WE P08 (Luger) review

SpitfireIV

Well this is a review of the WE P08, aka 'Luger', full metal airsoft gas pistol, I've attached a few pics, apologies to those on dial up





Well I recieved this Luger today, having ordered it on the 10th of January from 'Cobra Airsoft', it was shipped the next day and reaced me today (18th Jan), so very pleased with the service! The item was not stopped for examination or customs charges added

http://www.cobraairsoft.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=86&products_id=3657

Being a militaria collector and on hearing that a 'full metal' airsoft pistol was availible at a very resonable price I decided to take the plunge and get my first GBB, I have to say I'm not much on an airsofter I enjoy the collectablity side more so, so the general performance of the pistol, ROF, accuracy etc isnt all that important, I'm not expecting much for that price. So therefore this review will look at the gun itself, construction, detail, finish, fit etc etc.



The package arrived well wrapped in green waxed wrapping paper, on opening this I was confronted with a plain brown cardboard box (where were the nice graphics?) perhaps the actual gun box was inside this one? No, Paul at Cobra Airsoft had turned the box inside out so as to avoid any unwelcome attention should it be stopped.



First Impressions
On opening the box you are presented with the gun, magazine fitted, sunk into a polystyrene insert over which is a piece of black cloths, its simple, looks the part, but you just want the gun!!



Also in the package is a bag containing three small allen keys and an instruction booklet, thats it. Below is a pic of the box turned the right way around:



On picking up the gun for the first time you first encounter these horrible plastic grips, to feel the grips alone makes the gun feel very cheap, but once you pluck her out of the box you can really feel the weight in her, its a nice hefty piece, it weighs in at approx 826g, just shy of the weight of its real steel counterpart. It just feels good in the hand, sturdy and robust.






Fit and Finish
There appears to be two finishes on the gun, a satin black and a dark metallic 'gunmetal' grey. The finish is applied well, no runs, smudges or blemishes, perhaps the spray is a little lighter under ledges and in grooves etc, but thats nothing important. I'm not fond of this finish though, as nice as it is, Lugers werent painted or sprayed, like most guns they were either 'blued' or 'oil blackened', a chemical process whereby the metal takes on a tone, rather than a color being applied over the metal. In fact the hand grip screws and some pins have been blued and look really well, pity the whole gun wasnt like that. but then the most of the body of the gun appears to be an aluminium, so probably couldnt be blued etc.

The toggle drum, arm, breech block, magazine and trigger bar are a metallic grey, again a sprayed finish, which like the black is well applied but not very authentic, but then maybe I'm being too fussy



'Black and straw' finish on an original:


I'm going to look into alternative finishes which may be suitable to give a more realistic, aged look, so it can be used as a display piece.


The mechanical finish of the components is very nice, no seam lines, no mold line, no flashings or obviousing machine marks that I can spot on external, visible faces, which is really good, its a proffessional job almost.

There is a little rattle inside the gun, which is more apparent once the gun is cocked, theres a little arms that has a lot of play in it, so thats a bit annoying. The mag has a bit of movement too, but isnt too bad. Its easy to slide in and out. Like the gun itself WE have tried to replicate the exact look of the real Luger mag, even down to the platform slide button, which is a nice touch.




The grips........the achilles heel of this GBB, the killer, the lowpoint, the only really bad thing I can say about this piece!! Theres HORRIBLE!! (in my view anyway) theres cheap, molded plastic, might not be so bad had they been solid plastic, but they are only shells, so can be pressed in with your thumb (ok, it takes a little force, but you can press them in). WW2 era Lugers were fitted with bakelittle grips, thats true, but these are cheap, 'childs toy' plastic. They feel cheap, they sound cheap and really detract from an other wise well finished gun, I'm definately sourcing a set of wood grips, stick a set of woods on it and you'll have a really really great piece with an authentic feel. I hate the grips, really.......:mad::rolleyes:





Interestingly the end of the barrel is threaded , I cant imagine why anyone would want to fit a silencer or any other item on the end of the barrel, not appropriate!

SpitfireIV

Markings
There isnt all that much in the way of markings on this piece, the top of the reciever bears the year '1915', a number of parts then have the number '15' stamped onto them, this was a practice carried out on the real steel Luger, as the guns were so finely engineerined that the parts had to be numbered so as not to mix them with others which may not fix exactly.



The safety lever is easily operated with the thumb and once set to the safe posistion the word ' GESICHERT' is exposed, this being the German for 'safe'.






