Buy the Books

Dwight Gruber · 09-14-2002, 11:59 PM

Conventional wisdom here is, if you want to truly know what you are doing in the world of Luger collecting, read the source books on the topic.

This may -seem- obvious, and its easy to say (as I have) yeah, thats a good idea which I agree with completely, but I have a limited amount of money which I find myself spending on Lugers rather on books about them. I have intended to buy one book at every gun show, but it never seems to happen.

Well, at the last Portland show I missed a Luger I really should have bought, and couldn't strike a deal on another, and so found myself with a little more money in hand than usual. So instead I bought three books (for the record, Imperial Lugers and Weimer Lugers, and the Gortz/Bryans book on German Small Arms Markings).

What an epiphany! Even a quick scan shows that a very large percentage of the questions which get asked on this forum can be answered directly from the books. Not that they shouldn't be asked--I have asked my share, and new Luger owners will continue to aks them (as, I am sure, will I, and the rest of us)--but we all owe thanks to the patience and willingness of the real experts here to answer us anyway.

There are a couple other aspects to the books. In the first place, they are fun! All these Lugers, all these details, every page a new present to open!

Secondly, and more seriously, knowledge gained by one's own effort is knowledge never forgotten. In Imperial Lugers I ran into a two-page spread detailing the orders for marking the P-08. In it, it shows a specification that ejectors are marked. Now, we all know that DWM paid little attention to these orders, but Erfurt followed them almost slavishly. So, I pulled out my new Efrurt LP08 and checked. Sure enough, a teenytiny little inspector's stamp on the ejector surface, almost a pinprick, gone unnoticed by me and almost unnoticeable, until I learned about it. (You'll find a photo of it elsewhere in the Forum.)

I would never have thought to see this mark before I learned about it in the book. I will never again see an Erfurt Luger without noticing it--or, perhaps more importantly, its absence.

There are other examples. I have some, I expect that others here do as well. Knowledge is power, and fun. If you are one of those who have yet to start a Luger library, I highly recommend buying a book. If you have, then buy another. (Oh, and read it...)

--Dwight

09-14-2002, 11:59 PM	#1
Dwight Gruber User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,893 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1,288 Times in 426 Posts	Buy the Books Conventional wisdom here is, if you want to truly know what you are doing in the world of Luger collecting, read the source books on the topic. This may -seem- obvious, and its easy to say (as I have) yeah, thats a good idea which I agree with completely, but I have a limited amount of money which I find myself spending on Lugers rather on books about them. I have intended to buy one book at every gun show, but it never seems to happen. Well, at the last Portland show I missed a Luger I really should have bought, and couldn't strike a deal on another, and so found myself with a little more money in hand than usual. So instead I bought three books (for the record, Imperial Lugers and Weimer Lugers, and the Gortz/Bryans book on German Small Arms Markings). What an epiphany! Even a quick scan shows that a very large percentage of the questions which get asked on this forum can be answered directly from the books. Not that they shouldn't be asked--I have asked my share, and new Luger owners will continue to aks them (as, I am sure, will I, and the rest of us)--but we all owe thanks to the patience and willingness of the real experts here to answer us anyway. There are a couple other aspects to the books. In the first place, they are fun! All these Lugers, all these details, every page a new present to open! Secondly, and more seriously, knowledge gained by one's own effort is knowledge never forgotten. In Imperial Lugers I ran into a two-page spread detailing the orders for marking the P-08. In it, it shows a specification that ejectors are marked. Now, we all know that DWM paid little attention to these orders, but Erfurt followed them almost slavishly. So, I pulled out my new Efrurt LP08 and checked. Sure enough, a teenytiny little inspector's stamp on the ejector surface, almost a pinprick, gone unnoticed by me and almost unnoticeable, until I learned about it. (You'll find a photo of it elsewhere in the Forum.) I would never have thought to see this mark before I learned about it in the book. I will never again see an Erfurt Luger without noticing it--or, perhaps more importantly, its absence. There are other examples. I have some, I expect that others here do as well. Knowledge is power, and fun. If you are one of those who have yet to start a Luger library, I highly recommend buying a book. If you have, then buy another. (Oh, and read it...) --Dwight