Hi Luke. I, too, think shooters have their place. Many of us can't afford collector grade guns and I've always been of the opinion a gun you feel 'afraid' to shoot for any reason isn't for me.
I'm not sure if any of mine qualify as 'restored', (they're just the way I bought them), which seems synonymous with some care and regard to historical accuracy ! The 1916 DWM, 1918 Erfurt and the commercial have all been reblued quite nicely.
The commercial shows a little rounding from buffing, the other two show no obvious, (to my untutored eye), gross damage from the process.
The byf is a 'russian' dip blue and I'm not sure if I consider this refinished or just part of it's history. It wouldn't suprise me if sometime in the future the rework guns become a little more legitimate.
Like yourself, I find the mechanism and variety of the Luger a fascination, and I've always been a sucker for quantity over quality <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
Having said that I'm going to sell a couple of other guns to send the 1916 Erfurt to Ted, just to see one done properly !