Stripping
The gun strips down almost exactly as per the real steel with no tools required for a basic field strip, neither are any tools needed to do a more advanced strip as can be seen below. Go any further than this and you will need the supplied hex keys, watchmakers screwdrivers etc. This piece is almost a joy to strip down and put back together, its smooth and simple and as mentioned alright, close to the original takedown to thats a bonus


Basic strip:


More advanced strip:



Word of warning on the stripping though, the take down lever does come out but on taking it out a pin and spring pop out, if you are unaware of this (like me ) you may lose the pin, spring, or both.......I lost the spring, but one was quickly found .


The action seems to be made of a relatively lightweight metal, that I really cant see standing up to too much abuse, or use, I was expecting something a little heavier, a few pics of the toggle joint, breech block etc:

SpitfireIV

The Action
Like the real luger the GBB has a pretty nifty toggle system whereby grabbing the milled drums and pulling them to the rear opens the breech and gives a satisfying click, there is some force but I dont imagine its near as strong as the force of the real deal.







Should the mag be empty the action locks to the rear and can only be let forward again once the empty mag is removed and the toggle action given a slight tug to the rear and then let snap forward. At this piont, before the spring is eased the mag can be reinserted. The mag WILL NOT go in with the action action and toggle closed, nor can it be removed when the action is eased and breech closed, so dont force it!

Once cocked, pulling the triggers gives a slight click. The trigger action is almost identical to the real steel, again, another really nice feature, pressing the trigger you can see the trigger bar on the side of the gun being moved.

GBB:


Real Luger:


Very similar I think this gun is worth getting just to play with the action




Sights
The gun has a rear V notch sight and a blade on the end of the barrel, neither are adjustable, althought the quality of detail on the blade dovetail joint would almost lead you to believe that it could in face be move, but after a bit of an examination it appeared to be a faux detail. But then I cant imagine long range accuracy is all that important, its a point and shoot, close range piece, so a lot of time you arent going to be lining up sights.







Shooting
I have not, as of yet shot this GBB, so I'll get back to this section when I do



Conclusions (finally says you )
I really like this gun, like I said at the start I'm not an 'airsofter' as such, but on seeing this item being released and having an interest in militaria collecting I had to get it, the fact that it can shoot bb's is a bonus . All itt needs is wood grips, and a reproduction leather holster and it'll really look the part.

In a Father Jack voice 'I love my luger!'


Pro's
Great fit and finish
Nice weight
Very realistic action
Realistic stripping
Great price


Cons
Grips!!
Not authentic paint finish
Some rattles

SpitfireIV

Well I got my holster today, and a hefty little thing it is too! Bigger than I expected, but the pistol and mag fit in snugly with no play at all

SpitfireIV

Shooting

Ok, so I finally got to shoot it this week, this being my first GBB, it was also the first time I had shot a gas operated airsoft gun. I have to say I like it .

The Luger has a slight kick, but nothing much, its not overly loud either, I was expecting it to have more of a 'bang', but then thats down to the type of gas used? I have been using ULTRAIR Power Gas - Summer Type, which I got from AirsoftEire.

Heres a vid of the action working:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1-U5X6Sj5E

The toggle action cycles on each trigger pull and then locks open once the mag is empty, allowing you to release the mag, refill, pop it back in, pull the action to the rear slightly and let it snap forward.......and you're ready to go again.


Been that it only has a barrel lenght of 85mm I wasnt really expecting great things in the accuracy department, but thats a given, its a pistol, not a sniper rifle.


Targets
I set up a target at 10m, fired .23g EXCEL bb's, 5 rounds at a time, using two hands in a kneeling posistion, the results can be seen below:



RED = First 5 rounds
GREEN = Second group of five rounds
YELLOW = third round
BLUE = Fourth round

Ok, so the shots were fired five at a time, the first five (red) two only impacted , I'm blaming that on the fact that the front blade sight is very high, and to have the tip of it level with the top of the rear V sight results in the gun being at an awkward downward angle, which is a bit odd....hence the low shots.

After a little adjustment you can see the shots getting nearer the target centre and become tighter, the groupings arent too bad given the distance and given the fact that I have trouble seeing clearly to that distance :rolleyes:

Second target:

Again you can see the groupings are relatively tight and pretty near the bullseye. I have not, as of yet tried to adjust the HOP UP, so its being fired 'out of the box'.

