After the first two World Wars, Lugers were plentiful. Highly sought after by troops, the weapons made it back in droves to the United States where they were a commodity for some time before gaining the status us an uber-collectors item today. Given this, a poor (or fortunate Luger, depending on your perspective) was used as the base for a one-off 22LR conversion.

Stating life as a 9mm combat handgun, noted colorado gunsmith Axel Peterson went through a nearly “frame off” restoration to make the weapon. As one would expect, the barrel is sleeved with its diminutive bore cousin, but from there things go literally off the rails.

While the grip, mainspring, and a few others items are kept, much of the handgun is swapped for custom fabricated or repurposed components. Notably, the hammer is from a 1911, but little else is recognizable from the outside. Removing the toggle action, the upper portion of the handgun is a cammed tilting break-action for loading a single round of rimfire. The weapon features a manually operated extractor and adjustable rear sights, indicating this was for high-accuracy functions.

If this little bit of engineering interests you, the weapon is available for sale at the upcoming James D Julia auction. One can find details here and with Ian’s overview from Forgotten Weapons below: