Additional help needed.

[kjrivers]

Greetings learned ones.

The seller of the 1915 DWM I spoke of earlier has allowed me to do a pre-purchase scrutiny of his pistol. In an effort to determine if all parts match, just exactly how much or how little do I need to disassemble it. Some serial numbers are quite conspicuous but other numbers may be hidden. Also, Mr. Thor has shown incredible examples of his work. Is there a way to remove (repair) pitting without destroying possible value? The left side (viewed from the top) has some significant pitting whereas the other side is near pit free. Also, how does one determine if this is a shooter or a collector? If the parts match but half looks like heck....I just don't know. [img]confused.gif[/img]

[Roadkill]

Morning, sir. Welcome. If you will open the technical information menu on the opening page there is an excellent series on disassembly/assembly. Without wanting to be prejudiced (I'm a shooter guy, not a collector)I recommend you determine what you want. Is it for collection or for shooting purposes? If for collection then the matching/pitting/overall condition is extremely relevant. If not and you have possible intentions of reworking the gun then
go for value. Pictures are very useful. The price of shooters is steadily increasing and collector guns are increasing at sometimes double the rate of shooters. A shooter, unless a very rare gun, will never be a collector. But you can make a collector into a shooter simply by removing one part or getting out a bottle of cold blue. An excellently reworked gun will have a value over a non reworked gun if its a shooter, but not higher than a collection gun in not as good condition. Hope this helps.

RK

[Thor]

Krivers, the hidden ones are the firing pin and top of hold open device inside of the frame. Also look to see if the inside is polished, not blued, is the muzzle blued or polished. DEEP pits can be repaired by TIG or MIG welding but it would add to cost of the restoration. Anything you do to a collection piece will probably drop the value if the next person that owns the gun knows it has been worked on. Minor pitting and gouges are best removed by mechanical and careful polishing IMO. My reworked Lugers are currently selling for around $1000 (I have sold 4 in the past few months at that rate) but most shooters will run $400-$600 and most collection pieces will run $800-$1200.Collection pieces I speak of are the standard Military models that were made in the hundreds of thousands a year. Value as a collection piece is usually double that of a shooter. My reworks are definetly shooters but seem to draw a slightly higher price because of condition and appearance. Thor