happens to have been in the family since new it was my late brother’s and it needs a new magazine as the slots for the latches are messed up and it won’t stay in place
I fired one extensively years ago. It was unreliable and not too accurate. I wouldn’t own one today, and I have a real Luger to compare it with. That 1939 mauser runs like a clock.
I’m sorry to hear that you found your Stoeger Luger to be unreliable. I own one of the later versions (smooth grips) that I bought new in the late ’70s. I have never had an issue with it. It’s a fun gun to shoot, eats anything that I feed it, and I have found it to be fairly accurate. Maybe not as accurate as my S&W Model 41s, Browning Medallist, or High Standards, but it’s a plinker; and not a competition gun.
Too bad about your problems with that gun. I had one for years and it was as reliable as a stove. I was probably using CCI Mini Mags most of the time back then but I probably was buying some sort of bricks of cheap ammo too. I even remember having good accuracy. I hope get around to having similar luck also
I inherited my grandfather’s Stoeger Luger pistol. I found the original box from Stoeger. It even had the cash register tape from purchase.
I’ve never actually fired it and need to either replace the magazine entirely or find parts for it.
Deserved or not, this gun holds a special place in my heart. It was the first gun I ever purchased with money I earned myself, when after a long hot summer of cutting grass and clearing brush, my Dad took me and my best friend to the only local store that carried handguns. I picked up the Luger look-alike, while my friend selected a H&R Mod. 949, in hindsight a much better choice for a first handgun. After shooting it half to death over a couple of years, I mailed off a letter to Elmer Keith himself, at that time the Handgun Editor for a magazine, and asked if he knew of anyway to mount one of the new handgun scopes in hope of becoming a squirrel assassin. His short reply was basically “Sell it, buy a Ruger Standard Auto!”. This was way back about ’74-75, and I kept that letter for many years afterwards, the only autograph I ever “collected”.
Maybe Mini-Mags or Stingers will function better?
Eons ago I read a report on a “luger” .22. I don’t remember the brand. The article ended with “luger looking, stove pipe-a-matic!”
Probably was one of the Erma .22 Lugers. If my memory serves they were frequently identified as problematic.
THAT’S IT!! As soon as I read your Erma, I can see it clearly in my mind!
The Stoeger Luger is the brand that the author is shooting and has a worse reputation than the Erma. Neither brand is probably a great firearm.
The Stoeger Luger was a Horrible Gun. I heard that the Erma Luger functioned better than the Stoeger Luger did..
Just read this article and it is in complete contrast with my experience, in about 1975, when I was 16 or so, this was the first pistol I ever purchased and it cost $67. I fired the gun often and much and it was very reliable. I still get it out now and again and shoot it to remind me how much fun it was and is and also to take me back to those younger days. Cool, fun gun.