Well, for a subject that surfaces here frequently, this thread certainly has brought out some new perspectives to me. So I guess I'll add my two (inflated) cents.
I've always appreciated art and history. About a year ago, I visited Rome. They are rebuilding parts of the Coliseum, but you still can feel the undiluted history with each footstep. Then I saw the Sistine Chapel. After a full restoration, it looks like it was painted yesterday ... and when they were removing the centuries of grime, they forgot that that future patina may have been in the mind of the artists who painted it. I now much prefer looking at old prints of Michaelangelo's work.
I equally admire all Lugers, from as-new examples to Hugh's Armadillo Specials. But I find the strongest personal attraction to guns which were handled and used -- whether commercial or military models. A gun which sat untouched in a box on a shelf, or in a desk drawer, gives me no sense of history (right or wrong). It is simply a beautifully made, but unused, tool that time passed by, leaving no mark. The patina that comes with years of careful use proves that this inanimate tool was a witness to history.
My matching-numbered '41 byf is the only WWII veteran in my modest collection (and at present the only Luger). I know that from December 1941 until, at the latest, April 1945, it may have been used to further a goal I find repugnant.
Then it found its way to the U.S. Someone reblued it and fitted a set of uncheckered walnut grips, and it came into my family in the early 1950s. For decades, it was carried along on countless range visits and deer-hunting trips. It is fairly worn now, and a coupla years ago I talked to Ted about making it pretty again .... but I've come to realize that all that wear is honest, and is part of my family's legacy.
I do not know how it may have been employed in the first few years of its existence, but I do not dwell on that. Instead, I look at its half-century of service with my family. The browning of the grip straps came from our sweat; no one has ever remarked on the proof symbols or what they represent.
My Luger's history may not be typical. At times I do I wish it had never been reblued; but perhaps that wiped the slate clean for us. It is worth far more to me than if it had been a pristine Luger which sat untouched in our safe. The market will disagree, but this one will never be sold anyway.
How's that for a long-winded endorsement of shootable Lugers?
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