I do not think I would categorize Wes's position as "purism" but as an honest historian. When you take a Luger with an unmatched magazine and install a renumbered magazine you have tampered with the history of the piece. And to have a rare difference of opinion with John S, when the Imperial army sent a pistol off for new magazines I think they took whatever came back, and doubt they were matched until Weimar era reissues. For instance I have a Haenel Schmeisser mag with a wood bottom numbered to the 1915 dated police reissue pistol. Probably a salvage of the original part and a new mag body. Should I stick a pristeen sheet metal tube with a *K on the old base. A large piece of the pistol's history would be lost. I would bet that whoever purchases the blank bottomed mag will not mark it "purchased on EBay - 2003.
If I wanted a replacement that looked proper for a comercial, thia mag could be OK. To modify it into another use I find questionable. What do you tell a prospective purchaser? And you have altered the real history of the mag and the pistol
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