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This forum part, titled "Mauser Pistols and Holsters, 1969-1999' is dedicated to the efforts of Interarms and Mauser that led to the reintroduction of the luger pistol on the world market.
Why did Mauser decide to reintroduce to the world a gun that was, on a technical and commercial level, seriously outdated and expensive? There is no simple anwser to the question. The most important reason was timing. Facing a large surplus gun import market, several large US gun manufacturers feared that their market was under threat and extensive lobbying by US gun makers representatives led to a change in gun importing laws, the 1968 gun control act. This law made it almost impossible to keep importing cheap surplus military firearms, the core business of companies like Interarms, founded by the late Sam Cummings in the 1950s.
Cummings brought the guns to the masses at prices they could afford. Many a relic luger found in American homes today did not find it's way there as a wartime souvenir. Most of them were imported by Cummings and sold through chain stores and mail order companies. In the 1960s, the European sources were drying out. Most countries had already cleared their warehouses and sold German military surplus guns by the thousands to companies like Interarms. The end of that source of supply, combined with massive amounts of guns in storage in Interarms arsenals in Manchester, UK and Alexandria, Virginia and the 1968 gun control act meant that Interarms sought ways to reinvent itself.
Since there were no import restrictions on newly made guns, Cummings contacted the two companies capable of recreating the luger pistol, Mauser and Waffenfabrik Bern in Switzerland. Cummings also contacted Walther.
The result was an interesting one. Mauser agreed to tool up for production of the luger pistol and the HsC, Walther agreed to deliver the famous PP and PPK pistols once again.
So in 1972, the Mauser Parabellum was back! It managed to survive, albeit with quite a struggle, and in the end it even proved to be profitable for Mauser. Production of the Mauser Parabellum was finally terminated in 1999, following a series of takeovers and mergers. Mauser in Oberndorf am Neckar was split up. The tooling business survived to this day and merged in 2007. The weapons department is also still very much alive, specialised in large caliber and aircraft guns, as part of the Rheinmetall group.
This forum part, titled "Mauser Pistols and Holsters, 1969-1999' is dedicated to the efforts of Interarms and Mauser that led to the reintroduction of the luger pistol on the world market.
Why did Mauser decide to reintroduce to the world a gun that was, on a technical and commercial level, seriously outdated and expensive? There is no simple anwser to the question. The most important reason was timing. Facing a large surplus gun import market, several large US gun manufacturers feared that their market was under threat and extensive lobbying by US gun makers representatives led to a change in gun importing laws, the 1968 gun control act. This law made it almost impossible to keep importing cheap surplus military firearms, the core business of companies like Interarms, founded by the late Sam Cummings in the 1950s.
Cummings brought the guns to the masses at prices they could afford. Many a relic luger found in American homes today did not find it's way there as a wartime souvenir. Most of them were imported by Cummings and sold through chain stores and mail order companies. In the 1960s, the European sources were drying out. Most countries had already cleared their warehouses and sold German military surplus guns by the thousands to companies like Interarms. The end of that source of supply, combined with massive amounts of guns in storage in Interarms arsenals in Manchester, UK and Alexandria, Virginia and the 1968 gun control act meant that Interarms sought ways to reinvent itself.
Since there were no import restrictions on newly made guns, Cummings contacted the two companies capable of recreating the luger pistol, Mauser and Waffenfabrik Bern in Switzerland. Cummings also contacted Walther.
The result was an interesting one. Mauser agreed to tool up for production of the luger pistol and the HsC, Walther agreed to deliver the famous PP and PPK pistols once again.
So in 1972, the Mauser Parabellum was back! It managed to survive, albeit with quite a struggle, and in the end it even proved to be profitable for Mauser. Production of the Mauser Parabellum was finally terminated in 1999, following a series of takeovers and mergers. Mauser in Oberndorf am Neckar was split up. The tooling business survived to this day and merged in 2007. The weapons department is also still very much alive, specialised in large caliber and aircraft guns, as part of the Rheinmetall group.