Nickel plated Luger?
 

I observed a nickel plated luger at a gun swap/show this past weekend. It was in fair to good condition and the seller said it was a good shooter. It had what looked to be mother of pearl grips, could be plastic. Supposedly has all matching parts and the ones that I could see did match. No magazine. It was a 4 digit serial no. on the front of the frame, no suffix. It had a letter(don't recall what)/42 on the top on the bolt, he said he thought it was a 1942 Mauser pistol. He was asking $250 for it, I was tempted to buy it but not sure.
My question is, were nickel plated Lugers produced like this or is this something that was done later?
Would appreciated any info, thanks robarr.

The experts will comment, but the usual answer to this question is a simple no. Someone at some time in the past had the gun plated.

At $250 I'd buy it, provided their's no serious pitting / corrosion under the plating, probably make a fine shooter. In fact, if you don't want it I'd like to buy it !

Stu, see you are networking! :D That is how I have bought most of my guns the last couple of years, from other collectors. I wouldn't say I got wonderful deals, but they are real guns, without fake marks or proofs on them and I sure didn't bad deals, :) ...

The "cheapest" Luger I have seen in the last couple of years was $385 and I passed on it. There are deals out there, I paid $400 for a matching gun, (1) magazine, holster and matching tool last fall, but the gun was in really bad shape. Deals are out there, but not very common. $250 is a good price, although it isn't easy to remove nickle and then reblue a gun, but as a shooter, it sounds like a good deal.

OK, guys, I'll look into it a little further. I kinda thought that I'd read somewhere before that plating was unusual. Thanks for the info. The barrel had a little pitting around the muzzle, but from what I could see from the outside there wasn't any appreciable pitting on the gun. If it's still available I'll probably pick it up. I'll post a couple of pics of it and let you know how it goes. I have to admit I'm kinda green on Lugers.
Thanks again, this is a real good place to learn.
barr.

Stu,

Do a search of the forum on "plated" and you will come up with several topics about the origins of plating on Lugers and also the removal of plating so you can have the gun refinished... If the metal under the plating is in good shape it could be beautiful again in blue... Check with Thor.

Hi John. I think the gun Barr's looking at sound like a great shooter and, given the price, if the condition is right be an excellent candidate for Thor.

I'm still cautious about handling my 1916 Erfurt I recently received back from him, just in case I mar the finish !

Look forward to seeing some pics.

Sorry guys, I was too late, someone purchased the nickel plated luger. I suppose you can't afford to pass on guns like that. I'll have to keep my eyes out for another bargain.Unfortunately, I just don't know enough about some of these guns to determine when I see a good buy, evidently any matching no. gun in decent shape is worth looking into.
While I've got your attention, where is a good place to get parts for the Luger, I need a takedown locking pin for my artillery.
Thanks, robarr.

Contact Tom Heller whose Forum name is Lugerdoc.