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Unread 11-17-2008, 02:47 PM   #5
John Sabato
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Please show us photos of your holster. It its condition is about the condition of your Luger it is likely worth a few hundred dollars all by itself.

I recommend that you clean the holster only with a good shoe buffing brush (no dye or polish).

Keep it dry and cool and filled with bubble wrap to maintain the shape.

Use a magazine sized piece of lumber as filler for the magazine pocket to maintain its shape and leave the holster unsnapped and unbuckled to preserve it. snapping and buckling will only wear out the leather. Remember it is 60 years old and leather has a finite life.

DO NOT store the gun in it. (that encourages rust)

Put a piece of folded bubble wrap about the thickness of a gunbelt in the belt loops so they don't get permanently folded flat if stored on it's back.

The magazine you show in your photos is the finest type. It is extruded steel and not folded sheet metal. They range in price from about $125 to 250...

A phone call to put a firearms rider on your insurance policy is recommended in case you are (God Forbid) ever burglarized, but even insurance can't make up for the loss of a family heirloom like your father's war souvenier. What outfit did he serve with if I may ask... My late father served with the 39th Inf Regt, 9th Infantry Division.

The indicators of Mauser manufacture are the S/42 on the toggle (wartime code for the Mauser plant during 1938) and the slightly visible "bumps" on the back of the frame "ears"... often called the Mauser bump. The bump was a change to ensure the retention of the rear toggle pin during the firing cycle...

I suggest you take some time to go to your public library and borrow every Luger publication reference they can get your hands on... you are about to become addicted to the history of your father's war souvenier... don't ask how I know. I have been studying their history and use for about 50 years. A fully featured personal library of the published references for the Luger pistol will run you multiple hundreds of dollars.

If you read ALL the information on this forum (10 years worth, and no expense involved)... you will be well informed as well as entertained.

There are excellent videos on youtube.com made by a forum member that will teach you all you need to know about assembly and disassembly...
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