How long have you collected, owned, or studied Lugers?
 

One of our newest members has posed a pretty good question....

The last time this question was asked was a long time ago. I am sure there were less than 150 members at the time. We are now well over 2200 registered members... and I think it would be interesting to ask this question again...

All members are invited to reply...Be as brief or as wordy as you like in your replies...

As for me... it has been roughly 45+ years... give or take a couple... How about you :confused:

I suppose I've had an interest for over 40 years, but I bought my first one in 1978, and that is when I became more serious about learning more about Lugers. Its been fun...

I've always liked Lugers--- !!! Raised listening to the trials and tribulations of WWII, there was inculcated in me an abiding interest in that historical event. Growing up in farming and ranching country, firearms were never far from hand. As a student in High School, one of my earliest employers had a Luger. Lusted mightly after that one, I did! Eventually, the poor pestered man just gave me the pistol. It holds a place of Honor in my collection to this day. It is nothing special, a shooter, but was the seed that sprouted alongside me.
Later, as a student at Texas A & M, my roomate saw this same pistol and did his best to buy it from me. I never relented, but when he was sent as a "back seater" in an F4 Phantom off one of our carriers, I "loaned" him the Luger. On the condition that he bring both the weapon and his miserable body back in one piece. He did. This pistol has two tours over Viet Nam as his personal side arm. He won the Navy Cross while carrying it. Thus the place of Honor.
Now my collection has several of these fine pistols in it. Only within the last 4 or 5 years have I had the discretionary income to acquire more. I have been fortunate to have a Mentor, wife and friends who have encouraged my passion, and increased my knowledge. This Forum will be a powerful addition to that cairn of education. It's great to have this wonderful resource.
So, to be more specific, I've been lusting after Lugers for over 45 years.

Still lusting and learning in West Texas

Ronnie

Ronnie

I was CADA gun show trader. Not a member. I found lugers good trade. The ones I liked were matched with the mags. They are gone and now I think I was mistaken. I wish I had stored them. 25 years.

I've wanted one for about 40yr.I bought one about 15 days ago.

Like most my age, I grew up on WWII stories, so at about 27 I got my first luger, 1937 S/42. Over the past 20 years and the fact my grandfather and his brothers fought in WWI my interests were on Pre 1918 stuff for the unit histories.
Prior to the FORUM, I did very little with the study of the guns themselves. When I found the FORUM about 18 months ago, the study of the guns has become a new passion and I want to thank all of you for the help and enjoyment I get everyday while visiting this site

Jim

I have always been interested in WW2, then as I got into history, WW1, Civil War (US), etc. For some reason the luger fasinated me. Meanwhile I was buying bayonets since that is easier for a teenager. At some point I bought Datigs book, I belive it was while still a teen. Then after I joined the army, I found an artillery luger, well buffed but a luger and sold my colt python and bought it.

A couple of years later I bought a mismatched 1940/42. Years passed, was stationed in germany, where I visited many WW2 battlefields and sites and learned more history of WW2, met a WW2 Dutch resistance fighter and became friends. After I retired, I really got into the actual history of the gun, bought books, studied and decided I liked the weimar era, which I collect now :)

Ed

I have been buying and selling guns since I got out of the srvice in 1986. I collected Winchesters. Then I got the Luger feaver about 12 years ago. I have sold most of the long guns to finance my lugers. I concentrate on grip safety lugers. :cool:

Russ <img border="0" alt="[burnout]" title="" src="graemlins/burnout.gif" />

Fell in love with Lugers about 1962. I was 12, and used to hang out at Archie Wienstiens surplus store. He had anything and everything. Mortars, Lahti 20mm A.T. Rifles,and about a hundred Lugers in a display case. Could'nt afford one ($32.95 for 4" barrels, $39.95 for LP08s, $42.95 for Swiss) his son, Jack would let me handle them all I wanted. Have had 5 or 6 since 1974. Traded them off, or sold them. Just starting to seriously get back into them. Been lucky so far. With the help of several of the members. Russ, Dwight, Pete, Jerry, Ed, and What's his name.
Oh yeah! Mr.Anderson
Thanks,guys! Ron

Russ, I am interested in adding a grip safety Luger to my collection...Do you have any sage advice? Obviously I would like to find an enexpensive model(relatively) but a nice piece that represents this type. Let me know...Thanks, Jerry Burney

Hi Jerry
I would start out with an American Eagle 1900 or 1906. Buy the best you can afford!! Watch out for redone guns.

