BCC

First let me say that if the adds you are seeing are offering Lugers from bulk lots (i.e they are not listing date, makers, ind.pistols seperatly) then you are almost for sure looking at Lugers that have been post-war refinished by either the East-Germans or the Russians. It is interesting to note that the East-German Lugers were available via the Rod and Gun clubs, who bought them from West-German importers before they were released for sale here in the US! If you confirm that these pistols are re-furbished, then the prices you saw are comparable to the same pistols in the US, maybe slightly lower. If condition is good then these type pistols make excellent shooting guns ( I too would strongly recomend the Mauser WWII era (34-42 made) there are too many factors to look at in a every day shooting Luger to bother to check out details on WWI era for this purpose. As far a "collectability" they are not the $1000 plus range as original finish Lugers, but they are certainly legit and real Lugers. If you are looking for a shooter the above mentioned books would do you little good and in fact all togeather would cost you more than one of the pistols you are considering. I would recommned that you pay for the matching grade and get a Mauser (code S/42, 42 or byf or Mauser banner) and try to specify a nice bore condition. The East German re-works are usually of superb standard, the Russian re-works depended more on the condition the gun was in at the time, they tended to do minimum metal re-conditioning or re-barreling and just reblued over the de-rusted pistol. Some look real nice as they were nice going into this process, others reflect the ravages that these guns went through from their capture and several years of poor storage.