Hello from a new member
 

Just dropping a first post. :atwhore:

I've been a 1911 guy for as long as I can remember, don't collect 'em, I shoot 'em.

Lately I've been getting the bug to pick up a P38 and/or a P08 to add to the safe. Not in a rush, and I'm probably thinking shooters, not so much looking for collectables, at least at this point. So I thought I'd take the time to read and learn some things before I ran out and paid a silly sum of $$ for something that I shouldn't.

Based on the number of sticky threads here I have a lot of reading to do.


Wade

Wade, welcome to the forum!

The 1911 is my second favorite pistol.

;)

learn some things before I ran out and paid a silly sum of $$ for something that I sh
 

are you trying to make us out to be normal people?? we have ALL done that...........welcome aboard, tom

Hiya Wade, welcome.

I laud your approach to Luger acquisition. Attending some classes and seminars at Luger U. is always a great idea--and it beats the heck out of paying two or three times what a pistol might be worth! At the WTS section here , whatever you decide you want as a shoot-able example will very likely appear eventually. Meantime, absorb what you can, maybe even buy one of the better reference books, but, above all have fun!

David Parker

Thanks ithacaartist. I realize that anything associated with Nazi Germany and WWII has a potential collector value and a high potential to be overvalued if one doesn't take the time to learn to be able to tell the diamonds from the rocks.

I do plan to keep an eye on the sales forum here. I've got an idea what I want to get (at least for my first one). Something with a good bore, probably something that has been refinished and thus killed any real collectable value that I can shoot w/o feeling like I'm hurting the value every time I take it to the range. And to keep the OCD monkey in his cage it would be nice if at least all the numbers that I can see w/o taking the pistol apart matched. I looked at a picture recently of a perfectly nice shootable P08 that had a mismatched extractor (at least I think it's the extractor on top of the linkage); I realized that would drive me batty.

I have a nice in the box PPK/S ('74) but other than that every auto I own is a 45ACP. I always thought that it would be neat to put together a trio of German 9mms and get a P08, a P38, and a Highpower. All shooters to start with. Then a friend got a P38 for Christmas and I got involved with helping him sort what it was, and it kick started my thoughts on getting the 9mm set. As a result I've joined up here and on the P.38 forums to try to get some education.

I like to call mine collectible shooters, e.g. a 1917 Artillery, all-matching, unnumbered grips and mismatched mag. Its finish is really nice, with lots of straw color remaining on the small parts. Oops! Some dingbat ground off the stock lug! So, I get to shoot it in good conscience, substituting spares for the most vulnerable parts, without fear of obliterating history by ruining a collectable. Its smooth back-strap kills any chance it had for meeting the basic criteria for a pistol which otherwise have been valued North of $2k

I forgot to mention before...Lugers are addictive.

D.P..