Talking to an older Luger collector

[Dwight Gruber]

Originally Posted by 4 Scale

In my opinion, those wanting a "nice Luger but don't want to fiddle with it" are best served by buying an all-matching pistol in lower cosmetic condition to get the price down. All-matching with significant cosmetic issues starts at around $1,100 in 9mm, lower in .30 Luger commercials. If you buy a Mauser, I think it is a viable "shooter strategy" to buy a nicer pistol in say the $1,500 range and then replace the parts most likely to sustain damage (left grip, extractor, firing pin, ejector, hold open, rear toggle pin). The nicer the matching shooter, the more you might consider buying a separate toggle just for shooting.

Under this theory the "shooter" is a bunch of replacement parts, not a complete pistol.

False economy. The part which breaks will always be one you didn't replace. If you want to shoot, buy a shooter. You will be happy with it. Or, you will catch the "bug" and end up buying another one (or more), nicer, and will be be very glad that you already have a shooter so you will not be tempted to shoot the "new" one.

--Dwight