WOL Trip

Trip to Ralph Shattuck’s World of Lugers
by Ted and Marvin, August 12th, 2000

Well the trip from Albuquerque to Phoenix, in my Toyota 4Runner wasn't bad at all. The segment from Flagstaff to Phoenix was through the mountains and very nice. I had Interstate Roads the entire way and I was lucky, very little construction on the way. Phoenix was hot as hell, but the prospect of meeting another Luger enthusiast and seeing my buddy Ralph Shattuck and all those wonderful Lugers made it all worthwhile. Marvin Cook, an engineer like me, was from Moore, South Carolina. He had flown into Phoenix to meet Ralph and I, and look over Ralph's "World of Lugers." Marvin and I met the afternoon before the scheduled Luger viewing, and very soon the talk began about German Lugers, Uniforms, Rifles and the like. Marvin presented me with a copy of "Luger Variations" and I returned the favor with a book of color illustrations of uniforms of the German Army (and a nice bottle of scotch). The afternoon wore on to the evening, and we were still gabbing about this stuff, when we went to eat at a Denny's type diner (I don't remember the name). We finally went to our rooms at around 10:00pm and decided to meet again at 6:15am for breakfast, in order to be at Ralph's by 8:00am. All night long, I kept waking and thinking with excitement about the fact that in a few hours, I would be looking at 1600 Lugers again! SWEET RAPTURE! I know the excitement woke me at least 4 times, and at 3:30am I gave up and got up showered and began a ritual of coffe drinking and looking at my new Luger book. I thought to myself...Today is going to be an excellent day!!! Kind of like Michael Douglas in "Romancing the Stone" Just after the mudslide scene. He got up and proclaimed "Looks like it is going to turn out to be one HELL of a morning"

Well Marvin said the same thing had happened to him, it was difficult to sleep thinking of all those great Lugers. We went to breakfast close to Ralph's house so we wouldnt be late for the appointment. During breakfast I tried to tell Marvin all about my last visit. As we approached the area where Ralph lives, I told Marvin that it is a good idea to get a detailed map of the area as Ralph lives in an area of winding and confusing streets. I printed some maps from an Internet source at Yahoo.com. Ralph Lives in an area next to a beautiful country club golf course, and the duck ponds, palm trees and beautiful green fairways were a stark contrast to the outlying desert around Phoenix. We parked the truck and checked out our stuff that we were taking with us. Cameras, note pads, check book, etc. We made another mental note that Ralph and his wife had Arizona license plates on their vehicles with "LUGER" and "LUGERS" on them. We rang the door bell and while waiting, we enjoyed looking at some of his exotic plants.

The door swung open and there stood my friend, Ralph! "Welcome and come in", he said. We stepped into Ralph's house and the introductions began, as soon as that was finished, the phone rang and Ralph had to excuse himself. He is so busy. He gets on the order of 400 emails when he visits gun shows over a weekend, so don't be discouraged, if it takes him a few days to get back to you. I noticed two portraits on the wall, one of Ralph and another of Ralph's sweet wife Nancy. Nancy takes most of the calls for orders when Ralph is away on Luger business. Before we entered "The World of Lugers" I mentioned that his friend Leo L (unsure of Leo's last name) had asked me to tell Ralph that "a bottle of red was on the way". Ralph gave us one of his million dollar smiles that was full of gratitude. I was unsure of what that meant then Ralph explained. "He makes some great wine" That cleared it up! The door swung open to the Luger Room, and I silently cursed my head cold as I missed out on that wonderful smell of 1600 Lugers, I experienced in my first visit to Ralph's place. We stepped inside! The adrenaline was flowing well and I took a deep breath to keep up with my racing heart!!!

Marvin and I were immediately surrounded by Luger history. Ralph has the room set up where all the first variation Carbine and commercials start at one location, and as you move along the wall, you will see the Luger history from its start around 1900 to its normal production end in 1945. It is almost too much to imagine, and it is so hard to remain alert and coherent. The image is almost too much to take in and most of us are so impressed with the spectacle that we go "deer in headlights" brain numb and just utter a low "wow" or "ooohhhh". It is something else! I had decided on this trip to TRY and be more constructive in my viewing and look at individual pieces unstead of the "I want to take it all in" syndrome. I always try and create a list of items I wish to see and things I want to ask Ralph, so if I go brain dead, I have a backup plan. This works VERY well. I asked Ralph about a shooter that Frank Manders had dropped off (a local Phoenix/Glendale resident) for me to rework! We located the package with my name on it and made a mental note to take it when I left. Marvin was as impressed as I always am, and began to ask questions of Ralph, and began the walk around the room to look at all those great Lugers. Ralph has all his personal collection Lugers in glass cases above his inventory Lugers. His inventory Lugers are all stored butt up in a vertical fashion, a compact method indeed.