Russ <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" />

Jerry my friend, if I were you and wanted a grip safety Luger I'd call upon poor George who has several he needs to sell.

As to personal Luger history, it's neat to read of guys, guns, and school. I kept a Cogswell & Harrison twelve guage side by side under my bed in the dorm (with the ammo if I could afford it). I was subsequently thrown out and promptly drafted but it wasn't due to the shot gun but rather Carol B----r.

My first Luger was a chrome plated 1917 DWM that I took to school once for show and tell in the seventh grade. The teacher required that it be kept in her desk while it was in the school.

I never knew of anyone injured by a firearm except my Dad and his buddies during the "Big One" and some of my buddies in VN.

Russ, Thanks for the advice, I will take it to heart.

George, Let me know what you have. I don't have any idea what to look for so I am like a novice in a poker game...Thanks, Jerry

Jerry, Have you noticed that George suddenly has a lot of stuff for sale, since "Copperas TX" got booted off of e-bay. I'm beginning to get suspisious!? I would be carefull if I were you.

;-) Ron

When I was 4 years old, my Dad's pall Miller Epps came to the house with what I now know was an Arisaka rifle. He and my dad took it apart and removed the firing pin (Never understood that part as 6.5 Jap Ammo wasn't exactly on sale at the 5 and dime) and that was my intro. That was my favorite toy from that point onwards..other kids had their "Winky-Dink" and Howdy Doody stuff; me I had my Jap Rifle and was John "Sands of Iwo Jima" Wayne, Jr.

A couple of years later, we moved, and a guy down the street had a luger...actually, it was his Dad's (What a surprise) He was older, had more street-savvy and knew a mark when he saw one. He let me hold it one afternoon when his parents weren't around...charged me a dime for the pleasure.

When we moved to Beverly Place, our next door neighbor was a USAFR officer who had a Luger he brought back from Germany flying the Airlift; he 's'plained to me that the DWM was the monogram of the Natsi Gen'ral he captured it from...I was getting hooked but had no money.

My first one that I ever owned was a Bulgarian contract rig with 2 matching mags...bought from Manning's Bait and Tackle, Macon , Ga in the early 1960's...I think I sold some Nazi stuff (the place was awash in it at the time)and paid something like $60 for it.

Been addicted since.

Tom A.

I have been a gun addict since I was about 10 back during WWII. They're all neat: 1911s (John Wayne always had one in the war movies), Colt SAAs (John and Roy used them), and Lugers (the sinister guys used them). Like George Anderson, I took my own gun to school; it was a Remington .22 target rifle and back in the '40s I was on the school rifle team. Carried the rifle to school and stood it in the corner of my classroom 2 days a week. Also carried it home through the center of town and usually had a partial box of ammo in my pocket. Times are different today, don't try that now.

Anyway, my first handgun would have been a 1911 but they were expensive so I got a P-38. Not a bad weapon, but later traded it for a 1911. I drooled over Lugers for many years but always picked a more useful defense or target gun. Finally, 2 years ago I bought 2 Lugers, I had drooled long enough. Had a 3rd one, but it was kind of a crude collection of parts. Now that I am approaching 70 I guess I won't add many more to my collection. I really have more than I need (but less than I want) already.

One of these days people are going to get tired of this story...

Before I was eight years old I had a cap pistol called a Kruger, it was a full-sized, completely detailed Bakelite Luger replica that would probably get a body thrown into jail today. Somehow I recognized even then that it was something special. (I think I had my first real gun, a Remington Fieldmaster in .22LR around this time, 46 years later I still own it.)

When I was eleven years old I bought a brand new copy of Datig's book, on purpose, with my own money. I had long guns all throughout grade school and high school, but as a minor could never legally buy a handgun.

Fast-forward to January, 2002. Over time I had sold all my guns but the ones which I inherited, but never really lost interest. I had a small epiphany and realized that there was nothing keeping me from acting on this interest except myself, and I have dedicated my time and energy (and money!) to the collecting and study of Lugers since then.

