[ithacaartist]

IMHO, if your budget holds up under the purchase of "an excellent early S code Krieghoff," I suspect the price of a nice shooter on top of that probably wouldn't collapse it, either. I hope there's no law where you are that says you can't own more than one Luger!

Consider that anything is only "original" once, and that no more authentic Lugers will ever be made. Yes, a guy can do whatever he wants with whatever property he owns, but I would temper this notion with the idea that we're stewards of some things, preserving them for our progeny to experience. Presuming one of your heirs--say, a grandchild--has an interest in your Krieghoff, do you want them saying, "Yeah...all the numbers used to match...until Grandpa James shot it."?

Verifying its mechanical/functional viability by firing any gun can add to its value. But each time involves a risk/benefit assessment, whether a new Ruger .380, or a highly collectible Parabellum. Maybe a fair compromise for the latter would be to load and shoot 2 rounds, which would verify the gun's ability to fire twice, cycle once, and lock the action back on the last shot.