..so new I've still got the New Guy Smell..
 

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g'day ya'll, probably the newest member here, and with questions yet - don't have a Luger (do have many other, more modern handguns tho) - looking to buy my 1st Luger and have been doing "some" research

my price range will (probably) be $4000 or less (less is good) and I've been looking on local Texas Luger sellers websites - have found a number that "look good" (to me) but am curious as to what others might have to say

I want a gun that looks good and one that I could shoot, but just occasionally (very little) and I'm up in the air about 9mm or .30cal

I do realize the matching numbers is best so I'd go that route (with or without matching magazine)

here are a couple of samples of what I've found, somewhat locally (I live closest to Houston but Dallas also has a recommended seller :

here's 1 example of which I'm interested :

http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/ma...luger-pr32320/


http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/dw...luger-pr34798/

would appreciate any comments - thank you

I can tell you who, in Texas, to avoid. Send me an email at 7keoki@gmail.com.

Hi William,
Welcome to the forum! I haven't heard anything one way or the other about Collector's Firearms, but $3,495.00 for a refinished G date with mis-matched magazine is shockingly expensive. I advise you to bide your time, something better (and less expensive) will turn up sooner or later.
Regards, Norm

You should also download a copy of our FAQ document (just follow the FAQ link top of page) and the "New collectors FAQ". It has a great deal of reference information.

Your budget is enough for most collectible Lugers. The key is to find a trustworthy dealer, and do enough study to understand what you are buying.

Reference material and study will save you from making errors and pay back much more than the cost.

You should also consider getting Geoff Sturgess' book from SImpson LTD in Illinois.

Is that a new email, George??? I've been sending my emails to your earthlink address... :(

earthlink charges $26 per month for their service. My son finally convinced me to go to gmail. I've found that the latter has many advantages and it doesn't cost anything.

Welcome.
For $4k, you can get a very nice collectible luger AND a shooter! Which is what I would recommend.

Buy the shooter first, while you decide what approx. $3k collectible you would like to have.

Buy books first.

My standard advice for newer collectors is to buy a "shooter", around $1,000 and a book like "Lugers at Random" which can be had used for $50 or so. This will introduce you to the pistol and provide useful learning. When a new collector insists on better, I then advise not spend more than $1,400 to minimize the chance of an expensive mistake.

I would pass on both your linked pistols and advise a book and patience in finding either a shooter or lower-end collectible.

As you stroll through the isles at Collectors you will see hundreds of guns. That is about
a third of what they have. They specialize in have one of everything, that a person wants right now, and doesn't particularly care about the cost. They are probably 25%
higher than some of the other online sales places, and the only advantage is you can
hold it in your hand. Try Legacy Collectables , Checkpoint Charlies and a few of them for a deal on a shooter ,before you buy an expensive collectable to shoot. 9MM are cheap to shoot, 30's are fun but the ammo is almost twice what a 9 will cost. I just found a Pawn shop close will do the FFL transfer for $21.65 instead of the $30 a gun range charges. Buy cheap at first and learn what you need to know. JMHO

Paul

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thank you all for your replies - much appreciated.....Bill

Sitting on cash, study a domain a little bit before acquisition is a good advice. Many reasons behind that.. even in a perfect world, there are many variations to choose from, which one is more attractive to you, etc. This is true regardless of gun type and your budget.

And, generally speaking, collecting is an iteration process. You learn a little bit, get a sample, this sample helps you learn more,,, this takes time but that's good, because mean while you accumulate more cash for next acquisition...

Of course, that's assume you will dive deep into a domain. If just need one valid great sample, you don't have to iterate.