I spent much of the first part of the visit, photographing some of the collection pieces. I picked out a 1923 Commercial, 1923 Dutch, 1940byf, the Personal guns of August Weiss and Georg Luger, a Cartridge counter,an Engraved Artillery, an Engraved Carbine, a Persian cutaway and the late Mel Torme's personal Luger Carbine to photograph. We also had pictures made of Ralph, Marvin and me. The next item of business was to find a minty Mauser Military Luger for my collection I am slowly building. Of the dozen variations I am looking for, I have two excellent ++ minty collection pieces that I bought in February/March time frame earlier this year. I looked at an out of sequence 1940 S/42 with black plastic grips that was tempting but not in the range I needed. I was torn between a minty 1941 byf Black Widow and a 1938 Plum colored S/42. I had decided to take the 1938, when I walked by Ralph's boxes where he keeps his holsters, and found a 1939 marked holster that was very nice minty condition. I asked if it was for sale and he said it was part of a "rig" so I figured if the holster was that nice, the gun would be too! It was a minty 1939 coded 42 Luger. This was the one I finally decided on. I was also picking up a shooter Luger and began the search through his shooter collection. I ended up picking a nice 1917 DWM Military model and that finished my selections for purchasing.

Ralph then asked us if we wanted to stop for some coffee. That sounded good, so we did. We were in the kitchen, when I noticed a small Luger shaped magnet on his refrigerator. Man, everything is Lugers with Ralph. I am the same way though, my license plate reads "Luger" as well. It is from New Mexico. Ralph showed us his back yard and fruit trees. After our coffee, we then went back into the Luger room to look at more weapons. Marvin was looking at nice Weimar/early NAZI era Sneak or 29 DWM transitional Luger (Still). I took another look at the very small Baby Luger, the one that has the smaller frame and is chambered in 32 ACP. Ralph has it in a green velvet lined case. While we were busy looking at every thing again, Ralph shows up with a package that has been delivered that day. Inside was a Mauser Banner in NEW condition with accompanying black mint police holster. Ralph explains that another Luger expert (the name slips my mind) had told him that it was the very best original condition Mauser Banner in existance. It sure was nice and I didnt look at it long for fear of dropping or scratching it up. It was approaching 11:30am and Ralph offered to buy us lunch at the adjacent country club! What a thrill and honor! We arrived after a short drive from his house and had some sandwiches while we overlooked the golf greens, beautiful lush view. During lunch, Marvin and Ralph spoke quite a while about military service, and exchanged tales. We finished our lunch, and drove back to the Ralph's house and gave the Luger room one final pass and tried to soak every thing in.

We were just about to go, when Ralph came back in, and asked Marvin to put out his hand, which he did. Ralph dropped a nice silver colored Luger shaped lapel pin (also can be used as a tie clip) as a memento of the trip. I had recieved one of those from my last visit with Ralph. He asked me to do the same thing, but as I put out my hand I said "Ralph, I already have one, you gave it to me before" He said "Yes, but you dont have the upgrade" (typical Luger jargon) In my hand he placed another such clip but this one was an Artillery model in gold color! Wow, that sure was nice and I have enjoyed wearing it to work and dinners! We shook his hand and said goodbye, and he asked me to send him copies of my digital pictures (which I did), and he wanted the URL of the Parabellum forum so he might keep up to date with what we were talking about, and hopefully find some time to give us some comments and information. As we drove away, Marvin and I realized, that five hours of adrenaline can sure make you tired. It amazed me how fast the five hours went by. Later that evening, we went looking for a Mexican food restaurant in nearby Mesa, that a friend of mine had recommended. We got kind of turned around for a while, but finally located it. The salsa was excellent, and the beer and Margaritas were cold and good. We talked Lugers, and an overwhelming great feeling came over me, realizing I had purchased some nice Lugers and had such a great visit with Ralph and my new friend Marvin Cook. Life was darn GOOD!! The trip back to Albuquerque was quiet as I reflected about my visit and the great time I had just experienced, and vowed to go back and visit the "World of Lugers" at least once a year! It sure was fun!

Ted Green