"Lugerman". Story about Evgeny Golubtsov
Many are looking for a favorable face of the ruler, but the fate of a person is from the Lord.
Proverbs 29: 26
Proverbs 29: 26
History firearms weapons. Now it's time for us to return to the history of the Luger pistol. However, this is the story of not only the pistol itself, but also the people with whom he was associated, or rather, they were associated. We have already talked about people in the past here. However, there are people who are directly related to him today. For example - this is Evgeny Golubtsov, better known as "Lugerman", a man who is considered today one of the best gunsmiths in the world. He is primarily engaged in restoring firearms. Very few people can do this job properly and he is one of the best. All of this has already said a lot, but not everything. The fact is that a story about him is also a story about Fate, which, as they say, if necessary, will find a person on the stove, but if he is hardworking and persistent in his intentions, then she will definitely help him. And so it happened with Eugene ...
Here he is - "Lugerman" Evgeny Golubtsov
He was born ... in Siberia in 1975, and, despite the laws of the Soviet Union, which did not greatly encourage the interests of his citizens in firearms, he was interested in him from early childhood. At the age of 12, he read his first book about him, an encyclopedia, in which each pistol was given its name and caliber. And at the age of 14, he already made his own pistol from copper pipes and plywood and with a wick lock. Like any Soviet boy, he used match heads instead of gunpowder, and for bullets he used lead fishing weights, which he melted over a fire in a tin can.
However, with the "luger" ("parabellum") in hand, we have seen many famous film actors. For example, the Polish superintelligence Hans Kloss - the charismatic Stanislav Mikulsky. You can see this pistol in the Soviet cult series "17 Moments of Spring", and more than once ...
Wanting to entertain his 10- and 12-year-old guests one day, he bolted a pistol to a chair and fired it right in the house using a rope fuse, which gave them time to leave this room.
And these are Bruce Cabot and Gene Tierney, popular in their time in the USA, in the classic Hollywood movie "Sunset" of 1941 ...
The bullet pierced two layers of plywood, window shades, two plywood balcony doors and hit the metal balcony wall. Realizing that creativity should be encouraged and the boy allowed to be a boy if he wanted to grow up to be a real man, his parents did not punish him.
Almost everyone has "Parabellum" in "Sunset" ... However, in our Soviet cinema, he also lit up. For example, in the movie "Brave People" (1950) it is from the parabellum that the main negative character shoots the main character, and the same thing is repeated in the movie "Roman and Francesca" (1960) ...
Every summer, at the age of 12 to 16, he fired from 200 to 300 rounds a day from a pneumatic pistol at moving targets in a local shooting range and learned to shoot very accurately.
Robert Vaughn with "Parabellum" from the movie "The Man from the UN" (1964) ...
As a child, he also regularly attended art school, where he studied oil painting and sculpture. And this also came in handy later - firm hands and a faithful eye are needed not only for a sculptor, but also for a person who works with metal.
At competitions, they also shot from him, and not only men. In a firing position, Marta Galozkowka shoots a P08 pistol at the Polish National Shooting Competition in Krakow, 1938
In high school, he learned to work on a milling machine, where he also underwent military training, like all Soviet boys, fired a small-bore rifle, and also assembled and disassembled AKM and PM. He graduated from high school at the age of 16 (the last two years the school was reorganized into a gymnasium with an emphasis on exact sciences), and began to attend additional classes in mathematics, physics and chemistry. After school he entered the university, at that time Kurgan Machine-Building and began to study at the faculty of tracked vehicles, that is, he practically studied to be a tank engineer. Evgeny studied there, and then ... moved to the USA, where at the age of 19 he began his 23-year career as a programmer.
At the age of 21, Eugene, as he was now called in the United States, began collecting pistols, and in three years there were more than 300 of them. These were pistols from the First and Second World Wars, as well as modern pistols of various designs and models. Eugene bought them cheap, and the local gunsmith John Robinson helped him fix and polish them. At 23, he restored his first revolver, the German Reichrevolver, for his father.
Here it is - this very revolver!
