[ithacaartist]

Welcome to the forum, Robert.

Your question is a perennial classic, that's for sure. Decisions about shoot/no shoot are as various as there are individual shooters or collectors.

Bottom line, it is a personal choice because a pistol is personal property. Collectors to whatever degree hope that owners consider their stewardship of history in this choice because these pistols can only be "original" once. Beyond the first replaced part, ding, or repair, none is original thereafter.

The Parabellum pistol was, of course, made to be shot. Nonetheless, elapsed time certainly does them no particular good, and it may set up the pistol for something bad to happen. Obviously, the best way to preserve one is to clean and lubricate it and store it in a secure, moisture-controlled situation.

The rule of thumb applied to breaking a matching numbered part is that it cuts its market value roughly in half. For an example in the price range you've mentioned, he hit is more of a significant percentage, not necessarily an unbearable dollar amount.

My approach is to collect mostly "interesting shooters" which might be matching, but have a condition or cosmetic issues, so their value already is within the shooter category. Extractor disintegrates? No biggie, it's already a shooter, so reduction in value according to the mishap is minimal.

It is a good idea, for guns that are on the line between collectible and shooter categories, to swap commonly vulnerable parts out with replacements. You want a "fluted" firing pin in any Imperial Luger, which were issued with the non-relieved variety. Original extractor, ejector, grips, and mag are the usual components one would use stand-ins for. However, if you don't know that there's a stress crack that has developed in a toggle link, barrel extension, or breech block, this won't be protected by swapping the other parts. And, trust me, stress cracks don't get better by themselves or with further use!

A Luger pistol really doesn't have to be that pretty to gain attention at the range. I use my '06 AE with a new 6" bbl. still in the white for IDPA matches. Last time one guy even asked me to do a basic show-and-tell, which he recorded his phone. People notice. It's a Luger, after all! This frees you up to obtain a shooter pistol with issues, but still quite dependably shootable. "Pretty" = $, so if pitting, finish loss, and wear don't affect integrity or function, going "funky" is a great way to economize. You'll be able to find a pretty shooter not much North of $1k if you're patient, and I doubt that unless you're really lucky, you'll be able to come up with a strictly collectible gun anywhere near that price unless you actually steal one or encounter that mostly mythological sweet deal.

Everyone balances risks and rewards when shooting any firearm. Risking potential mechanical/financial damage and/or personal injury (or death) is weighed against the reward, which is the shooting experience itself. Others will chime in soon, I'm sure, with opinions and advice for this complex, sometimes emotional question, so take all our collective pointers and advice into consideration and use it to inform your choice. Experienced, hard-core collectors lean away from using matching, original guns.