Luger LP08 1917 please help
 

Hello,
I just made my first purchase of a long barrel Luger LP08. At the time that I purchased this gun, I paid $3900 USD. I am not sure if this was a good buying price or if the weapon has any significance. The bluing was really good (almost too good) but the gun did not have a matching magazine or holster. I would appreciate any help on knowing if I made a good purchase and if the gun has any collect-ability. thank you and the best!

Your pictures are a bit blurry, so I hesitate to say this, but can you get your money back?

Thats a lot of money, especially since it looks reblued?

The trigger, safety lever, take down lever, all should be strawed or at worst, bluish from age....

this is Simpsons LTD, their prices are fairly high, but you can see that many artilleries are less than what you paid http://www.simpsonltd.com/index.php?cPath=179_238

No
 

Great, just my luck. Unfortunately I cannot get refunded for the gun. I bought it at a gun show last summer and paid in precious metal. About a month later, I also noticed the back of my magazine had been hand engraved very poorly. Here are some better close ups of the gun. I do not know if these areas will help. Than you for your help!

Hi Jakob,

Welcome to the forum. Usually this greeting is accompanied by congratulatory statements concerning the latest member's recent acquisition. I feel for ya Brother, but my opinion, based on the pics is that it was re-blued after some buffing, some sandblasting, and some filing or sanding, which takes it down an order of magnitude to shooter grade, albeit, basically, a very nice looking shooter--compared to what it might have brought even with a faded or worn finish.

Here are the points involved in deducing this. 1.)When I first came to the page and the first pic popped up, the first thing in my head was "re-blue". This first glance's impression was because of the general "softness" to the look of the top of the pistol. It does not take a lot of buffing to have this result--surfaces not flat, and edges not as sharp and straight as they should be. I considered it might be the focus of the pic, but no. And, sure enough, 2)the tiny retaining pin for the toggle's knee joint is blued. It should be "in the white" (unfinished). During re-blue, the technician apparently did not disassemble the knee joint and set the pin aside to be re-installed after the two links were finished, as consistent with factory assembly. Another area that is commonly blued by an inexperienced technician when it should remain unfinished is the inside of the frame, visible only after the top end is removed. If you field strip yours, I'll bet its guts are also blue, improperly. 3) The surfaces of the areas on the sides of the "ears" of the frame seem to have been sandblasted. They should, however, reveal the tiny swirls left by the end mill that was used to create these planes, or the evidence of very fine hand work used to smooth them (The latter more-so on commercial and early guns) Finally, 4) The edges of the ridges that border these areas look inordinately sharp and flat, and have a definite grain, as if the sides of the frame had been run across with a sanding belt, or block. 5) Ed already mentioned the small parts which were blued instead of heat treated to straw color. There may be more, but this is enough for now.

Sometimes it is referred to as "Luger University", because each defeat is what strengthens us, because we learn from it. In sharing the experience, we help others. I think I may be speaking for all when I say I wish you'd joined up, hung out for a while to learn some of the basics, and bought and studied some pertinent reference books before you bought that Luger. As a buddy's wife says, "That's a bridge over the dam!" Well, regardless of her mixed metaphor, there's hope. Since you have already contracted Luger-itis, you will inevitably purchase more. There is no cure that I know of; and I've never heard of a member who abandoned interest even if severely burned. So, a really good way to maintain the Luger bug, and to reduce the sting of this deal, it to collect a couple more that are researched--and good deals! And you've come to the right place for that, too. It's much better to run a proposed purchase by the membership for analysis/comment/caveats than to do the same after the fact. But I think you may have already picked up on that, right?

Cheers,

David Parker

Welcome to the club, the "burned on their first luger club", and your not alone, I am also a member as well as many others. The experience I learned from this was well worth it because I read and study as much as I can and I feel I made up my loss on my other purchases.

A+ - not burned too bad, but my first luger was an artillery, all matching, but buffed and reblued - 2nd was a all matching - top matched and bottom matched, just not together ;)

Well, I guess I had to start somewhere. Thanks for all of your help as well, this mistake will not be repeated! What would you estimate I can recoup for a gun like this if I am lucky enough? All the best! -Jake

Jake -

Sorry to hear of your misfortune - definitely buffed and reblued, but it is still an artillery Luger, which are very popular as shooters.

$1300 - if it shoots good. But you should sell the mag separately and get a cheaper/newer repro mag to shoot with or sell with the gun (you can easily sell the mag here or on ebay). Don't shoot it with the original wood bottom mag, you can break it.

- Geo

I must be a very lucky guy. Someone traded me a p08 with a holster and 2 mags plus an once of gold for my artillery. It is a 1937 and has definitely not been reblued. However, it looks like it saw war but still functions fine and has all matching serial numbers.

Ever hear the old addage about falling into a pile of s--t and coming out smelling like a rose?
dju

Wowser! Way to go! +1 on the dju comment above...

You certainly are!

Show us some pics of what you traded for.