But his next attempt at restoration was the Luger. It was nickel plated, and Eugene removed that coating, hand polished it, and then restored it to its original condition. And two years after the start of collecting, he bought an American Eagle 1900. Shooting from the "Luger", he discovered that this particular pistol was just in his hand and he hit the target better than any other pistol. Therefore, he decided to focus on the models of this particular pistol, in particular on the variations of the 1906 contract.
The original 9mm Luger produced in 1920, restored by Evgeny Golubtsov
He sold most of his other pistols and assembled over 50 Lugers of various types, including two M1902 Lugers.
Collecting, exchanging and selling "lugers", he began to restore them for himself. But as rumors spread among collectors about him as a wonderful master restorer, customers began to turn to him in increasing numbers. Soon enough, he took up their restoration along with the work of a programmer. Soon, however, restoration work began to take 15 to 20 hours a week, and Eugene hired a good mechanic as his assistant. He convinced him to buy a milling machine so they could start making the parts they needed, and over the next 15 years they learned how to make most of the parts for the 9mm Luger pistols, apart from the frame.
"Luger" 1907 chambered for 11,43-mm. Lugerman products
Its packaging
And then he came up with an interesting idea: to rebuild a 1907 Luger in .45 ACP that the US Army was testing to put into service. As a result, the Colt M1911 pistol got into service, but the army still had a set of drawings with all the dimensions made for the .45 Luger.
Collection of materials with test data in 1907
He worked with his father, and in the end, their joint work was crowned with complete success. The .45 Luger was ready! And today Lugerman produces 50 .45 lugers a year. Well, as for the clients for the restoration and repair of weapons, there are now about 3000 of them. Every year the company restores about 100 units of firearms and repairs about 150 more. But the 45-caliber Parabellums for the last three years the company has been producing 50 units per year. ... Lugerman also produces a shortened version of Georg Luger's personal pistol in .45 Baby Luger.
Now the company has been in the new premises for a year, and plans to start producing 200 units of "Lugers" per year. And this company is also a real family business, where Eugene himself, his father and younger brother work. And now the son of Eugene also works there, that is, he follows in the footsteps of his father, and for this one can only rejoice!
"Baby Luger" (magazine for 6 rounds, 7th in the barrel)
"Baby Luger" by DWM, 1920 and cartridges for it
It took two years and six months to create this pistol, but the time spent on it was worth it. True, due to the small scale of production, the price of this weapon is higher than the usual price, say, for the Colt or Smith and Wesson. So, the improved model costs $ 4995, and the classic one costs $ 7995. The Baby Luger is more expensive at $ 8275, and the Luger with a 7-inch barrel is $ 7775. However, it is not for nothing that we have a saying in Russia - "Expensive, but cute, cheap, but rotten!" This is also the case here: when your life and the life of your family are at stake, then even this high price no longer seems so high.
But this is also a "Luger" model of 1907, but only chambered for 10-mm cartridges. The magazine is also for 7 rounds, but the 8th can be loaded into the barrel. Price $ 9295.00
There is also an M1907 Luger carbine with a 16-inch 10mm barrel priced at $ 13895.00. Military or retired military personnel and police officers receive a 5 percent discount
Luger holster. Auckland Museum, New Zealand
Before delivery, each pistol is tested with cartridges from 10 different manufacturers, about 200 rounds are fired from it to ensure flawless functioning.
Wartime Erzats holster. Braunschweig State Museum
The 45-caliber sample differs from the standard "Luger" only by its slightly larger dimensions. Its grip is also thicker than that of the 9mm caliber model, and there are not eight, but seven rounds in the magazine.
And in the end - a color scheme of the "parabellum" device from the book by Chris Shant "Infantry Weapons" (M .: "Omega", 2004), perhaps the best of all that I have ever met!
Well, in conclusion, we can say that yes - many gifted people of various nationalities in America were able to accomplish what they could not at home. Patience, work, perseverance and ... success in achieving this goal was their reward in the end. That is, Fate itself helped the daring ones!
But such a "parabellum" can be purchased in Russia ... pneumatic. Photo by Vladislav Zhalobin
But it looks like a real one, you can't say anything ... Photo by Vladislav Zhalobin
PS The author of the article and the administration of the site express their gratitude to Evgeny Golubtsov for the information and photos provided to him, and traditionally wish you success in your work and personal life!
PSS Vladislav Zhalobin - personal thanks for the active assistance to VO.
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