A lot of people wonder about what a Luger shooter is and what one is worth. Most any mismatched, wore out, rusted Luger that will shoot is a shooter unless it is a rare variation. These days people are paying $750 for any luger, and many of them are dysfunctional and will not shoot. The gun I have pictured here is what I call a high-end shooter. It is a post-1968 import probably from the Russian front. It does have all matching serial numbers except for the magazine and grips, and functions like the day it was new. What makes it a shooter is that the left side was pitted when I acquired it. It took me days to hand polish the pitted areas and then cold blue the areas I worked on. The is what I call selective refinishing. Because of this, it is not a collector-grade Luger! It is a shooter. The grips and magazine have been replaced with period-correct parts. It is mechanically perfect and cosmetically still a gun with historical significance. If you have or are looking for a Luger to shoot, you are probably in the ballpark of a $1200 gun if it falls in the high-end category. Before you start looking at a Luger to purchase learn how to at least field strip one. The seller will most likely be alarmed when you turn his gun into a pile of parts in 3 minutes, but it will give you the information you need before you make the decision to purchase or pass. Make very sure you know how to reassemble the gun before doing this. I would never purchase any Luger before doing this. If the seller objects. . .find another seller.

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My only Luger is a 1970 prod Mauser 29/70 Swiss pattern, it may have some value as a collector....but it's a shooter for me.

Lugers are elegant and fun shooters. They have become frightfully expensive. In 1976 my mother bought me a Luger for my 21st birthday. A 1918 DWM in very nice condition. I think she paid $189 for it.

It was stolen in 1985. Still hurts. I bought another 1918 DWM that was issued to a police force as a replacement. I think 10 years later the price was $375. Probably a $1,500 pistol, today.

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No life story has happy end.

1922 Commercial Luger all matching, 7.65MM

Here's my shooter. I don't know a lot about it. I don't believe the serial numbers match, but it shoots great. I think it is a Mauser. It is 9mm. I picked it up in a local gun store for $450. As they say, a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while.

byf is the Nazi manufacturer's code for Mauser. Before that the Mauser code was S/42, then 42, and after byf came svw (in 1945). That's a very pretty luger.

Thank you. I always admired the toggle link action, but never dreamed I'd own one. I saw this in the case, asked the price, and jumped on it. To me, they are an engineering marvel, but my wife says it doesn't take a lot to fascinate me.

I had a BYF a few years ago. Looked like it had just came from a hole in the ground underneath the ruins of Stalingrad. Barrel was mint though. Shot very well and I only paid $325 for it. Sold it a year later for the same amount

I've got a 1918 DWM,well worn grips,almost smooth.Pitted and 6%bluing with mismatched numbers,a shooter. The good news is that I brought it back in 1973 after the cease fire with all the paperwork and pictures of the incident. From a NVA officer. It was my 2nd and 3rd tour as an advisor, Cpt at the time.Imagine the stories that gun could tell.

I've had a bunch of them and still have a few. Some of the best shooters of the lot have been mismatched guns. But there's no guarantee any of them will work as advertised w/o some tweeking of loads and sometimes switching magazines.
People often attempt to adjust the Luger pistol by altering parts when they don't function with their off the shelf ammo. Many pistols have altered sear bars, firing pin sear surface, recoil springs and on and on.
Lugers are kind of like old style Colt DA's,,once you start altering the mechanism away from the intended factory specs, it is awfully difficult to get them to reliably function again.

They don't generally need the often stated 'hot' loads to function correctly. Just a decent load with the correct bullet shape, OAL, spring tension(s), ect.
They can be finicky, no doubt about it. Get it shooting smoothly and they are a joy to handle and fire. When they stutter and refuse to work right they can be a test of patience.

My favorite shooter right now area 1908 Commercial w/mismatched upper to lower.
It was a $200 beauty from a gunshow and came with a somewhat rare Haenel Schmeisser magazine in it. The mag was probably worth more than the pistol but the dealer didn't have any idea,,,I did.
The era of $200 Lugers is gone , but deals are still around if you do your homework and are in the right place at the right time.

I just use a Meg-Gar magazine in the pistol for shooting. Their Luger repro mags have worked very well for me over the years in several Lugers.
The Schmeisser magazine is too valuable for every day use.

Like my $229 "Shotgun News" advertisement special from the mid-1980s.

A most elegant way to do 9mm.

Here are a couple of Luger shooters - one 9mm, one BB gun.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/firearm...#post138251935

Here is my Imperial,WWI,WWII,Commercial Luger. I put it together my self out of spare parts I had on hand. It there are two parts from the same pistol in this assembly I'd be surprised. However it's a reliable shooter and if I should break something it's no great loss!
Jim

If you want a P.08 that is a good shooter the East German refurbished guns are perfect, particularly if built on a Mauser frame and with a Czech replacement barrel.

