Hi Eugen,
Yes I would agree with you completely.
I have always had an interest in firearms; we grew up with several in the house, and learned to shoot at an early age. Shotguns, and rifles... we learned them strictly for sport, and hunting if ever necessary. Safety was paramount (we never had toy guns when we were kids.) Pistols came later when I was an instructor in Hartford, Ct. I acquired a 45 cal Colt SAA which was a wonderful shooter and a beautiful gun. Very sadly I had to sell it when I moved to Belgium in 1984
After that we lived in Germany for a short time, and then came to the Netherlands where we have been since 1991.)
When I first saw that DWM 1917 (my collector piece now) last November 2016 on my gunsmith friend's shelf, I was fascinated, never having seen or handled a Luger before. I was looking at it, having recognized it immediately; He said, "That's an all original, all numbers matching... (I didn't know what "all numbers matching" meant, but I didn't want to admit that.) There was also a P38 next to it, so I asked his permission to look at them, sight them, and get a feel for these pistols. Then he said that a collector was selling them on consignment... and to make a long story short, I ended up buying them both.
I bought both guns really to shoot rather than to collect.
Then I joined this forum, (and the P38, and Firing Line forums) and have been learning a lot in a short time as you have. And yes, I have 2 books now which are wonderful- John Walter's "Luger Book" (new edition) and "The Parabellum is Back" by Mauro Baudino, and Gerben van Vlimmeren - both books: very good. I have been learning the collecting side of things, and after the debate over shooting collectibles, have decided to not shoot my 1917 DWM. The P38 helps me "scratch the itch" while taking apart the P08, (basic field strip for now), cleaning it and examining the parts has helped me learn as well. YouTube has several very good detail strip videos- don't know how many times I have watched these!
So that's where I am basically... I found a good shooter P08 (reblued 1918 DWM) which I can put on my permit this coming August.
I also have my eye on a Swiss 7,65 mm P08 06/29 rig being sold by an older collector / shooter who lives only a mile from me! The gun is in beautiful condition, as is the holster and cleaning kit. It was in the possession of a Swiss officer for years until bought by the person now selling it (his permit expired end January.) It's another dent in my wallet.... I'm still thinking about it while the seller is on vacation.
No hurry.
In the meantime I spend time on my forums, reading my books and shooting my P38
(P38 (ac43) is not a collector piece- it is all matching but refurbished by the Walther factory and likely refinished.)