--Dwight

********** 8 Whole Days !!! *****************
:D

Well I guess that I now also quaify for the 45 year luger club, since I purchased my first one from Ye Ole Hunter in 1959 for $39.95 and for $10 more got a mint Nazi holster & 100rds of Canadian SMG ammo. I also took mine along to Nam, but never had to use it. I previous had owned a 6.5mm Arisaka rife that I never shot, because the ammo was not available at the time, but must have detail stripped it hundreds of time. I gave it back to my Uncle on his 75th birthday. I actually purchased my first firearm, a rusty percussion hammer lock shotgun, at age 10 at a farm auction for five cents. I've been looking for bargins ever since. TH

My dad was in the Infantry in WWII. Landing on Omaha Beach about a week before his 20th birthday was the start of combat for him. He got a machine gun bullet through the knee going across a hedgerow opening in France. Managed to save the leg. He was in the thick of it like so many others. He had a friend that was a cook and my dad keep bringing him Lugers (16), a few P.38s (4)and a 1922 Browning that he would pick up from the battle field. The cook would hide them in the mess tent and move them for him, when the tent was relocated. Getting on the ship/boat to come home he was told if you dont have papers for your captured weapons it is prison time for you. Well he got rid of 15 of his 16 Lugers and all the P.38s. He did manage to keep the small Browning.
Well, I got to listen to his war stories and the facsination of the Luger pistol was a big part of them. Around 1975 I got the bug bad and managed to get enough money together to buy my first Luger from Ralph Shattuck, well that was the start of a lifelong love of the Luger pistol! Wow, what a piece of machinery the Luger pistol is! Like Clint Eastwood said in FIREFOX "Man.........is this a machine!"

Hi Sandi, I thought I was the youngest pup in the neighborhood. I have been interested in Lugers for at least 9 days!! :D

Well maybe a bit longer!!!!

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Guess I join the ranks of the oldtimers 45+ years collecting . sure wish I had what went through my hands. First luger was one my dad got from the local bartender.Think I was 14 at the time.I can remember when they were all over the place for 35.00 .but who the hell had 35.00. Got an MP44 from a friends dad.To
dewat it, it he filled the barrel with tar. Long ago and far away. Sure love those lugers

I don't know if I would qualify as a Luger collector or not. My interests are varied, I started originaly collecting U.S Martials(Mil-issue pistols),got married and sold most to survive. I then started a more general collection, handguns and bolt rifles from WWI-WWII. Of course a Parabellum is required for such projects, and P08's are a lot of fun(I shoot all my guns). I bought my first Luger about 6 years ago, and my second one 2 summers back.

Stevie.

Stevie,

One Luger makes you an owner. Two makes you a collector.
<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

--Dwight

I have been facinated with the Luger Pistole since as a child I learned of My Father receiving Ahe Purple Heart for a pistol wound to the right wrist by a German Artillery Sniper using a Lange P-08 with a Snail Drum Magazine in France during WW-1. For many years I looked longingly at the Mariners Museum Small Arms Collection which has more than a dozen Minty Navy P-08's of every type.
After much Deep Thought and consultation with my Wife we seem to place my one and only "1906 AE Luger" Acqisition in the 1948 - 1949 era, From A local Pawn Shop for $35.00 . I was 25 years old.
I guess that this makes me a "Semi Centerian" Owner.
Are There More of you "Old Timers" out there that are willing to stop lurking and "Come in Out of The Woods" and "Fess Up" to your age?
ViggoG

My introduction to Lugers came in 1968 when an older friend had a comerical .30cal with a 4.75" barrel. That kind of set me on what a Luger should look like. I then went to college, got married and did not buy any guns until about 5 years ago when I spent two weeks on the internet tracking down the manufacturer of the stainless Lugers.

I bought one and have been hooked! My collection now stands at 5. I am also interrested in Astras and just bought a model 300 this weekend.

Viggo has me beat a mile. I have been collecting/studying Lugers for 47 years. I still do not have a Luger per year to show for it (collection currently stands at 42 Lugers plus a Borchardt).

GO!!! Sandi..... <img border="0" alt="[thumbsup]" title="" src="graemlins/bigok.gif" />

Just a comment on a quote by Ron Smith, :rolleyes:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">"Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch..." </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Ron, You should Thank "The Weasel",You Cannot Drink Your Lunch "WITH THE CORK IN IT" <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" title="" src="graemlins/drink.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" />
ViggoG <img border="0" alt="[burnout]" title="" src="graemlins/burnout.gif" />

Viggo, As my hero, W.C. would say, "True..,Very True!"
<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />
Ron

Hi, this is my first post to the "new" LugerForum, I might have had a post or two on the original one. This is Frank Harvey in Southern California, and though I was attracted to Lugers from 12 yrs old or so, it really was about 6 years ago that I REALLY had the "got to have" desire going, Thor (Ted) was helpful to me 4 years or so back with my newbie questions, thanks Ted and thanks to all who have provided great info here as I have been lurking.