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thank you alvin....

here are 3 that, to me, look interesting - perhaps some of the Members here could comment :

https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/...ner-luger.html

https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/...gazine-67.html

https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/...r-rig-717.html

a couple of things about me - I really don't want to buy "a shooter" and then later buy "a collectable" - also the price difference between the 9mm and .30 luger isn't a concern as I won't be shooting whatever I decide to buy a lot (and .30 luger actually sounds "good" to me, as I've got an number of 9x19 & 9x18 pistols already)

thanks fellows.....Bill

Agree with everyone. Buy a shooter luger first and enjoy it for awhile while you research. Paid 900 for my shooter luger and have been learning off here and various sources while i save and keep an eye out for collectibles. Checkpoint charlies is a great place to look not sure if your on armslist in your local area but you may see a couple shooter grades floating around

Hmm.. three guns, three very different variations. Pistols like Swiss Luger 1906 is very specific sub-domain. Unless you're an early auto pistol collector, you probably want to go later guns. Police vs military, do you have a preference? WWII military 9mm Luger is more popular on the market... when we talk about "icon guns", Luger is one of those icon guns. WWII military 9mm will be a great representative, I would think that way.

.30 cal. severely limits your choices.

1920 commercials
 

Please keep in mind you can economically buy screamingly nice 1920 commercials in .30 cal and re-barrel them to nine? Or buy another top half and have both / all of the shooting and collectability that you desire... Jerry is correct, in that .30 is a bit limited in ammo offerings.. but since PPU has come on the scene, the future looks pretty bright for these older commercial units... Best to all, til...lat'r...GT:cheers:.... till then, buy books, go and look! Pick up and examine as many as you can find, and they'll let you touch... Leave no stone unturned!!! :cheers:

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I'm sure the advice of buying a "shooter" 1st is valid, just not for me

I want the pistol that's in excellent condition that I can put only a few rounds thru, occasionally

yes, I know there's more "out there" in 9mm (vs .30) but I'm not looking for "more", just 1 - and, again, I'm not tied to wanting a .30cal vs 9mm - nor am I tied to Military vs Police vs produced for Germany vs Switzerland (or any other Country)

any of ya'll have comments about the 3 Legacy adverts that I posted above?

I like the Swiss...but being an early gun collector, naturally I would. :) Seriously, It looks like a good piece in nice condition and not exorbitantly priced. The finish looks original and it does not have a "P" privatization marking, which is not easy to find. Unless I am mistaken it looks pretty much like an un-messed with gun.
Ron

Man i wish i had the cash for any of them.haha. all are quite nice but i would choose the 1939

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let me ask Ron Wood this question.....with any pistol that I would purchase I'd want a gunsmith to "go over it" before I shot it, just to see if there's anything obviously wrong - question tho, would a good smith who's probably not familiar with these pistols be of any benefit ?

also, (tho you're probably very attuned if not a Luger smith yourself) would you have any qualms about shooting any of these pistols ?

thank you.....Bill

Not Ron, but a friend... Not very many gunsmiths have ever seen a Luger. Even fewer know much about how to analyze or adjust the state of the mechanism. It's fairly unique.

LugerDoc (located in the Midwest) is an expert. I don't know where you're located, but if you ask, you may find one of the collectors on this forum nearby and willing to look at it.

If you want a shooter, consider a later Mauser made pistol. A mismatch, or something with finish condition that is mechanically sound. The Swiss made Lugers (which will be in .30 Luger caliber) are superbly made, and most have been very well maintained over the years.

Marc

Personally if I was going to have just one very nice Luger and shoot it a little, I'd go with .30 Luger like the Swiss from Legacy. The .30 Luger round has significantly less recoil/energy than 9mm and just feels less likely to break a numbered part. And in my entirely subjective opinion the 1906 Parabellum with a 4.75" barrel is one of the most elegant devices ever created.

You really can't go wrong with any of the pistols you linked, they are all fine examples.

You are like me. I did not have dedicated shooters either. I mean, no shooters in conventional sense. I fired about 20% of my collection, all great ones. I have never hired a gunsmith checking them before shooting though... they were in great shape, not crappy samples, not parts guns, what could possibly go wrong with those.. and indeed, they all worked well (except one with headspace issue).

