Mud Test: WW1 & WW2 P08 Luger

The P08 Luger has the distinction of being the world’s first military adopted semi-automatic pistol. It served through the maelstrom of WW1 and WW2 and became iconic; sought after as a war trophy and now considered highly collectible. As a result of this, the Luger has become not only recognized for its outline but also the seemingly endless lore and mythos that surround it. One of these generally accepted beliefs is that the P08 Luger was ultimately replaced by the P38 due to its sensitivity and unreliability in the dirt, mud and filth of war. There really is no war that better encompasses the idea of mud and filth than the trenches of WW1 yet the Luger continued to be used post WW1 and up through WW2. Additionally these guns are generally 70 years old, many of them worn and ill maintained from a functionality perspective which could corrupt modern perception as well. Let’s test this question: is this lore or reality? Let’s find out.