Collectors - have a favorite?

[Brent B.]

I've been collecting military weapons for over 25 years but didn't get into Lugers till about 5 years ago. After I got the first one I was hooked and decided to mainly collect Imperial Lugers but also have a couple from W.W.2.

Once a month I get them out for cleaning, oiling, fondling, etc. and got to wondering which one I considered to be my favorite. I have it down to a 1915 DWM with a 2 digit s/n, a 1914 Erfurt artillery with all the goodies and of course my first Luger which is a 1918/1920 DWM.

Does anyone want to comment on their favorite Luger? Got a good story about how you came to get it? One you should have bought but let it slip away?

Brent B.

[Edward Tinker]

Brent, I am easily swayed, so have many favorites... Policelugers was at my house and while there, my wife asked me which was my favorite..

I think this one;

This is an interesting find that I came across. A friend of mine received an e-mail and was told about a Luger, in the discussion he found out that it more than likely was a Weimar Police and he kindly put me in touch with him. Then I "tried" to give him some advice, and he offered me the Luger.

It is a 1921 DWM Commercial, there are several things about it that make me wonder, but it was seemingly "untouched" when I got it. Bore was full of years of grime and the grips had spots of rust under them, although with some freckling and spots of rust that cleaned up nicely.

I gave the gentlemen advice and a value, he asked me if I wanted it for that price (at the time I think I said $850), I said I would love to have it, but was fairly broke and could only afford $450, shipped. He said, sold! I was dumbfounded, and then received it and was surprsied to see that it had a police marking on it!

[Brent B.]

Great story and great Luger. It's nice to get a good deal every now and then and to have it in such nice condition and a unit mark also.

Brent B.

[Edward Tinker]

What about you other collectors? Any favorites in your collection? No need to post pictures, I am just a computer geek

[Dwight Gruber]

You might think that my own favorite would be my H.P. Police, but it is actually my very low number (2104) 1900 American Eagle. Just bread-and-butter, shows its use, but noteworthy nonetheless. When I was a kid and first got interested in Lugers I though I would never be able to own an Old Model; lo these many years later, and here it is.

--Dwight

[Marvin]

I really don't have a "favorite", as I like all of my Lugers. I am very interested in the Weimar Police Lugers because they go from reworked WWI manufacture to the Third Reich; what a history they have!

But if I had to pick one, it would probably be my 1941 "byf" Police Luger Rig. The rig is about 98% and the spare magazine is the only part not matching. I often wonder about how this pistol came thru the war and still in such great condition. Whoever was issued this pistol must have kept it at home and never used it. It is nice!

[Vlim]

Hi,

My favorite will always be my 1906 Dutch KNIL. Although it's stricktly speaking a mismatched gun, all parts are KNIL and the state it was in when I bought it was the state in which it left Indonesia.

Over here, you can own a few guns for sports shooting, and as the luger is one of the best military pistols for MP-competitions, I set out to find one.

I found a small gun shop near The Hague that hat a luger for sale, a small image on the shop website got me interested. The picture was not very good, but I could make out a brass square on the pistol's side, as well as the grip safety. I called and asked about the luger. He said it wasn't an all-matching pistol and that it was not very expensive. I asked if it was a Dutch contract and he answered that he didn't know.

Got in the car, checked out the pistol and bought it immediately for 400 Euros. It came with two correct, slightly later, unnumbered commercial magazines.

I do shoot it regularly and it's one of the most accurate guns I have.

[the gunman]

Gerben I beleive you allowed me the pleasure of shooting that one. At your wonderful gun club . Again thank you for your wonderful hosptality.
Richie

[unspellable]

I'm not sure if my "favorite" Luger even exists. It would be a new model commercial with out grip safety in 7.65 Parabellum with a 120 mm "non-pencil" barrel, that is one with the same outside dimensions as the 9 mm barrel.

The nearest I have come to this is a mismatched 1942 mauser rebarreled with a 120 mm 7.65 non-pencil barrel. It's no great collector's piece but it is my pet shooter.

There is something about the 120 mm barrel length that makes it look well proportioned to my eye.

[Ron Smith]

Hi Brent,

Hard to pick a favorite, but I would have to go with one of these.

My 1917 Erfurt in less than pristine condition. It saw some service.

A very rare anti-aircraft machinegun unit mark. The unit was formed in 1917. Marked after the order to cease marking weapons. These units were small and limited in number. At most, only a few hundred , if that many.





The other, although I have heard from a couple of members who doubt it's authenticity.

Me being the boneheaded stubborn dupe that I am,
will continue to believe it to be authentic until I see documented proof of it being otherwise.

The Feiseler Aircraft factory guard pistol with matching badge.





Ron

[Brent B.]

I'm glad to see there are a number of replies and there are certainly some fine Lugers being told about.

Lugers are such an interesting pistol that I wish I'd got into collecting them long before I did.

Thank you to all that have posted and I hope we get a lot more.

Brent B.

[lugerholsterrepair]

Ronnie, Way cool!
The Feiseler Aircraft factory guard pistol with matching badge.
Looks authentic to me! Jerry Burney

[Navy]

Ron,

In the last RIA auction catalogue there was a Fiesler marked piece, but it also had some additional markings on the RT side that RIA (and I) thought were specious. Did you see it?

Comments?

Tom A

[Ron Smith]

Tom,

I have been told that this is that pistol. I bought it from Randy Bessler . The bone of contention is that the proofs are faked copies of illustrations in Costanzo's. Yet, the proof offered were illustrations of other proofs from Costanzo's. (???)

Joop van de Kant asked Reinhard Kornmayer what his opinion was on the Feiseler marking. He said that ,in his opinion, someone had copied the mark on the badge. However, he didn't have a problem with the proofs.

The Feiseler logo and number are pantographed. I would think, quite an extensive and expensive effort to go to just to fake one pistol.

The link from Still's forum.

http://luger.gunboards.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6890


I would also add that the proofs/acceptance marks were applied prior to the rust blue. If someone faked it and then reblued it. They knew how to do it without removing the original machine marks and match the blue on the rest of the pistol. The barrel ser# shows very strong halo. Not reblued. They had to have been absolute artists at fakery.

Also, who better than an aircraft factory, to poccess and use a pantograph to mark their property?

Ron

BTW, Mr Kornmayer's reasoning was that "pantograph machines did not exist in Germany until 1947." I pointed out that markings on pre-war Navy issue pistols were pantographed and not stamped.

So much for pantographs not being used in Germany prior to 1947.

[Navy]

Thanks for the link; now that I can see those proofs close up, they do not look cheesey as the RIA photos made them appear. very neat score!

Tom A

[Schupo]

My favorite would probably be this byf 42 rig. All matching and in 98%+ condition. I bought this pistol for $50 cash money back in the early 1960s. That was a fair price back then. Just goes to show you that nice stuff will always be nice stuff.

[Ron Smith]

Hey George,

I'll double your money!

Ron

[hqbmw]

Regarding the Fiesler Aircraft company, makers of The "Storch," I have an interesting aside. A friend of mine hase a Strorch in Austrailia. I was unable to get a flight in it because at the time I was there all the light aircraft in Australia were grounded due to a fuel contamination problem. It is very interesting in its simplicity.

The most interesting history of the Storch is that it was the aircraft that Hitler used to rescue Moussolini from Italy due to its ability to use such a short runway for take-offs and landings.

Jack Hiles
Mesa AZ