What have we got here??
 

A friend came up with two Lugars in a trade One from 1917 and one from 1939. Will post the 1917 pictures first.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...0303/Lug29.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...0303/Lug28.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...0303/Lug27.jpg

more 1917
 

1939 Lugar
 

Will have to start another post as there are to many pictures for one post.

The magazine tube is all wrong. It should be nickel plated with a wood bottom. It looks like someone took the original mag bottom and put in a modern Mauser tube from the 1970s. See the extra hole in the tube? And that base has been 'played' with. Extra and/or over stampings.

FN

Yup, the tube is definitely a 1970s Mauser tube.

O.K. we have decided the magazine has been putzed with, what about the rest of the pistol? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Hi AJ, The gun looks real nice except for that front grip strap, which I'm afraid is a real value killer. My guess is that someone tried to remove unit markings and went too far. Regards, Norm

Thanks Norm. I am guessing this is an all matching piece. But it is just a shooter.........What would the value be for it? $500-$1000?
AJ

Ahem! I could repair/restore the grip strap, no problem. Seamless. How much would that increase the value?
(Never repaired a handgun before; what does the FFL stuff say? I'm a welder/fabricator.)

The grips do not look original. They show way less wear than the overall pistol. Are there any markings inside? If you remove them, follow the guidelines that are on the site to avoid chipping the wood near the safety.

The grip panel is already chipped. Both grip panels are marked with a 46 written in pencil. Writing is not fresh, could be the panels were accidentally swapped. Considering the S/N is 43.......

On this pistol http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=25871 the grip panels are stamped with a 70 on the inside of each.

As is with the repro. grips you are close to that $500 figure. Repair and reblue the gun and you are a bit over that figure, but whether it is far enough over to justify the addl. cost remains to be seen. Correctly restore the gun and you will throw more at it than you will get back.
Maybe have the hole filled and smoothed up and swab on some cold bluing and go for $650-$700 as a shooter.
Just for my info. what is the chamber date? And I'm assuming that it runs good, bore is OK, etc.
Hope this helps.
dju

Thanks for the info. Chamber date is 1917.


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...0303/Lug21.jpg

OK, for you Imperial Lugers guys, were all the late war DWM.s all cut for the artillery rear sights?
I'm beginning to have concerns about that barrel and much of the fiinish, but in the end it makes no difference as it is a shooter.
But if it were mine I'd shoot the wheels off it...
dju

I beleive this Luger started life as a 1917 artillery, LP08. The original barrel would have the 'a' suffix. As far as I know, DWM only used receivers with the artillery notch on LP08's.

Please inform the uninformed. What is an artillery notch?

As you can see, the front of the receiver on artilleries had to be notched to provide clearance for the sight leaf. Regards, Norm

Would a new barrel have serialized to the pistol? The S/N is 43 and it is on all the major parts.

My understanding is that if the barrel was replaced by a German armorer they would have added the 43 SN to the new barrel. On my re-barrel there is also an s/42 marking under the barrel near the SN indicating it is in fact a re barrel.

The only other mark besides the 43 is 8,83.