Need Help (Identity & Value) WWII Luger - with Pictures (Thanks)

[mrerick]

Hi Mike,

Congratulations on inheriting a very fine and collectable Luger rig.

It is very rare to find a rig with one matching magazine, much less two. It also appears to be in very fine original condition.

For that reason, your thoughts on properly approaching caring for it are very well taken.

First, do NOT store your pistol in the leather holster. The holster was tanned with chemicals that will eventually corrode steel and damage the finish.

If you dis-assemble it, take extreme care when removing the left grip. If you lift it off the frame too far, you can break it near the safety lever. There are disassembly instructions on this site.

Do not attempt to disassemble the magazines.

The best approach to cleaning it is to just keep it lightly oiled with a good corrosion preventative oil like Rem Oil, Kroil or another gun oil. You can get this at a gun shop or WalMart.

Be sure to clean the barrel. You can get a 9mm/38 Caliber size cleaning kit with cloth patches and a cotton "mop". After cleaning the barrel interior with a bronze brush, and solvent soaked patches, you dry it and then oil it by putting a few drops of gun oil on the cotton mop and running it through the barrel. Work from the back of the barrel (the chamber end) forward using a long enough rod.

Unless they are very dirty, the magazines probably don't need cleaning. Just spray them with preserving oil, dry them and then spray on a light coating of the oil.

I store my pistols in silicone impregnated socks especially made to repel moisture.

There will normally be a small amount of rust that will show deeply in the finish of a 90 year old pistol. If you have excessive red oxide in places, you can take an oil soaked tuft of "0000" steel or bronze wool and gently rub it away. Do it lightly and you won't damage the bluing.

My personal advice would be to resist the temptation of actually loading it with ammunition and shooting it. If a numbered part should break, your $3,000+ complete matching rig will turn into a $900 mismatched shooter. That and you'll also impact it's history.

Cheers, and congratulations. And thanks to the memory and service of your grandfather.

Marc