Lugerman – The Eugene Golubtsov Story

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 10/9/2018 | J Dickson

[w1n1]

Best known as “Lugerman,” the man who brought back the M1907 U.S.Army Test Trials Luger and perfected it, Eugene Golubtsov ranks as one of the best master gunmakers in the world today.
Not only does he make the Luger to the same standards of fit and finish as the originals, he also restores fine firearms to new condition. ere are very few men who can do this job properly and he is one of the best.
His is the inspirational story of a hardworking young man who made good, showing what keeping your nose to the grindstone can do for you.

EUGENE WAS BORN in Siberia in 1975, but not even the draconian anti-gun laws of the communist Soviet Union could stifle his interest in firearms.
At 12, he read his first gun book, an encyclopedia with every new handgun by name and caliber. At 14, he built his first handgun, a matchlock, out of copper pipes and plywood. He used the heads of matches for powder and melted down lead fishing weights for bullets.

AT AGE 21, Eugene began collecting handguns and within three years had accumulated over 300. These were from World Wars I and II, as well as modern handguns of different designs and models. Eugene was buying them cheap and having local gunsmith John Robinson help him fix and refinish them.

As he was collecting, trading and selling Lugers, he began restoring them for himself. But as word got around the collecting circuit, others began calling upon him to restore their Lugers. Pretty soon he was restoring Lugers as a part-time gig alongside his full-time computer programmer job.
Luger restoration work began to fill 15 to 20 hours a week and soon that was not enough. Eugene hired a good machinist who persuaded him to buy a milling machine so they could begin making the parts they needed.
Over the next 15 years they made most of the parts for the 9mm Luger except the frame.

Eugene and his father went in together 50/50 to make the .45-caliber Lugers. They already had 20 years' experience restoring guns.
It took over two years to produce the first .45-caliber Luger prototype and about six months of blood, sweat and tears to make the prototype into a functional and reliable weapon.
The company, Lugerman, now turns out 50 of the .45-caliber Lugers a year. Read the complete story of Lugerman.

[Little Ray]

Does this mean that there are brand new .45 ACP Lugers for sale?

[Fai Mao]

From the company website:

$975 down and $600 a month till paid in full/or delivery time

How much do these things cost?

[wastoute]

Yes. I almost bought one. $5,000 up front. I decided I would rather have several 9mm. The grip on the .45 Luger looks too big to me.

[Fai Mao]

$5000 X 50 = $250,000 a year.

A good gig if you can get it

[diggerwillow]

In the article. 7,000.00

[FLT-bird]

The comments about him on gun collector forums are that his workmanship is excellent but his customer service is horrible. He doesn’t communicate and is really slow. One or two have even sued or threatened to sue to get their money back after paying up front, waiting a long time and having none of their phone calls or emails returned.

[moovova]

“EUGENE WAS BORN in Siberia in 1975....”

The guy’s a youngster...a well-skilled youngster.

[wastoute]

With his overhead I don’t think he is making all that much. I have an American made Stainless Steel 9 mm and I have read no one can make it today because it would cost $10,000 just to MAKE.

[bruoz]

First handgun I ever shot was a Luger back when I was about 10 years old back in the late 50s. Never liked the mushy trigger on them though. I also was standing next to a friend when he had a AD on the range loading one. They have a floating firing pin that will slam fire a sensitive primer.

[moovova]

“The M1907 costs $6,975 in carbon steel and $7,775 in stainless steel, the Baby Luger costs $8,275, and the 7-inch barrel target Luger costs $7,775. There is also a 16-inch barrel M1907 Luger carbine for $12,975.”

[PUGACHEV]

My neighbor was an army medic who served in Europe during WW2, and stayed in Germany for a few years afterward. One day about six years ago, he showed me a 45 cal. Luger he picked up there. Apparently, it was in bad condition when he found it, and he took it to a German gunsmith. The gunsmith was astonished and used a German word meaning masterpiece to describe the gun. My neighbor repeated the word, but I can’t remember it. Anyway, the gunsmith was so in awe, he restored the pistol beautifully for no charge.

My neighbor’s wife was a war bride and it was probably ten years before she would say anything about Hitler. When she did, her assessment was that he was okay, except at the end when he went a little crazy.

[mabarker1]

“a little crazy” ?????!

Ok, Yeah, Right, Got it.

WTF ? H€LL NO I DON’T GOT IT !!!

How’s about We make that BAT$#!T CRAZY? The entire time it was alive.

That’s awesome on the Pistol.

I knew a guy back in school that had Grampa’s 9mm Luger that he used in the War. Grampa’s portrait hung in their living room. The SOB was freaking SS Officer. I often wondered how many Innocent People the POS Murdered with that Pistol.

The Pistol was in perfect condition, not a scratch on it and worked perfectly. I didn’t like the feel of it in My hand- just felt wrong. Of course it might have been the Karma in it.

No way I would pay that amount of money for that Pistol The Russian makes. Not when I could buy 8-10 other Firearms with the money.

[PUGACHEV]

Yes, Hitler was bat-shit crazy, but what I got from her comment about Hitler being a little crazy at the end was that in Germany then, just like here, and perhaps everywhere else, I suppose, many people pay no attention to politics. They never bother to form an opinion on current events until something occurs which jars them from their daily routine. So long as the bank, the gas station and grocery store is open, so long as the mail comes, so long as they go to work and get paid or the check comes each month, they see no need to distract themselves with much else. In my neighbor's case, I imagine it was a string of bombs landing on or around Regensburg which prompted her to reconsider whether Hitler was a good leader or not.

I enjoyed my neighbor's conversations about Germany and the war. It gave me some insight that I never would have otherwise. She told me that her father was a minor official in the outskirts of Regensburg responsible for the distribution of Polish prisoners of war used as farm labor. One day near the end, a group of American soldiers came and took her father away. Before leaving, her father said goodby to his wife and daughters and asked that they remember him. They all understood that he was being taken to the nearby woods to be shot. The whole family was in tears as left. The denouement came hour later when he returned, having been uneventfully released by the Americans and left to walk back. It was later that day when her elder sister found some condoms apparently left in her dresser drawer by the thoughtful Americans.

After her husband died, my neighbor moved to a residence facility where I went to see her a few times. She found another German war bride there, and during my visits they would chatter away in German, until they remembered it was impolite since I had no idea what they were talking about. Once, I brought an iPad, and played a 1940s version of Lili Marlene from Youtube. It was very emotional for them. They knew the verses well and sang along in parts, although they probably hadn't spoken those words in sixty or seventy years.

[IncPen]

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