Newbie Luger Owner

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by kmartindale

I recently inherited a P08 Luger which once belonged to my Dad's uncle who served in WW1. The family story is that he brought it home from the war...

This is a familiar story that has received many spirited (not to say angry) debates here. What usually happens (and I have been guilty of it myself) is that a pistol that was brought back or inherited or whatever is sold/given away/etc and the owner years later regrets it. A substitute is found/bought and to make a long story short/more believable/more sentimental, the new pistol is said to be the one with the familial attachment.

The lie/exaggeration sounds more endearing than saying you bought it at a gun show to replace dad's/grandpa's war souvenir that you sold/traded many years ago.

Another variation is that dad/grandpa took it off the dead body of a German he had killed, when he actually won it in a card game or traded a couple packs of smokes for it.

Not all stories are fabricated but some simply can't be explained any other way.

Like all war stories, they get better with time...Sometimes you have to fudge the truth a bit...