Interested in buying first Luger
 

I've never owned a luger although always wanted one. I've stumbled up someone that is selling a 1936 38 cal luger from which his grandfather brought back from WWII so I am assuming it's a military made luger. I have not seen the pistol nor know nothing else about it.

I have spent quite a bit of time reading about them and clearly there are a million factors when determining their value. I am posting here just to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I make an offer on this guy's pistol.

1. Year and caliber of the pistol already known. Although I would like to know how to tell it's a 1936 just be sure it is.
2. I will need to look and see what marking it has to determining the manufacturer correct? By looking at classifieds online I haven't really been able to figure out the manufacturers of the 1936 pistols that are worth the most. To the bet of my knowledge the military manufacturers seem to be the most valuable.
3. How do I check for matching parts because I know this is most important? Will the numbers be clearly visible on the different parts or will it need a dissasembly? I read the military made luges have matching numbers even on the smallest parts.
4. Check if the magazines have matching serial numbers
5. Also what bothers me the most would be the thought of buying a luger that has been refinished and me not knowing it!! What can I do to make sure the finish is all original?

I really appreciate the help.

I have one that I don't want. Check my thread.

Basically:

1. The year is stamped on top of the chamber on military lugers. All ORIGINAL Lugers were either 9mm, or 7.65; 30 cal Luger. If it is a .38, it's been re-barreled.

2. Most 1936 Lugers were made by Mauser. Krieghoff also made them, but they are rare.

3. Check on this forum or http://www.wonderhowto.com/search/luger/ for disassembly

4. Mag serial numbers are stamped on the bottom. Some bottoms are blank.

5. Read the New Collectors pages here.

Is there much different in value between the 9mm lugers and the .30cal? Are the Mauser lugers more valuable than most of them? How much dissassembly will have to do to find out if it's matching, and where do I need to look for the serial numbers. What matched parts are most important.

I don't want to write a book. All the info is here on the Forum.

1. 9mm military are the most preferred. Generally speaking .30 cal were mostly commercial after WWI, except for the Swiss. There's a lot of them out there for sale. Depends on your market, but I think I saw where .30 cals run about 200 less than a 9mm. Mauser made approx 38% of all lugers, or about a million. They were the major mfger after 1933-34.

2. Just a bit more than a normal field strip. The grips for example.
see some of the albums, or posts with pix.

3. Look the pieces over. You'll see them. Or in most cases the last two numbers. Side plates are different. Later lugers had the first two numbers plus 1 inside, last two number outside. The front of the frame has the full serial number, including any letter suffix. That's important.

4. It's either all matching or it isn't. Most do not have matching magazines. One matching mag is plus 25%. If a shooter, the most important are the trigger, side plate, sear bar.

Checking the "stickies" here on the forum under the new collectors area is a good idea as Norm said, also the FAQ.


Ed

see #20... http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=13121

To be original, all matching is just one side of the coin. Since 1936 Mauser is not a rare gun, just being original and matching but not in great shape (the one on Dell Laptop in another thread?) can not demand premium. At least cannot today. Future, who knows. I would assume it should be a few hundred. The risk is not big, but that one does not have military stamps on the right of receiver, you may want to check the stamps, besides numbers. If stamps were filed off, that will be a big minus, even if it's all matching.

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[Edit] If it's not part of a charity program, I have to say no one can sell a Luger by offering a single dark picture. Asking the seller to offer more pictures.

B-on-B,

I'm going to go way out on a limb here. From your picture, 1936 and 7.65 do not jibe. Ask some questions of the seller:

1. The top toggle marking. Probably has a script DWM on the toggle.

2. Look for a crown over an N on the left front of the slide. Somewhere on the piece there may be a stamping, 'Germany', or made in 'Germany'

3. Get the serial number off the front of the frame, including any letter suffix.

This forum can tell you a lot about a luger, but we need some facts/pictures to work with.

FN

For reference, here is what the top of a 1936, military 9mm looks like:

all 1936's should be mauser or kreighoff made

there should not be a crown n unless a mauser banner and i think 1936 is too early for a commericial that went into military (as a date is always a military or police)

Agree, Ed, But from the picture, again out-on-a-limb, I'm thinking alphabet series. I don't know how/why 1936 keeps popping up.


FN

There was a very small batch of commercial Mauser P08 and LP08 sold to Bangkok Police (Siam, today's Thailand). Documented in Mauser Pistolen. A picture of Siam 1936 LP08 (Mauser Tonne sign on toggle link, not S/42) was shown in the book, no P08 picture. The relevant section was not clear, initially, it said Siam gun has grip safety, but that presented LP08 has no grip safety. Maybe grip safety referred to P08.