Boogieman,
You ask good questions, but they are without "good" or universal answers.
What you want depends a lot on you and what you like.
You can get an historical luger, that is already mismatched as a shooter- and not worry about
breaking a part.
By the way, I do not believe Lugers are quite as fragile as some here do, but then I've never broken a matching part, lucky? No, just have not had that many till lately.
First two lugers I owned were about 25 years apart, the first one was a well used Erfurt and would not function, I owned it less than a day. Fast forward to a local gun show, I bought a nice looking
Artillery luger, only problem was it had two rear sights! Yes, it was a "built" from parts pistol.
Owned it a month or so, never fired it, sold it to a bigger fool for what I had in it!
My current shooters are two out of only 10 lugers I now own. One is a very nice looking G Date Mauser, with excellent finish and bore- only problem is it is mis matched, the G Date 1934 upper on a 1937 mauser lower, with a repro side plate- I can't hurt it much, and it was a $850 shooter when bought. Second shooter is a .30 cal 1920 commercial, all matching, but nothing special, bought it for the price of a shooter too, so I shoot it. If I break it, I can find a replacement that is matching, replace the broken part, and it will still be worth near the $ I paid for it- so again nothing much to lose.
The other 8, I could shoot; but why take a chance of reducing the value by several hundred $$, and having to find a part too boot?
My next shooter will be an Artillery model, i.e. the Long P 08 with the 8" barrel.
So study books, websites, read all the old posts here, including the WTS section to get an idea of what is out there and the prices. Look at the online sales sites, go to gun shows, local gun shops and pawn shops.
Look and then ask questions BEfore you buy!
and welcome.
Hope this story helps.
My shooters are below:
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