ERMA Pistol

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Prof Young

New member
Shooters:

Found an ERMA pistol (see pics below) at nearby gun store. It's part of an estate sale. Don't know anything about them, but it looks like a seriously cool range toy and may even be a collector's item. Take a look a the pics and then talk to me.

Life is good
Prof Young
 

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44 AMP

Staff
The reputation of Erma guns made post WWII for the civilian market is not very good. Neat designs, variations on both the Luger and M1 carbine, they were not well thought of due to a tendency to break, because many parts were made of a low grade alloy to keep costs down.

Today, forget about any spare parts, unless you can have them made for you. Factory spare parts are, like the factory, long gone.

AS a curiosity, a safe queen, and if you can get one cheap, they're neat. As a gun you can use, and at the barking stupid prices being asked today, I would (and have) passed on several of them.
 
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Prof Young

New member
Thanks . . .

44 AMP:

Thanks. That's good to know. Since I'm a shooter not a collector I think I'll take a pass.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
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Classic12

New member
A shooting buddy has an Erma M1 Carbine copy in .22lr. Lots of cussing and moaning. Thing just won’t work reliably
 
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44caliberkid

New member
When I was in high school a friend had an Erma Luger with a four (?) inch barrel. It worked very well, accurate and didn’t malfunction, even doing rapid fire mag dumps. But I believe 44 AMP about the pot metal parts and no availability. A lot of guns are bringing insane prices right now. I have about a dozen up for sale right now that I hope do.
 
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Sarge

New member
One of my sons inherited, from my late ex BIL, a Erma 22 caliber copy of Luger pistol. It absolutely would not fire four shots w/o choking with any brand of 22LR including CCI Mini Mags.

I'd pass.
 
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Drm50

New member
Strictly range toys. I sold a bunch of those M1 carbine clones in 22. I had a bunch of unhappy customers. The Henry lever and pump 22s are Erma designs.
 
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hemiram

New member
My Erma experiences are just bad memories now. At the time, they were just horror shows. I had two of the Luger looking guns, (Long story how I got a second one) and they just were trash.
 
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Schlitz 45

New member
I have an Erma baby Luger in 32 ACP. It’s a good shooter. It did have an issue where the extractor/spring/plunger would launch when shooting never to be found again. A little work & some parts from Jack First & so far it’s hung in there for several range trips. It’s accurate & while the frame is Zymak it seems to do fine in this light caliber.
ZNGIqFMl.jpg
 
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44 AMP

Staff
Generally, since they were light caliber guns, Erma's zinc alloy frames were usually not the big problem. It is usually other parts, which in most guns are commonly made of steel, where Erma used their zinc alloy and they don't hold up well.

The Luger .32 pictured is a nice one, and you'll probably never have trouble with the frame, BUT, what have you got when the lever of the safety snaps off?

Or some other less visible but equally important part fails because the alloy used was simply not up to the task, over time?

Erma is gone. What ever stocks of parts were left are also now essentially gone. It seems to be part of Murphy's law that even if some parts are available, the one you need won't be.

If you've got a complete, working Erma, baby it, but expect the possibility of something breaking just from normal use. They have a reputation for doing that.
 
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copfish

New member
I’ve always wanted a Luger style 22LR, but all the horror stories about the reliability keep me from pulling the trigger on one…
 
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Pumpkin

New member
I've had 2 of the Luger .380's and they were fine. Now I have a PPk look a like in 22lr and it has never functioned reliably! When it does shoot it is surprisingly accurate.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
I've never had any of the Erma "Lugers", but I do have a couple of the StoegerLugers. The toggle action .22 resembles, but is not identical to the P.08. They are actually "Lugers" because Stoeger still owns the right to that name in the US.

I got the second one from a gun shop, on impluse, because of the price, being about a third below going market rate at the time. Naturally it was a used gun, but their price was attractively low for its used gun value. So, I asked,,,why?

And they told me, it was a jamm-o-matic. They had tried to use it for one of their range gun rentals, and it would constantly jam, so they were selling it cheap.

SO, I bought it, took it home, and gosh they were right, I ran two magazines through it, and had several jams each time. :eek:

Then, I oiled it.

Ran flawless after that. Who'd a thunk it??:rolleyes:
 
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Jack19

New member
My advice is run away.

They are cool, they have that going for them, but reliability, longevity, and parts availability are, to be kind, abysmal.

Experience with an ERMA .22 "Luger," 50 years ago, taught me so. There are things just as interesting that you'll still be shooting a year from now.
 
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