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.

8,82 is the bore width from land to land measured in mm's. If this was originally an artillery, the rear toggle (rear sight) was also changed when the barrel was changed. I don't think there's a witness mark on the barrel. It is hard to see in your photos.

According to this detail, the Luger offerred in this site

http://www.phoenixinvestmentarms.com/index.htm

could be a LP08 with a replaced barrel ??????

ithacaartist

Repairing the gun would make it functional... it would still be a "putzed with" gun, and the value would be less than one whose frame did not require repair. IF the gun is going to be shot, I would have it repaired... and restored. The problem with the repair is that because of the differences in the steel, the blueing would not be perfect, but would blue differently for each type of steel (original, versus the welding rod)...

If it were my gun, and had a friend who do what you say you can, I would definitely fix it. It is probably worth more as a restored shooter, than as original with a butchered front grip strap.

To receive this gun for repair, you would either have to meet face to face with the owner, and he would have to stay with you as you accomplished the repairs, OR...

If you are a C&R license holder or FFL License holder, you can receive it yourself in interstate shipping.

If you aren't a license holder, then you will have to enlist the services of a license holder for shipping purposes and there is usually a charge for that above the price for the shipping.

If this is one time thing on repairing a firearm. The owner could sell it to you... you could fix it because it is your own gun, then after it is fixed, you could sell it back to him. But you still have to deal with all the licensing and shipping issues mentioned above...

If I were the seller, I would definitely plan a trip to your house to watch you work on it. :D The easiest and most legal way to accomplish the task.