to rework, or not?

[Dwight Gruber]

I bought my first Luger a couple weeks ago, a model 1900

Commercial in cal. 30 Luger, 4 3/4 inch pencil barrel, all

matching serial numbers in the mid-33xxx range. The magazine

seems proper with a wood base.


Here is my quandry: its condition is...indeterminable. It

has seen much use, it has been completely re-blued (including

parts normally strawed) and is 85%-90% on the reblue, worn

on the corners where you would expect in use, perhaps with

a holster. There is almost no pitting, although you can find

a bit if you look. The barrel is very worn, although it still

has rifling. The checkered grips are extremely hand-worn.

Proof that it is a re-blue rests in the fact that at some

time the lanyard ring has been cut off, and the bluing

covers the cut surface.


I was originally looking for a shooter, not a matching number

gun, and certainly not an early model--this came to me as a

buy-it-now or regret-it-forever circumstance (yes, I probably

paid too much for it).


So, considering its condition, do I reduce the value of this

gun if I restore its surface?


Not that I am necessarily going to, even if it proves not

to reduce its value--it is a very 'honest' piece, one which

has obviously been thoroughly owned by someone (or several)

who has appreciated its usefullness; it may have some value,

at least to me, on that basis.


And I am still looking for a shooter, after a century I'm

not sure how wise it is to shoot a collector gun with a

flat recoil spring (breakage possibility). If this really

is a collector gun, under the circumstances.


So, what does anybody think?


--Dwight Gruber