USMC,
You don't have to "run away" from this gun; sometimes these older collectors can't shake the memories of the '50s when Lugers were cheap and hamburgers were $.25. There is also the frequent story of the recent widow who shows up at the neighbors yard sale with a sack full of 1900 Swiss that someone liberates for $700. Stand around any table at a gun show and you will hear all the tales of the "tooth fairy".
Fact is, I was out in Vegas early this month for the gun show and there was Shattuck, Adams, Krause & others with some premium Lugers. We're not talking rusted, pitted or bottom of the fishing box but collector grade Lugers. And $5k was definately not the high end price. Discarding Shattuck's .45 carbine and some other carbines that started in the $12-$15k range most of the rarer pieces (even "restored" guns) were over $4k.
These guys bundle up boxes of Lugers, buy a $300 table in a gun show (Vegas), (forget motels, airline fares, ground transportation etc.) and invest a fortune in rare Lugers that sellers think are a retirement fund and buyers want for $300. These guys are there for a profit; we find it convenient to shop from our computer because as collectors we don't have time to visit every pawn shop on our way to work to see if a 1900 Mexican came in.
I saw this particular gun in Charlotte and I almost bought it. I took it apart and examined everything that I could see with my loupe and everything matched. If I recall, it even had a Crown U under the front sight and all the witness marks appeared true and original. When Lugers were proofed and struck it was while the gun was "in the white".
Luger serials were hand struck, on the curve of the barrel with tiny numbers, by some guy who carried his lunch to work every day, in a factory producing 1000's of guns a month, so we can sit here 67 yrs later and opine that with one number, 1mm out of alignment that some gun dealer found a perfectly fitting 7.65 barrel in his bucket of gun barrels, with a correct proof on the front site, having three digits of a four digit match and then stripped the old blue, forced a serial number by applying a perfectly sized and matching "4", perfectly aligned the witness marks and re-blued the gun to match a Mauser 1937 blue and did all this to a rather rare commercial contract that only an experienced Mauser collector would be interested in. Can you imagine those odds?
Also note that the Germans did not use inches for their method of measuring. Jones in Luger Variations shows the correct method to measure the barrel length but the fact is these were called 120mm and most of them measure 119mm so you can do the conversion math. Just like we call them 9mm but the barrel can be stamped 8.82, (does not render the gun bogus).
The absence of Nazi proofs only supports this was a commercial contract. Note grip safety and pencil barrel. In fact if it had Nazi proofs I would assume it was a re-work because I couldn't imagine the German Army would order a 1906 style Mauser in 7.65 in limited quantity, in a 120 mm length, etc., etc. so that it wouldn't fit the standard holster.
Skepticism is healthy in Luger collecting, just don't let it become a phobia. Most sellers have 3-day inspection period, including this guy (Phoenix), that gives you a chance to study the gun. I would direct a question to the seller if you want to know if it has been restored (outside the factory). If you buy it based on his statement then you have cause to return it. Of course he might qualify his statement (IMHO), just like I'm going to qualify this post "to the best of my knowledge". I don't want the Luger Forum suing me.
If you like the gun buy it, they aren't making them anymore.
John
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