1917 Erfurt

I don't consider replacing a part as necessarily tampering with it and this includes the magazine. I will not argue that the prevailing current doctrine in Luger collecting does in fact lean toward any mis-matching (other than mag) disqualifies a piece as a collecter grade Luger. I am challenging this way of thinking however as being improper esp. when taken to extremes. I beileve that it all started with Datig's book in the late 50's when Fred wrote of how to distinguish Lugers that were made up from piles of surplus parts (hardly the case with a Luger that has a MM firing pin or hold-open). Most true tampering that I have seen on Lugers involves modern parts re-numbering (to match) and messing around with the finish to make them 98+ % blue. It is a natural human tendency to look for any thing that can distinguish something or put it in a catagory, esp. true with collecters. It just seems very artificial to me and somewhat of a cop out to say that a mismatched mag is OK but a mismatched hold open means it is just a shooter. By the way all of my Lugers are matched except some with mm magazines.