New here, and open to advice on first Luger!
 

Hi Everyone,
Just joined the forum, and have begun my search for my first (but not last) Luger. Any advice any one can give is greatly appreciated. I plan to start out with an inexpensive Luger first, as a shooter, then build my collection (and knowledge) of Lugers over time.
(I'm in the Tampa FL area, if anyone can suggest good resources here).
Thanks, and I look forward to being part of the group!
Phillip

Welcome aboard! Most members will tell you to purchase books and read, read, read!!

Next, in order to avoid a brain aneurism, you might want to narrow down your area of interest; Pre WW1? WW1? between wars, (Weimar Era?), WW2? Post WW2?, military? commercial? police?

You may want to own a pistol from EACH historical era and use or you might want to narrow your interest to one era that fascinates you the most. Books will give you the base of knowledge to buy investments and not regrets as you build your collection.

Members here are always ready to give generously of their vast knowledge on the subject and guide you along your way.

For a first shooter, I would always look in this site's "for sale" section, before going anywhere else.

Welcome to the forum - what he said above ;)

Buy books - although buy good books - see some threads on them :)

Welcome to the Forum.

As others have stated, there are at least 437 variations of the Luger spread over several manufacturers over a 113 year period.

Lugers get their character and interest from the period in which they are built. So many collectors select a period and collect Lugers from that period.

Or they pick a type, like Navies or Artilleries. Or a Manufacturer like Simson or Krieghoff.

There are many ways to slice the Luger Universe. You just have to pick one.

But knowledge is power and everything that goes with it. So you need to get it by reading books and handling Lugers to develop a feel for what "honest and good" looks like.

One of your biggest resources are the knowledgeable collectors on this Forum. The Forum is organized so that you can post questions, get answers and do research by category. Its invaluable.

You are fortunate being in Tampa to have access to several excellent gun shows. The Lakeland Show especially in January is excellent. The Brooksville show though small is very good.

Both shows are attended by many local collectors with whom you can have conversations.

Hope this helps.

John

Welcome; here are just some great books: :D

Lugers at Random (Kenyon)
Third Reich Lugers (Jan C. Still)
The Mauser Parabellum 1930-1946 (Hallock & Joop Van de Kant)
World of Lugers (Sam Costanzo)

Great Hunting!
:cheers:

I knew I came to the right place! Thanks for all the good advice so far.
I'm looking to pick up Kenyon's book (Lugers at Random), but I see there is the vertical orientation and horizontal orientation version - any differences between the two? Is one better than the other?
Thanks!

The content of the two books is the same. Just the orientation is different.

If you have a lot of reference books the horizontal version sticks out a bit and appears unusual. But in my case, its easier to grab. And to Dwight's post. Its true. The horizontal is easier to use.

Either is a good investment for a general overall reference book. Good, but a bit dated. That's where this forum and its members come in.


John

The vertical Kenyon is just the horizontal Kenyon printed on it's side, a real pain to read. Buy it the way it was designed.

--Dwight

I think a lot can be said for a beginner just buying a modestly priced, perhaps a mixed parts, shooter to start with. After shooting it, studying its functions, etc. a foundation of hands-on familiarity will develop which enables the owner to form educated questions which can then be answered with the help of books.

I'm in the minority here, as I'm not into the whole book thing. If you are a disciplined and focused collector, OK, but I just hunt for bargains and give them the crank test.
And I like Geo's. suggestion about finding a fairly priced shooter and letting the education follow.
There are some pretty inexpensive books around that suffice without spending hundreds. They do come in handy.
dju

This time, but only for this time, I will not advise you to read read and read, but at least follow David's suggestion of the previous post!

... and good luck

:-)

George,

Yes, indeed.

--Dwight