Gary,
Zims advice is excellent and his pictures are excellent. But we cant always depend on good and consistent indirect, outdoor lighting being available. I have found from my observations that a light pink background worked the best. If you watch a salesman blend a brown paint, there will always be a certain amount of red added. This red brings out the browns and doesn't overpower the blacks, if blended properly.
Zim showed the great results that you can get from indirect lighting. No challenge from me on that one. Indirect lighting is absolutely essential for eliminating glare in the photography of Lugers. But a pink, not red, brings out the color of the luger and, especially, its brown grips. Zims light brown background lessens the glare of white but does not enhance the Luger. The indirect lighting is something that you, personally, will have to work on. Thats an individual thingy. But its very essential thingy.
Look at Gunbroker at a certain gundealer who shows a lot of Lugers for sale. I think that he is out of Virginia. He has all his Lugers with a red background. The red is overpowering and sort of screws up the black on his lugers by lessening the browns on the grips. But thats my opinion. So take it for what its worth. This is art.
Big Norm