No More Lugers

[Patrick]

Master Gunsmith Werle has just come back from Germany�´s largest gun show in N�¼rnberg and informs me that the source of ex-Eastern Block Lugers has dried up completely. They are still in the German Frankonia and Kettner catalogues so I phoned them. It�´s true - there are none!. So, unless some other ex-Soviet country comes up with a further supply, that�´s the end. The last German stocks have been bought up by U.S. dealers on the strength of the U.S. dollar. Now we can expect the market value of even the lowest grade Luger shooter to rise dramatically over a period of time. Patrick

Patrick,


This is good information to know; thanks for letting us know. I felt that the supply may be coming to an end soon as the only ones left are the mis-matched Lugers. Once this last batch is sold, the price will begin to rise. As you have noticed, even the import marked, dip blued P.38s currently being offered are advertised at $600 each, and this is too expensive right now. A decent bring-back P.38 can be purchased for $400-500. Thanks again for the information.


Marvin

[Aaron]

You can say that again! I just attended an Arizona gun show and DID NOT SEE ONE SINGLE LUGER FOR SALE REGARDLESS OF TYPE Or CONDITION! It looks like the supply will soon be non existant. On the other hand, WWII fans are also rapidly becoming extinct, so maybe the supply is decreasing along with the demand.

Probably a dumb question, but are ther any dealers with the imports still in stock? FGR

Patrick, To my knowledge all of the approved import permits issued before the Clinton ban have already come into the US and have been sold. I known that Century Arms, AIM, CDNN, etc, are sold out as I have checked. One of my customer's did recently get an import from SOG with a repro side plate so badly fitted that I had to do a trigger job for him before it would fire, and he paid $600 for this bad boy. I only have 3 shooters left in the $450 range in my MORE SHOOTERS ad in the classified and all of my earlier SHOOTERS ad have sold. I'd remove this ad, but the system won't let me.

[Ted]

With the Recent news of no more Lugers, I suspect all the Luger prices will go up! Ted

[Patrick]

I�´ll tet you know if anything comes up here in Germany. They all pass through here on their way over to you. Patrick

Seven or Eight years ago when I went to the Ukraine to inspect the then up for bid Soviet PO8s, I stopped in Frankfort and visited Franconia's store. They only had Imperial vintage lugers and were then asking 1000DM ($600) for a badly reblued Erfurt. I doubt that we'll see any more in the US unless we can persuade GW Bush to lift Clinton's current ban on the importation of ALL military used weapons, so write your congressman & senators or please contribute to the organizations attempting to over turn this ban, or the prices of even shooter will get so high that it will discourage new collectors. I see this happening already.