But when selling guns, still need to have a warning message, have a competent gunsmith checking it blah blah. That really means, if injured in shooting range, you're on yourself.

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I really appreciate all the informative replies - I'm located just north of Houston and I believe what ya'll've posted reference having a "local" gunsmith check out any purchase - probably won't happen

for some reason I've been partial about an early .30cal and with my lack of knowledge I can't understand "why" but it's nice to hear that a few others are of the same mind.....Bill

I will echo the notion that not many gunsmiths are sufficiently familiar with Lugers. There are some that is true, and one of the quickest indications that they have some knowledge of the beast is if they can field strip the gun in under 30 seconds (I can do it in 15 :)).
I don't think I would have any problem putting a few rounds down range with any of the 3 Legacy guns, they look to be in good condition, but I wouldn't plan on shooting the bejeebers out of any collectible piece.
And I still think the Swiss is my pick! :)
Ron

Once again me just running my mouth.... I bought one from Legacy. I looked at them a bunch before making my choice. They are really nice people. The one I chose was $1995. I asked the guy on the phone if he would drop the price some. He said probably what were you thinking. I wasn't ready and just blurted out $1750. He looked a minute and yeah I can do that. They post the dates they list them, and you can tell if one has been sitting there a while. They want to sell them and will give you a deal. He threw in free shipping and really made me smile. So look at that date and figure what deal will make you happy before you ask. I think the newer Mausers are maybe built a little better, so try for something in the late 30's or early 40's. Good luck.

Paul

Seller has 30% to 40% margin. Give you discount or not depends on he's happy on that day or not :) Generally speaking, it's a professional service -- many buyers don't know item details nor how to check items in hand, buying from good dealership of a domain is relatively safer. Consider that margin as a service fee.

..good info, once again..
 

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I believe I'm going to contact Legacy today (Wednesday) to see if we can do a deal ref the '06 Swiss .30cal (1906 happens to be my Mother's Birth Year)

so, I'll get back here with "whatever" happens.....thank you folks.....Bill

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well since I started this thread (and got some very good advice) thought I'd update my quest of finding a Luger

I found an '06 DWM Commercial .30cal Luger on Legacy that really caught my eye - I submitted an offer and after more than a week the offer was accepted :

https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/...er-030618.html

I've also got a 1935 Nazi 9mm being "re-built" at this time and will soon have that in my possession - this pistol will be my "shooter". Here's the fellow's website - my pistol isn't shown but this does show examples of his work :

http://www.lugerman.com/Pages/MainPages/Handguns.html

so, we'll see how my searching has turned out when I get both the pistols (I'm like a kid at Christmas time.....)

Hello there - first a couple of comments - did you download the FAQ?
In it is a section (and threads on the forum) on how often parts break.
You asked and I'll say, any luger you shoot might break. A shooter, you just replace the part, a collectible and you just went from a collectible to a shooter and lost $1000-$1500 - but it sounds like that might not matter. So, would say, you just made a collectible into a shooter and deprived future generations of its being collectible.

Tom and Kurt Whiteman at Legacy are good people, however, I am biased as I know them personally and consider them close friends.

Lugerman aka Eugene G is also a friend, he can be quick on something you buy and he can be surprisingly slow in delivery, sometimes 2-3 times longer than anticipated.
You could have conducted a search on any of the dealers via the search tool above, sometimes you can learn a lot.

I also suggest you buy books, in addition to lugers.

Ed
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Collectors is a wonderful store, full of history, books, and accessories. It resembles a museum. But, the prices on their Lugers and P38s are very optimistic. I've seen about 15 of them, most in one display case, but some have to be brought out from the back. However, they don't actually sell them for those prices - you will have to go in person and talk to them, sometimes show them some comparisons. If you do buy one, ask to have it appraised by a Luger expert.



My guess is that they really don't want to sell them. The Lugers make for great display pieces.

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golly gee Whisky, good for you and welcome to you as a new Luger owner, congratulations fella