My New Luger
 

Iâ??m a new member of the board and thought that I would share my latest acquisition. My first luger was a Stoeger/Aimco Luger so after several years I finally decided to take the plunge and get the real thing. A very nice 1920 commercial Luger with an 8â?� barrel. Rifling and bore are sharp and bright and the gun retains 99% of its original blue and straw finish.

~Pistol Whipped

That is a VERY nice Commercial. Is the barrel numbered to the frame? It looks like an aftermarket installation but thats okay as long as it shoots accurately.

Charlie

Yes, the barrel and frame match, the magazine does not. But I'm not that inclined to shoot this one. I still have a 6" Stoeger / Aimco Luger that I take to the range. But I'm starting to have second thoughts about shooting that one now too. Even those guns are starting to fetch a pretty high price now.

~Piatol Whipped

My New Luger
 

Pistol Whipped,

Your concern about shooting a postwar Stoeger Luger because it is increasing in value made me smile. That's because most of us who own original registered Thompson submachineguns have been through the same thing in recent years. We've gone through the same conflict, as values and perceptions of the guns we own change.

Some of us paid a few hundred dollars for fine quality originals. We shot them regularly. Why not? It's fun.

After the NFA Registry was closed to new registrations in 1986, values slipped up to the $3K to $5K range rather rapidly. Some of us were not sure what to do, and the guns did not get shot as much. Golly, you might break an original extractor or something.

When things passed the $10K level, some fellas stopped shooting entirely and their Thompsons became safe queens. No fun in that. And the owners were in constant fear of theft or natural disaster.

When it passed the $15K level 5 - 10 years ago, it got scary. I didn't shoot mine much. Nor did others.

Then 4 - 5 years ago, we hit $20K to $25K for a WW-II Thompson and $30K to $35K for an early pre-war original Colt Thompson. The guys got really serious about their guns. It wasn't just about fun anymore.

Then after awhile, an overheated market stabilized. People had more time to think about it, and most voted for having fun again. Everybody was in the same boat. The two major Thompson collectors groups get together for annual shoots and competitions, and many are held at other times during the year. Almost nobody is terminally anal retentive about their Tommies anymore...some have five or more...and they shoot them a lot or a little. That's what they were designed for, as was the Luger.

Is the Luger something unique and different, to be treated in some other way? No. And compared to a Thompson, or a $40 - $50K MG-34 or MG-42, the Luger is an inexpensive fun gun. It's a matter of perspective. The average Luger, not just those referred to as "shooters", should be shot occasionally, given the best of care, not abused, fed only good ammo (I like lead bullets because they cause virtually no bore wear), and thoughtfully stored. But nobody should, in my opinion, obsess over the typical good quality original pre-1946 Luger.

Are there exceptions? You bet. Top collectors/authors on this board know what they are. These may be exceptional because of rarity, originality of condition, historical provenance (got one of those), or for other reasons. I, personally, would not shoot one in that category. But some may, and it might be O.K. now and then.

This is my personal opinion, and I know many highly respected collectors might disagree. But I think we should be careful not to go overboard in what can easily drift into the worship of "things", any kind of things. Original Lugers are now historical artifacts, no longer just wartime souvenirs. We are their temporary custodians, like the G.I.s who brought them back. But I reserve the right to actually, and carefully, fire two of the three I own, for awhile at least, to make the historical flavor a little bit more real to me. And I would never do anything likely to risk damaging them or contributing to significant wear, especially bore wear.

Phil, A very thoughtful reply...

Whipped, Nice pistol...It has aftermarket grips.

Jerry Burney

Back to the origin of the thread, to point out that his Stoeger Luger is not a pre-war P08, but the Aimco stainless steel Houston, TX copy, which never-the-less is becoming somewhat more rare, especially functional ones, as they don't last very long in usage.

I think there was a misunderstanding here. I know the Stoeger is a stainless steel copy and not a "real" Luger. The Stoeger was my first step into the whole Luger love thing. Since then I've added the 8" commercial Luger pictured here and a 1916 Erfurt shooter grade with a new 6" barrel. I'm not reluctant to shoot the Stoeger; as a matter of fact I've shot it several times with no problem. It is the commercial 1920 Luger here that I'm reluctant to shoot.

Well hell... I apoligize, the Class III discussion got off topic,. but was good and I copied and moved it to the General Discussion area, but I then deleted a double copy of one posting, and I think all of the thread got deleted.



No offense meant and it was good info y'all were sharing, just a screw up on my part :(


Ed