Newby Arty questions

[OMCHamlin]

I lucked into a pretty good deal on a 1917 DWM Artillery Luger with matching holster in about 90-95% condition and want to know a few things about it.
1. Is it ok to just go ahead and shoot this thing? (I should say continue to shoot it , I already have and it is wicked accurate, as long as I keep calm on that 15Lb trigger!)
2. Should I replace the springs as a matter of "preventative maintenance"? (keeping the old ones, of course!)
3. Ditto the grips, as they are clean and un blemished.
4. It has a non-fluted firing pin, should I replace that as well?
5. It is all matching, except for the sideplate (anyone have a number 13?) and is "in the white" on the inside, so I assume that means it has not been refinished?
6. The toggle seems to be very easy to pop up when the gun is cocked, but not so after firing, is this normal, or a sign of a weak spring?
7. Anyone know where I could find a couple of correct spare magazines (that function well) for it?
8. Ditto a genuine board stock for it? (I picked up a repro from Gun Parts Corp and it's a real "P.O.S", loose, poorly inletted and not worthy of the gun by any means.
9. Lastly, I gave $550 for it, was that a GOOD deal or just a good deal?
Thanks in advance,
Chris

[Navy]

You should be indicted for theft! You stole that gun.

Tom A.

[Edward Tinker]

Good deal [img]smile.gif[/img]
But shouldn't I say, hey I think you got ripped! I'll help ya out and pay $600 [img]biggrin.gif[/img] What are friends for!

So, at the price you paid, was a shooter price for a NON-Arty, so, if it was a collector piece, shooting it, you could break a grip, break a firing pin, etc and thus diminish the value. Of course, to not shoot it defeats the purpose of owning a great gun. Decisions, decisions... Since the sideplate is wrong, then put "shooting" grips, shooting firing pin and shoot the hell out her!

[img]smile.gif[/img] (I would and my un-fair offer stands [img]biggrin.gif[/img] )

[Karl]

Chris,

Congratulations on the arty, wish I could find a nice one for that price. To answer some of you questions:
1 - 2 - I would recommend that you thoroughly disassemble and clean the gun, and in the process replace the springs. There may be nothing wrong with the springs in your arty but a Wolff spring kit is so cheap ($12. I think) that it doesn't make sense not to replace them.

4 - I personally would not replace the firing pin. I assume that you are interested in a fluted pin because they are supposed to be safer in the case of a puctured primer but I have never heard of a Luger mishap resulting from a non-fluted pin. Lugers seem to have an excellent reputation for safety among old autoloaders.

5 - White metal inside is an indication that the gun has not been dip blued, and it is likely that your gun has the original finish.

7 - Bad magazines probably account for half the problems people experience with Lugers. An excellent original mag for your gun can set you back over $100. I recommend Mec Gar magazines. For a quasi correct look on my shooters I use the nickled Mec Gars and add repro wooded plugs. You might check the seller's board on this site for mags. Also I seem to recall that CDNN was having a sale on the Luger black finish Mec Gars. KFS

[wterrell]

OMCHamlin,
I assume that you ask if you should 'continue' to shoot the pistol because you consider it a collector pistol. If the trigger plate is missing, it is not a collector piece. If you replace the trigger plate with a plate of the correct number, it is a boosted pistol, not a collector piece. Shoot it to your heart's content. Do not bother with replacement grips or springs or the like. It is a shooter.
It is rather odd to find a nice piece with the barrel shot out. The rest of the pistol should match the barrel after you put a few thousand rounds through it.
There are quite a few men who think that they can shoot a pistol to their heart's content and not depreciate the value of the gun. Each shot takes its toll and cannot be hidden. A mechanism will only operate a finite amount of times.

[lugerholsterrepair]

Chris, Congratulations on your excellent buy. I must disagree with Wes however much this pains me. If the grips are original and in excellent shape they have quite a bit of value. I took out an original shooter the other day and severly cracked an original grip while shooting it. Why risk ruining a valuble pair of grips when a repro pair works just fine for shooting? Also I will say something about fluted fireing pins...Just because Karl has never observed a mishap with one dosen't mean the Germans changed the design for no good reason. I imagine they did it because they had a teeny tiney bit more experience with this subject. You only have two eyes and ten fingers but I suppose you don't need all of them? Jerry Burney

[Johnny Peppers]

I think this has been asked previously on the forum, but is there any reference to the firing pin being fluted to allow gas to escape in the event of a pierced primer or is this urban legend? I know that in Walther's "The Luger Book" he makes reference to the firing pin being fluted in the 1934 time period to prevent obstruction of the firing pin from excess grease and oil. He further adds that this had been patented by Georg Luger as early as 1893 for rifles. Apparently Georg Luger saw no reason to incorporate this into his pistol's firing pin.
If the flutes were indeed added to allow gas to escape, there were no other previsions made to the firing pin or breech block to vent the gasses. One of the tests on the .45 Luger was to fire it with a cartridge with a pierced primer followed by two normal rounds to see if any damage was done. From the report there was no damage or problem after the test.

[Edward Tinker]

I don't remember seeing anything written on this. Purely conjecture, but it could be a change, such as the police safety or magazine safety that was added then dropped?

But the firing pin sounded like a good idea and thus was never changed back?

[Johnny Peppers]

Edward,
The development and intended purpose of the sear and magazine safety is very well documented. The question is whether there is also documentation on the relief cuts in the firing pin being done to relieve gas pressure in the case of a pierced primer, which would make John Walter's information either incorrect or incomplete.

[Edward Tinker]

Very true Johnny... Those were just a few items that occurred to me that were changes to Georg's design / improvements, so I wondered if it was a committee or other change for the firing pin?

Interesting thoughts and makes you wonder? I will re-read Walters book and look for that. He stated in the Luger Book that he made it less encyclopedic, does that mean in the previous book he might have listed where he received this information (or is this the only mention of this action?)

Ed