| Back in 1969, while on active duty in the Army, I was apprenticing as a gunsmith
in my off time with a master gunsmith named John Dusing (God rest his soul) of Waynesboro,
PA. I owe most of what I know and appreciate about firearms to him. People drove
for hundreds of miles to get him to work on their firearms. If he came across a screw
that had a slot that his immense screwdriver collection didn't fit perfectly, he
would make a new screwdriver out of drill rod, harden it, and machine a handle to
fit and add it to his collection of screwdrivers. He wouldn't take a chance that
he might bugger up a customers gun. he was just like that... a perfectionist. In
two years of working for John for FREE, just to gain his knowledge of firearms, metalworking
and repairs, he took many guns in trade. I had always wanted a Luger of my own since
my Dad had brought back one in WW2. I told him that if anyone offered a Luger for
sale or trade that I was interested. About a year after I made that statement, a
gentleman about my Dad's age came in to get a scope mounted on his new bolt action,
and under his arm was a brown paper bag. After making arrangements to pick up his
rifle with the new scope on it, he said that he also had this pistol that he wanted
to sell or trade. When he emptied the bag, it was a 1941 byf Luger, a so-called "black
widow" much like the left pistol on the Lugerforum.com patch. It was complete
with one magazine that had a broken wooden bottom, a black P-08 holster, and the
original belt and Nazi buckle. It was all matching parts except for the magazine.
With that stuff laid out on the counter, he asked if we knew anyone who would give
him $100.00 for this stuff? John looked at me, and I didn't hesitate to pull my checkbook
out of my back pocket. (that checkbook made that trip out of my back pocket as often
as there was money in the bank to cover my hobby). My hands trembled as I wrote the
check. A complete WW2 Luger rig -finally.The top of the receiver and the front toggle
was missing some bluing and had some fine pits in it, so I knew I would refinish
it, and I asked him why it was like that he told me this story: He had fought in
WW2 and had brought this pistol back as a trophy. During a lull in the fighting after
taking a small town in France, his squad was taking a break when he and a friend
came across a dead German soldier who was holding this Luger. As he reached to pick
it up, his friend pulled him back and told him to be careful that it was not the
bait in a booby trap. (SIDE BAR: For those of you who don't know, but have heard
the term "jury-rigged" it is actually "Gerry-rigged" and was
coined by American soldiers who found that retreating German soldiers often left
booby-traps with bait that would entice an American to enter the trap. This bait
was often a pistol or some other prized trophy.) The dead soldier's arm hung down
with the weight of the pistol and a trickle of blood was running over the top of
the receiver and the toggle. Upon careful inspection this vet determined that the
dead soldier was indeed rigged to a nearby explosive charge and the trigger was based
on removal of the luger from his hand. The two of them spent over an hour and carefully
disarmed the trap and he took his prize and placed it in the holster. He was not
aware that long term exposure to blood would remove the bluing, so that when he finally
got around to cleaning the Luger, the blood had left a white steel streak across
the top of his prize. This luger stayed in the top of his closet from the close of
the war until he sold it to me that year for $100.00. he said he would rather that
somebody else own it that would shoot and appreciate it than for it to still be in
the top of his closet, and he would rather have the $100.00 I was glad to oblige
him. Wanting my Luger to be as "perfect" as possible, I sent it off to
the blueing subcontractor and told him I wanted it's finish to look like it was a
new highly polished Browning Hi-Power when I got it back. It did, and still does.
all the parts that are normally strawed were polished bright and left that way. I
was pleased then, but wish now that I had left it in it's original condition. If
I had to sell every gun that I own, this would probably be the last one to go, but
until that day comes, it is the prize of my small collection. |
John Sabato
