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Georg Luger and Hugo Borchardt

The two men responsible for creation of the Luger, Georg Luger and Hugo Borchardt, both worked at the company that was closely associated with the manufacture of the pistol, the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM).

DWM was the result of the business activities of two brothers, Ludwig and Isidor Lowe. Their company, Ludwig Lowe und Companie, originally specialized in the manufacture of machine tools and sewing machines. After gaining a government contract in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, the company began to manufacture rifle sight assemblies. Lowe und Companie’s skill and precision at this venture soon led to further government contracts, both domestic and foreign. It was not long before sewing machines were traded for weapons as the successful company began making firearms full time.

In 1886 Ludwig died, and Isidor began a joint venture with Waffenfabrik Mauser, AG to produce rifles for Turkey. As time passed, the activities of these two companies intertwined together around the successful manufacture of firearms. Lowe acquired controlling interest in Waffenfabrik Mauser as well as Deutsche Metallpatronenfabrik Lorenz, a German ammunition factory. The resulting company purchases and corporate shuffling led to the creation of the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM).

Georg Luger and Hugo Borchardt worked together at the Lowe firm and both had a serious interest in and no small measure of success with self-loading firearm designs and patents as well as ammunition loads.

Borchardt, a German-born, naturalized US citizen, worked at several small companies before working for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven, Connecticut. His first patent for a machine to cut lubrication grooves into bullets was given while he was with Winchester.

In 1890, after employment at various companies in the US and Europe, Borchardt joined the Lowe firm and later designed the large toggle-action semi-automatic pistol that bears his name.

Georg Luger, an Austrian, became involved with firearms as a result of his involvement with Ferdinand von Mannlicher. Luger experimented with rifle designs for bolt actions and self-loaders for twenty years before joining Lowe in 1891.

Luger used Borchardt’s pistol as a basis for his now famous pistol. His final design was a pistol that was smaller and lighter than the big cumbersome Borchardt. As a result, the new Luger pistol had much more potential as a military sidearm than the Borchardt.