I'm in Kalifornia where a 1917 Artillery Luger is considered a Saturday Night Special LOL, and finally TOMORROW my 10 day wait is over to take actual delivery of my first "real Luger", that 1917 Artillery.

(Edit added, I got that 1917 Artillery in, photos and info under "1917 Artillery - reblue" in the Artillery section of the forum).

4 days ago I got my first "Luger type" so to speak, my 10 day wait was finally up for a Mauser 6" Interarms Luger, also from an auction contact.

Moral of the story, I'm hopelessly hooked. Lugers are works of craftsman art, which will forever yearn and beckon to my heart for further familiarity and "access". The stories of $36, $42 Lugers of days gone by, wow...

I should have started sooner, but I'm starting on my 2 year old son's collection, now...

Frank H.

http://pixfun.com/dbimages/photos/GL...miylHGvcW.JPEG

Welcome to the fraternity Frank Harvey... consider yourself among kindred spirits...

Hello,

I bought my first P08 about one year ago and got my second one yesterday (1939, 42 code). Everything matching except barrel which is a civilian one. Should be a good shooter as it's in very good condition with absolutely mint barrel.
The forum is great - lots of good information! :)

I've always been interested in guns, maybe because my father was in charge of an SOE/resistance operation in Norway 1943-45 and had quite a few guns. I have been collecting guns for more than 25 years now. I've had several Lugers over the years, I now have three. My most recent acquisition is a byf 42 Black Widow that my father or his brother picked off a German during the liberation of my country in May 1945. Apart from the Lugers I have quite a few WW2 guns, my core area of collecting is guns used by the Norwegian resistance, I have most of them now - and then some. To the extent I have any gems in my collection, they must be the US test Eagle and a Savage M1928 Thompson. I'm also quite fond of my BREN and Vickers machineguns.

Balder

Wow! I tried to set an avatar picture, does it appear giant to anybody else? If so, what's the trick to keep its size moderate?

Balder

I made the Avatar adjustment for you Balder... You should create the image to be the size you need before uploading... What I normally do is download an Avatar that is about the size I want it to be, and then use it as a model in the same software that I manipulate graphics (Paint Shop Pro - yes, this is a shameless and uncompensated endorsement of that software... it is cheap, easy to use, and gets launched several times a day to support my day job).

Thanks John, highly appreciated. I guess I should have thought of that. Sorry for not using a Luger picture, but I felt that this one was a better reflection of my interests.

Balder

No problem Balder, 1911 Colts and Subguns are one of my long interests too...

I carried a Government Issue 1911A1 for 20 years. If I had to enter a fight with a pistol, it is still the one I want in my hand... nothing newer will do.

Agreed John, I've carried it in the line of duty and I wouldn't trust anything else.

Balder

Personally, I've been interested since I was a wee little boy, knee high to a grasshopper. In 2001 (may have been late 2000) I bought my first parabellum for around nine hundred dollars in gold (Imperial German 20 mark pieces). I guess you could call that "fitting" for a 1915, eh? Yes, I'm a strange one, probably one of the few people nowadays who would blow 900 $ on a pistol at age twenty. I had to have it though. I wish I had the coins too now, but you can't have everything you want. One day I'll put those back in my collection. Just recently I bought my second parabellum for 400$, a buffed out whoknowswhat, with artificially dished toggles, no markings, nothing, just the frame serial number. That one stays under my pillow at night so I have something to snuggle with. (And I wonder why my wife left me... <img border="0" alt="[ouch]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" /> ) Beyond that, I seem to be the only one whose family was on the receiving end of all the bombs in WWII on this forum. One of my grandpappies was in Finland with a heavy MG company in the Waffen SS, honestly now, how many of your pappys and grandpappys tried to pot him?? <img border="0" alt="[nono]" title="" src="graemlins/nono.gif" /> The other stayed at home and put out all the incendiaries while my mother, grandmother, and aunt stayed in the bomb shelter. Come to think of it, there's still a dud in our backyard (scary huh?). My main interest is Imperial German "stuff"-- everything, really. I collect both coins and guns, stamps too when they come around. Well, I seem to be blabbering on and on, better shut up before my mouth falls off. <img border="0" alt="[blabla]" title="" src="graemlins/a_smil17.gif" /> I do love this forum!!! Prost! <img border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" title="" src="graemlins/drink.gif" /> Next I want to get a shooter artillery and a shooter navy, then the collectible types... I need a higher paying job. Highest regards too all my fellow luger lunatics, Tom.