41 byf estate find - What do I have?
 

I've always wanted a Luger and finally decided to pick this pistol holster up at a recent estate auction. It's my first and only one.

There is a LOT I don't know, but here is what I know/think.
- Mauser production
- All metal parts on the pistol appear to match
- Grips don't appear to be matching to me
- Mag obviously doesn't match and is from WWI
- No import mark

Here is what I would like to know:
- Does the finish look original?
- Anything else you can tell me about it.
- Value?

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6205.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6208.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6209.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6211.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6212.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6213.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6214.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6215.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6216.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6217.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...2/IMG_6218.jpg

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I think that you have a fine looking old warhorse there. A good cleaning and oiling will help, but there are a few personality marks that are there to stay.
You may be able to find correct un-numbered grips or right grip panel for it, and also a couple of FXO plastic un-numbered mags to make it all Kosher. Jerry Burney can spruce up the belt loops on the holster, and should you choose, Hugh can glue up the crack in the grips and face lift the checkering.
Or leave it alone.
Regarding your questions: finish os original, value is about $1000, wrong mag. is worth something to a WW1 guy, so use it to trade. Belt loops are replacements.
Anyway, welcome!
dju

Hi Josh, and welcome to the forum.

Use care cleaning and oiling your new Luger.

Don't store it inside your holster. Keep it separate. Storage in the holster may have contributed to some of the pitting and corrosion.

Marc

Josh..Congratulations on your first Luger! The finish cannot be original..the pretty deep pitting tells us that. You may want to oil up the pistol and see if any bluing is removed. Usually oil will take off cold blue.
It's great that the serials match..Always something to like there. This would make an excellent shooter..it's condition throws it out of the pure collector catagory. Mismatched grips and pitting..I would value the pistol at $500-600
The holster is looking pretty good but it's always necessary to see the interior to see if Pandora is lurking inside...If nothing is amiss there the holster is the kind I like to see..smooth leather with no flaking. The top stitching is coming loose for a considerable portion. The belt loops are replacements of course.
As David says the magazine is a nice WW1 type. Worth say..$100+ according to my daily search for them on Ebay.
If you are a shooter you did good...

welcome to the forum

Use 0000 steel wool or even better 0000 bronze wool and oil, gun oil is good, and rub it down really well.

The 0000 wool will help clean it up and add oil to the metal.

Decent byf (mauser) made in 1941

What is the date on the holster?

Any tool in the loading tool pouch?

Ed

HAHA! Just looked over the photo's and Josh shows the holster open! Must be losing my mind. Anyway..no change there..the date looks like 1936?

Thanks for all the tips an info guys! Date on the holster is 1938 and is marked EKS and a partial Nazi bird with "A" visible underneath, but the rest of the stamp is too faint to make out. Other than the stitching issue on the top, the holster looks great. The quick draw leather strap is even intact.

Jerry:
I'm trying to see the evidence of refinishing. Are you looking over the chamber and at the extractor? This is where a hands-on would be nice. Actually I'd like to get my nose up to the bluing. Cold bluing can be located by a blind man...
And regarding the value, we are pretty close, what with the gun, magazine, and the holster.
But I do like that gun, maybe a bit more than you do. It has character...
dju

I would not characterize the pitting as deep, just disappointingly pervasive, especially on the left side.

Your finish, although slightly pitted, looks all original to me.

Again, I'm not an expert on Luger's but I own quite a few other MILSURPS and just judging by the crispness of the markings, it doesn't appear to have been refinished to me.

You guys can think what you like but I have had a half a dozen Luger balls of rust that created a lot less pitting than seen on this pistol and to just clean the basic rust off and out of the pits took off most of the blue. Pitting like that is not sprinkled on by fairies. It is accompanied by much more minor but pervasive surface rust ALL OVER the pistol. As most of us know..even a minor rust spot that might appear on the surface of a smooth blued pistol will leave a mark when you take it off. Gimmie a break here! Original finish? That's just silly.

Note, also, that the fonts for the serial number on frame and bbl. are different--dissimilar 5's, 3's, etc. My 1917 DWM military p.08 (formerly an artie, due to receiver relief notch and DWM mfg.) The number on my bbl. is the same digits, but different fonts. Mine was an obvious barrel change, from 8" to 4". Armory rework? I dunno. The rear toggle was changed out to have notches, which do not appear on correct artie rear toggles. Mine was refinished, also.

Has anyone deduced the date of manufacture?

Interesting. I think I see what you are talking about, but the odd one of the bunch appears to be the numbers on the front of the receiver underneath and not the barrel numbers. The barrel numbers look identical to the ones one the left side of the receiver.

The frame font does vary from that used on the receiver and barrel.

This is normal, and regularly observed on these Mausers.

Marc

I think that you guys are desperately trying to find fault with this one. It is what it is, a pitted example of a pretty common model. Not valuable enough to justify all this talk of skulduggery.
Just my $ .02.
dju

David, I agree..It's a shooter..looks like a good one. Most of my shooters don't look this good!
There are some interesting points of discussion with which we can exercise our minds but nothing of any real depth.

sooo.... its whats left of an original finish?
by the way I like the back and forths thats how i get learned.

It was original finish, but it was heavily cleaned to remove all the rust but the gnarly pits remain. Then it was cold blued all over leaving the splotchy appearance. So now it is not original finish. It is fooled with.

Here's some change, David. Personally, I unleash some conjecture when I notice something, or think I do, and nobody has mentioned it so far. As far as font styles are concerned, sometimes it means something if there's a difference, sometimes not. Since I'm still learning when a dissimilar font style is cause for concern, I tossed my observation out there for peer review, not because I was motivated by desperation to pick Josh's gun apart or burst any bubbles. I'm more along the lines of what Skye's comment says--simply trying to get this stuff into my thick head

As for a Luger's passing some sort of bar by which discuss-ability is measured to determine just how much discussion is warranted, here's my extremely personal take: There has not been any Luger, anywhere, any time, that I didn't want to see, hear about, or talk about. Perhaps in the future--and it better be soon, 'cause I'm gettin' old fast--I will have a safe full of collectibles and will have become jaded and relatively disinterested. Maybe, when I hear "shooter Luger", I'll yawn and start to drift off, thinking of something else...

...Naaah!!

;)