[John Sabato]

Welcome to the Lugerforum. The gun is apparently in good mechanical condition, and the lack of finish puzzles me. If this is not a family heirloom, then I agree with Bill Lyon, and the refinish or restoration is not warranted. Just keep it clean and oiled.

The grips appear to me to be genuine original German production grips (post 1940) and are fragile. They can break if dropped or during firing since the bakelite is nearly 70 years old. I would sell them to a collector... you can offer them here in the for sale forum for around $250 and someone who needs them to complete their collectible Luger will buy them...and get yourself a nice set of reproduction grips in plastic or wood for less than $40 if you so choose.

You were wrong about your photos, they are of high quality... (except for the photo of just the underside of the barrel which is out of focus) they are much better than most post here.

Now to the matter of whether or not the gun is all matching... I don't think so. I think the sideplate has been replaced, and possibly numbered to match your pistol. Why?

Because the sideplate is not marked properly on the inside... I would like our Mauser experts to consider that the two digit number on the inside of a Mauser sideplate is NORMALLY one digit higher than the first two digits of the whole serial number... so in this case the number on the inside of the sideplate SHOULD be "75" and not "74"

If this is not the case for 1937 Lugers, then someone who has a published reference, or experience looking at many of this year Luger please comment. (Jan Still, Frank Manders are you listening?)

Thanks for sharing, and if you have any other questions just ask!