John Martz Custom Luger .38 Super Limited Edition

There are custom Lugers, and then there are John Martz Lugers. This one carries the engraving that stops a collector cold. Read along the receiver and it tells you everything: John V. Martz, Thirty-eight Super, Limited Edition, No. 1 of 10. Martz built only ten of these in his Roseville, California shop, and this is the first one off the bench. The toggle wears his JVM cartouche, and the barrel is dated 1983.

Martz worked alone. He took vintage and new Luger components, reworked the lockwork, the breech, and the chamber geometry, and turned the whole thing into a pistol chambered for a round the original P08 was never built to handle. That's the trick of a .38 Super Luger. The toggle action, the grip angle, the long sight radius all carry over from the German pattern, but the internals are pure Martz. The barrel runs long in the Navy style, with a forward sight blade set out near the muzzle.

The finish is the deep, even blue collectors call Martz blue, and it sits across the receiver, toggle, barrel, and frame without a break. Look closely at the receiver flat and you'll see the engraving cut clean against a polished panel, with the rest of the gun left in that dark mirror blue. The grips are checkered walnut, hand fit to the frame, with the diamond pattern running crisp to the borders. The MSTR marking sits on the side plate, just ahead of the takedown lever.

Condition is near-mint. The bore is bright, the toggle locks up tight, and the blue shows no meaningful wear. A takedown tool comes with it.

For a collector chasing the best of postwar American gunsmithing, the first gun of a ten-piece Martz run in a wildcat chambering is the kind of thing that comes up once and then disappears into a safe for thirty years.