I have two VoPo 08 left and they are both better shooters than my matching original specimen, or any other P.08 that I owned over the years.

VoPo 08 is not like VoPo 08, I have one that is not force matched but all matching, except the Czech barrel, and this gun can shoot along with my P210.

I usually put Nills on my shooters.

I keep threatening to reline the barrel and replace the springs on this one to scare everyone else off the range. This 1906 Model was found in a leaky barn and was frozen solid when I received it. Several weeks of soaking in Kroil oil finally freed it up. I tested it with a primed case only and it went bang. BTW: Some idiot prior to my receiving it broke the takedown lever in an attempt to improperly disassemble it.

my F-I-L has several Lugers on his wall in his basement.. I will have to check them out more closely the next time I'm @ his place to see exactly what he has..

Thanks very much for this thread.

I'm really considering a Luger P08. I want it more for a shooter that will be reliable enough to use in a pinch for defense as well.

I'm considering an Interarms Mauser Parabellum from the 70's. The advantage would be that the steel and parts would be less likely to be 'worn out' or 'fatigued', and steel has improved from the early 1900's to the 1970s.

However, I like the idea of having a Luger from before WWII. It's just a coolness factor, even if it might be re-finished or have mis-matched parts. But there's that unknown of 'relying' on a gun that's almost 100 years old.

Any recommendations?

As long as you aren't overly concerned about using jhp defense ammo and are willing to vet the whatever ball ammo you load up with, the interarms/Mausers run pretty good based on my own gun. I'm not a huge fan of running hot stuff in Lugers, but the basic NATO 124gr ball does fine in mine and could certainly work in a pinch. Personally, I like these particular guns for shooters, even though they fetch a pretty decent value themselves.

Thanks for that advice! From what I've seen, pretty much ALL functional Lugers are going for pretty deep sums. Those Interarms Mausers are asking some higher prices than even some fair original war-time Lugers with matching numbers.

From all that I've read so far, it seems that even the old pre-WWII Lugers are holding up just fine to range time (I haven't heard of any consistent reports of sudden frame, slide, or parts failures to really worry about). My guess is, those German made Lugers even pre-WWI had a ton of time and effort put into each one, including the choice of bar stock and steels.

I recently bought a BYF 41 Mauser rig that included the pistol, two correct FXO magazines, a 1941 dated holster, and loading tool. Pistol is in very nice condition, and came with the original # to the gun wood stocks and the "Black Widow" plastic ones too.

LOL! I thought it was engraved when I first saw the picture.

The Luger pictured by italian sport has got to be the best one yet. Just think how much time it took to make the gun look like that. That's a gun that could never be duplicated.

That's a neat pistol.

Looks like a Dutch contract pistol perhaps.

Can you still see an arrow pointing upwards/forward just above the safety lever along with the word 'RUST' (how appropriate!)?? ,,I think I can see the arrow in the pic.

'Rust' is Made Safe in Dutch,,though the real rust from poor storage might have taken it all away.
They braized a brass rectangle plaque to the side of the frame of the pistols destined for the Dutch East Indies services. The unit numbers and such were stamped onto the brass. It looks like the brass may have been there on your pistol at one time.
Some of the Dutch contracts were DWM and some were made by Vickers in England of all places.
Quite a colorful history for a contract Luger and Holland's issue sidearm at the time.

Whatever it's origins,,I'd leave it just the way it is. I'd get it into shooting condition, wouldn't worry about the bore for now, and just see how it does. You may be surprised!

I have a coffee table/display case in our family room with a glass top in which I display my "rusted and busted" pistols like this one. I get more comments and questions about these then I do about the pristine examples in my collection. I'll post a picture when I locate it.
Jim

I have this pistol in a coffee table/display case in our family room along with other rusted and busted pieces. I get more comments and questions about these pieces then I do about the pristine examples in my collection. I also agree that it's engraved albeit by Mother nature. The pistol was found in a trunk in a leaky farm building along with a sword and a uniform. Both of these articles were too far gone to interest me. Some of the other items in the case I call my desert finds as they are items I've picked up while exploring the Arizona deserts.
I hope I haven't taken this thread too far astray since I indicated earlier I have a home assembled shooter Luger that I get a great deal of enjoyment with.
Jim

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Here is my P08. I inherited it from my Father who Liberated it in 1945. It is a BYF with a 42 chamber Date. Mag is a FXO. Bore is mint. I wish I knew what he did with the Capture Papers, I remember seeing them as a kid. Gun was in his Closet, never found the Holster.

That appears to be in very nice condition. My dad brought back a P38, but dummy me had it high polished blued and then ended up selling it. Have regretted doing so.