'36 s/42

[ZX-10R]

Hello,

First of all, a little introduction would be in place. My name is Guido and I live in the Netherlands, 36 years old and an avid sportshooter, hunter, knife collector and motorcycle freak.

Last year I acquired a very nice 1937 S/42 K98 rifle, with all matching numbers. This triggered my interest for W.W.II weaponry, especially German.
After some searching I found this 1936 S/42, serial # 9367k, and of yesterday i'm the lucky owner.
Except for the magazine it has all numbers matching, barrel is also nice. Put some rounds through it yesterday and it groups fine without failures.

Now the hunt is on for a nice holster, tool, and some correct magazines !

Please let me know what you think of it.

[Frank B]

Looks grand...curious, what are the gun laws in your country and the EU?

[alanint]

Welcome, Guido!!

Your pistol looks like a very nice, original example.

[mrerick]

Guido, congratulations on your Luger and welcome to the forum!

Marc

[rhuff]

Welcome to the forum, and you have a very nice Luger.

[ZX-10R]

Thanks for the welcome guys, I'm astonished by all the knowledge on this forum.

@ Frank B ; I'll give it a go :

Here in the Netherlands we have very strict gunlaws, roughly guns are forbidden for everyone except for 3 groups;

- Government and L.E.
- Hunters.
- Sportshooters.

Very important to know is that firearms owned by hunters and sportshooters may NEVER be used for selfdefense !

First group is obvious and needs no further explanation.

Second group, hunters, are allowed to own firearms specific for hunting. Roughly said, shotguns and bolt action rifles.
Semi auto shotguns may not have a capacity over 3 cartridges, pump actions are forbidden and all other sorts of semi auto rifles are forbidden. Hunting with handguns, bows and airguns is also forbidden.
A hunter is not allowed to own more then 6 firearms.
To obtain a permit for a hunting rifle you have to follow a course of one year, you have to have huntinggrounds and last but not least, no criminal record.

Third group, Sportshooters.
To become a sportshooter and become a legal gunowner, you need to be a member of a shootingclub. The first year of the membership you may not own a firearm, so you need to hire a ( .22 LR !! ) weapon and buy ammunition from the club and train at least 18 times a year.
The second year you're allowed to buy one .22 LR weapon after a thorough background check by the state police.
And those guys are no laugh ! you had a speeding ticket last year of over 20 mph ?, bye bye permit.
After this first year of gunownership you're allowed to buy up to 5 firearms, also in larger calibers of course.
As long as you keep being a member of the club and attend to the range at least 18 times a year, and be a law abiding citizen of course.
Calibers are restricted, no larger than .50, so a Barret or a Desert Eagle in .50 AE are a no go...
Full auto or select fire are strictly prohibited, so are short barreled firearms like snubnose revolvers and assault rifles with barrel lenghts under 12 inch.
Pumpaction shotguns have also been outlawed recently.

Hunters and sportshooters need to keep their arms and ammunition in a gunsafe, seperated from each other.
A seperate gun and ammunition safe is favoured.
We get uninvited and unannounced home visits by the police to check that everything is stored in the safe according to the law.
We are not allowed to have more than 10.000 rounds of ammunition in the house.

Almost 17.000.000 people live in the Netherlands, about 70.000 of them are legitimate gunowners.

Of course there's a lot more to it, but this kinda roughly narrows it down.

Gunlaws in other EU countries differ much, some are more strict, some are more liberal.

[Geo99]

Guido,

That is one beautiful Luger - thanks for sharing.
Except for the wear on the trigger and the left/right corners, it looks almost new. I'm not partial to WWII Lugers, but the early strawed ones are sweet!

Might I ask what something in that excellent condition goes for in your area?

- Geo

[ZX-10R]

Hello Geo,

This one went for € 1200 ( $1600).
At that time there were only 3 P08's for sale in the whole Netherlands, as far as I could find.
This one, a DWM VoPo with a new barrel for €800 ($1067) and an 1937 S/42, matching numbers, but not so nice finish for €1100 ($1467)
These were all for sale by gunshops.

€1200 is considered a firm price, having said that, Lugers in this condition are not very often been offered.
A nice shooter with non matching numbers usually does about half this price.

[Frank B]

Thanks for the info, I kinda knew it was like that...I fear this can happen here in the future...with crazy politicians.

[Gebirg]

Fine Luger you got your hands on, correct holster is no problem i think, but matcing mags with serial like the gun is more difficult."Correct" mags is most likely no problem
The P.08 is a great looking pistol...Good luck!

[tomaustin]

can you just be a collector ? does the weapons limit include weapons that are not fired or cannot be fired ? we call them "wall-hangers" around here.....

[kzullick]

Nice Luger, and welcome!

[ZX-10R]

Originally Posted by tomaustin

can you just be a collector ? does the weapons limit include weapons that are not fired or cannot be fired ? we call them "wall-hangers" around here.....

Yes, you can be just a collector, but you must be a member of the only club of collectors , "Eduard de Beaumont" .
It's incredible hard to become a member, at the moment it has a waitinglist of over 2 years.
You have to choose a specific field of collecting, publish about it and give lectures.
The members of the board must also find your subject interesting enough and worthy of becoming a member and offered a collectors permit.
I assure you, if you the choose the subject of " German smallarms 1900-1945 " you won't stand a chance....just too many of them. `

Collectors club "Eduard de Beaumont" only has about 300 active members.

Original Blackpowder weapons are free, as long as they are original and not a modern replica.

Deactived weapons; shotguns and boltaction rifles are o.k. , as long as they are deactived by a gunsmith.
Handguns and semi- and Full automatic weapons may only be had when they are seperated in half through the entire lenght of the weapon.
This is usually done with wire- EDM.

To keep your sportshooters permit, you have to attend to range at least 18 times a year, it doesn't matter which weapon you use of the 5 weapons you may own.
If you fire only one, and never ever fire the other 4, that's your decision.

Hope this answers your questions a bit.

[alanint]

No offense, but God Bless the USA!!!

[ZX-10R]

None taken , but believe me, apart from these stupid gunlaws, Holland is a great little country to live in !

[alanint]

Well, it certainly meets several of the food group requirements: Good Beer and Beautiful women!!

[schnurrbart]

Beer is much better in Germany.......and Football

[ZX-10R]

German Beer is so good....at a certain point even the German women look hot !

[schnurrbart]

Imo Most of the dutch Girls are holter
Where do you live in the netherlands?

[ZX-10R]

Very near to Rotterdam