I tried the target at approx 18m, at this distance its very hit and miss, perhaps its the weight of the BB's but at this distance you have to aim over the target slightly so the shots 'fall' into it, there is a noticable decrease in the bb's trajectory. The target below must have has 35-40 shots fired at it, less than 30 hit and the pattern is not consistant, the sheet is A4 size





I'm still pretty pleased with it, havent encountered any problems thus far, its fun to shoot, a good representation of an historic piece and certainly gets people talking, 'ah a Luger, is that the one that you pull the things back on' :rolleyes: yeah....thats the one .

The finish is holding up 'ok', it has chipped in a few places and at a couple of points is wearing from being slid in and out of the holster and at points where the action is working, but thats bound to happen.

Komentaja

It bothers me, Im bound to ask: why the swastika in the center of the Iron cross is blurred?

Stercus Accidit

Just a warning.

I got one of these very soon after they came out, and the sear and hammer wear down, breaking the gun eventually.

It has happened to several people, and unless WE have changed the material the sear is made of, the gun will inevitably break after being used for a while.


WE really are a **** company, bar having changed the design, I wouldn't get one.

Nodin

The grips........the achilles heel of this GBB, the killer, the lowpoint, the only really bad thing I can say about this piece!! Theres HORRIBLE!! (in my view anyway) theres cheap, molded plastic, might not be so bad had they been solid plastic, but they are only shells, so can be pressed in with your thumb (ok, it takes a little force, but you can press them in). WW2 era Lugers were fitted with bakelittle grips, thats true, but these are cheap, 'childs toy' plastic. They feel cheap, they sound cheap and really detract from an other wise well finished gun, I'm definately sourcing a set of wood grips, stick a set of woods on it and you'll have a really really great piece with an authentic feel. I hate the grips, really.......

I know what ye mean - I despise the shaggin things. The only Wood grips I've come across are for the Tanaka Luger and it doesn't mention them being compatible with the WE version at all. It is a nice piece for the price overall though, and shoots quite nicely for plinking purposes.

tonky

Really only suitable for collecting & light use. Remembered as my first real toy gun .. wipes away tear ...:) (real as against those poxy revolvers everyone got).

Stercus Accidit

Direct copy of tanaka, so grips SHOULD fit.

But, tanaka are a japanese company, ie, good engineering.

We copied the parts directly, and didn't use proper metals in some vital parts, the sear.
If ye get a grip, you could make it fit, I am guessing with ease, but these guns are not reliable, and really break your heart when they F up, as I couldn't even get mine working again for more than a few mags once the sear had gone.

So if its too late, and you own one, lets hope its a later model they made with a proper sear.

In my opinion, and thats all it is, these guns are not worth the risk.

Nodin

Yeah, I was aware of the reputation of WE before I bought it, and suppose I'm less critical because it hasn't gone tits up so far. That being said, mine was bought much like the reviewer above - for collecting purposes primarily - as I'm far too old and fat to be running round a field.

(Weather depending, I'm available for hire as a bloated corpse/casualty though, for atmospheric purposes....)

Stercus Accidit

Same here, I wanted a nice collectors piece, I got a replica p08 holster for mine and all.
Its up for sale in the adverts section if you want to complete the look, I'm still waiting to repair my pistol, let alone have a holster for it.

SpitfireIV

Komentaja wrote: »

It bothers me, Im bound to ask: why the swastika in the center of the Iron cross is blurred?

My choice to blur it, as it may be viewed as a hateful, or offensive symbol.

As for my Luger, she's still going ok, I dont fire it 'that' much, and I have had the 'automatic fire' problem as detailed in another Luger thread, but that only seems to happen when the mag is fully charged with gas.

cannonball

Howdy,

Firstly, cheers for the review. I'm seriously tempted to get a P08, I used to have a lovely cap gun version as a kid. I'll add it to the list.

Secondly, I'm on the mailing list for the following site and they recently got some nice and not to expensive wood grips in for the P08.

http://www.epicmilitaria.com/product.php/1567/luger-p08-wooden-pistol-grips/fa04b438b7a3e208d58afa6aef01d3db

Just thought you might be interested as you weren't too happy with the plastic grips.

Regards

lpgautogas

Nice post...Thank you very much!!......

djentleman

Hi, Nice Post,

I own this pistol, and was using it earlier today, when this circled part fell out.

Where does it fit back in, I have stripped it and can't seem to find it.

http: //imgur.com/ QoigNow

(remove spaces)

Thanks