Boyoboy, Scott, what a marvellous circumstance, what a juicy question! You are bound to get a zillion answers which are all going to start with:
IMO
Since you have asked for opinions and recommendations, I am going to give you some.
You are considering buying more than one Luger, and have allowed yourself a respectable budget. You want to collect and shoot. You want to study up.
In My Opinion:
Do not buy a $1600 gun you know nothing about as your first Luger. Do not buy a collection-quality Luger and then shoot it. Try this, instead.
Find a shooting-quality 9mm Luger for under $500 (preferably under $400, if you can), buy it, buy a couple of Mec-Gar magazines, and go to the range a lot. Keep saving up the big money.
Buy "The Luger Story" by John Walter; "Lugers at Random" by Charles Kenyon, and the latest edition of Fjestad's "Blue Book of Gun Values". If you can find it, buy "The Luger Book" by John Walter.
When you are not at the range, read through "The Luger Story", and use the Kenyon and "The Luger Book" to learn everything you can about the Luger you bought. Take it apart, carefully examine and identify all the markings, take pictures and post them on this Forum for the sake of the conversation.
Go to gun shows, or Luger specialty dealers if you live near any, and look at--hold--examine--as many different Lugers as you can get your hands on.
As you become more familiar with Lugers, you should begin to find that some varieties of Lugers don't hold much attraction for you, and you keep coming back to others. Pore through the Gunsamerica online gun store, and the Auctionarms and Gunbroker gun auction websites. Look at all the dealers' websites. Compare everyone's prices to Fjestad. Between the high dealer and online prices, and Fjestad's conservative prices, you shoud begin to get an idea of how much you should actually spend on a particular Luger.
At this point you may find that you really want to buy a Luger to start your real collection. You will have a much better idea of what your desire is, what is available, and at what cost.
Buy advanced books which compliment your Luger direction--the appropriate book by Jan Still ("Imperial Lugers", "Weimar Lugers", or "Third Reich Lugers"); "The Dutch Luger", "Krieghoff Parabellum", Bobba's book on Swiss Lugers, "The Navy Luger", or "Luger Artigleria", if you interests have taken you in one of those directions. Purchase G�¶rtz & Bryan's "German Small Arms Markings" if you have developed any interest at all in Army or Police unit markings.
If you decide that you are a serious student or Luger collector you must get a copy of Sam Costanzo's "World of Lugers--Proof Marks".
You have the beginings of a sensible way to go about starting a Luger collection. Good luck and good hunting, check in often and let us all know how its going.
--Dwight
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