Latest acquisition - Reblued 1937
 

This is my reblued 1937 S/42. It has all matching numbers (3651P?) - even the firing pin - and came with sloppy fitting plastic stag grips. It has the lousiest re-blue job I've ever seen but as a plus it doesn't appear to have been buffed much. Bore is excellent and its mechanically perfect. Grips you see are spares.

The aluminum based mag has a blued body. The only base mark is an Eagle over 63. Would this be a proper mag for the time frame?

Do you think this one is an early one that should have been rust blued? The strawing on the trigger looks amateurish but the rest of the strawed parts look pretty good.

I'm not big on refinishing firearms but to be honest I kinda want to re-do this one because its present finish is so badly done. Would you leave it alone even in its present condition?

Photos follow.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments.

Charlie

More photos

Buffed is Buffed Ice... and the reason the blue job came out so poor is that the temperature of the blue solution was not controlled properly.

If you rust blue the gun yourself, there won't be much of an investment in the gun. Do plenty of reading before you try it, and try it first on some scrapp sttel or old gun parts before you try it on the gun itslef...

said all that to say I agree that refinishing this one would not lower it's value anymore than it is already... It looks like it will be a great shooter.

Hi Ice, the serial number of your Luger is 3651s. :)

I'll second that...Here's a Wrexham lowercase italic "s"...

...Looks pretty close...

Ice,
The serial# is low enough so that it should be rust blued with the small parts strawed. The transition to all blue (salt blue) is started later in the 's' block than yours, and mostly in the 't' and 'u' blocks. The mag you have is considered a Stick Wing Eagle/63. The correct mag for your Luger should have a Droop Wing Eagle/63 acceptance stamp, which would match your receiver stamp.

Frank and Postino, thank you for letting me know that the character is an 's'.

MFC, thank you for telling me that the finish should be rust blued and strawed; also for the magazine info.

John, thank you for your comments about the finish and agreeing that it would be acceptable to refinish the gun. What I meant by 'not buffed too much' was that all the marks were readily visible and the gun didn't look like a smooth bar of soap like so many I've seen. I bought the P08 as a project gun at a cheap shooter price. I've already shot it and it functions perfectly with fine accuracy.

Yes, I am going to refinish it in rust blue and restraw the parts. I will post before and after photos if its not against forum rules in 3 - 4 weeks and if anyone is interested.

Thanks to all

Charlie

Charlie,
It's not against the rules to post a before and after. I'll be looking forward to it, and I'm sure others are too.