balance between shooter - condition and rarity

[DAVID]

The information on the main page regarding shooters at 60 percent finish. Is for example a 1904 Navy in 10 percent a ahooter or collection piece.


In remarks to question about mismatched guns being collection pieces. The Finish lugers were usually reworked with no care as to keeping the guns matching. David.

A 1904 Navy is fairly rare, as such, i would think that a matched one in 10% condition would be considered collectable, I would certainly be interested in finding one. FGR

[Johnny Peppers]

The 1904 Navy is fairly rare? Even the 1914 Navy is fairly rare.

Ok, I am taking English as a second language......

[Johnny Peppers]

I am in perfect agreement with you on the assessment that the 1904 Navy is quite rare. Jan Still rates the rarity of the Luger on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the rarest. He rates the 1904 Navy as 10+++ which is extremely rare.

[Joe]

Is a 1906 altered navy that is unit marked rare?

[BILL]

Joe, Navy model Lugers are a special breed and finding one in good condition is a real treat. I would say that there are not a lot of Navy Lugers jumping out of the woodword these days (never have been in my life). If I found a good deal on a Navy it would be a rare event..and a happy one. MTCW

[Johnny Peppers]

Joe,

To again quote from Still, the '06 Navy altered is listed as a 7 on the rarity scale. The 1916 dated Navy is an 8, and the 1917 dated is a 7. Unit marks must be taken on their own merit.

[Thor]

Johnny, where is published, or better yet, where can we get a copy of this Rarity Quote? Seems like a very good number to know for each variation! Thanks! ~Thor~

[Thor]

Meant to say "Quotient", not quote! Hell, I caint spmell!

[Johnny Peppers]

When all of Jan's books first came out he offered with them what he called a "COLLECTING AND PRICE GUIDE". By now the price guide is out of date, but the small book still contains a lot of good information. The price guides may still be for sale, and if I remember correctly they were priced at $4.50 or somewhere close.

[BILL]

They are still offered with each volume but, like was pointed out, they have not been updated. The prices are from 1994 I believe (for the Weimar Era) but the rarity index shouldn't change. Jan also lists accessories and holsters.

[Big Norm]

All Luger Navies are on the rare side. Production numbers do not count. When a ship was destroyed in battle, a rescuing ship did not go bach for the men yet alone the guns. Any ship that slowed down or stopped was a sitting duck.If you got a good navy, you got a prize.


The first three battle ships destroyed by torpedo in WW1 were sunk because they stopped to pick up men. All navies learned a big lesson fast.


When the Bismark was sunk, all the British ships got out of there before all the survivors were resued because they thought a German sub was in the vacinity.


I think that there were 100 lugers on each German battleship and untold numbers on all the subs in both wars. So again, production numbers do not count. Oil you prize a lot.

Big Norm

[Thor]

Norm, you are making me WANT a Navy BAD!! Thor

[Big Norm]

I forgot one other thing. The Luger Navies are P-04's and not P-08's. The German Navy adopted the Navy guns in 1904 and DWM made sure that the quaity of them was very good because they had a lot riding on the navy contract. I believe that the rarest of the navies is the 1902. These were guns issued to train navy personel on how the danged new fangled thing worked. Most of these were returned to the arsenel when the 1906 contract was completed.


Of the 1906's that are the rarest is the 1906 1st issue unaltered. When the 1906 was first issued, the safety was in the wrong direction. Most guns were either sent back to the arsenel to be reworked to the final safety direction or were reworked by the navy. But a few slipped through. Thes are called the 1st issued altered. These are noticable by the unblued bright metal under the safety.


The came the 1906 navy 2nd issue and these were the guns that had the safety corrected during the manufacturing process.

Big Norm

[Frank]

I have several Navy Lugers. My only difficulty is to identify the location of action. I wish I could !!!

Point of interest on the elusive Navys..............yes they are rare ,very rare in mint condition.For a list of who got what and how many consult the book The Navy Luger by Joachime Gortz and John Walter, it lists the number appropiated to each of the Imperial naval ships. The Navy luger is what I collect, I have others but the Navys are my most treasured..............Leo

[Big Norm]

Thanks guys. When I started collecting lugers, my first was a beat up artillery. I just wanted to kill some trees while deer hunting. I liked the sights and thought that they would make the gun more accurate. Then someone took me to the Ohio Gun Collectors show and I saw the good ones and I was hooked on artillery lugers. Well, after a while, I looked at the navy lugers and I fell in love with its balance and its looks.


I recently bought a 1917 navy for $1300 from a collector who thought that the gun had an old rebluing on it. I thought that would be my new tree stopper. But after getting the gun I could not tell if the gun was really reblued or not. I could be just wear and age dulled the finish and the numbers looked clear. Everything matches except the mag. So I don't use it. A lot of dangerous trees are now getting away.


My goal for this years deer hunt is to try a 30 cal. I have never shot a 30 cal. Everyone says that they have more of a "crack" sound to them than a 9mm. I finally got some ammo and am going to give it a try with one of my 1900 AE's

Big Norm