Luger nickel plated while assembled....Trash?

You might be able to use some simple household chemicals and some electricity and remove the plating with electrolysis.

Then it would be bare steel and in need of a finish of sorts, so theres another aspect, when you get the nickle off.

The springs are what I would think about being changed after all the refinish stripping, etc, and spring kits are available and good for 'shooters'.

No, please do NOT strip the finish yourself. The byproducts are extremely toxic and should not be dumped in the backyard or down sink or the storm drain..

There are three ways to remove this finish: sanding, sandblasting, and electro-chemical stripping. In all cases the waste products are messy and toxic. You’ll want to take the gun to a chrome shop and ask them to strip it. They are licensed and have equipment and disposal methods for the waste. It would be a good idea for you to disassemble the gun first.

I had a Luger stripped once, as the chrome finish was flaking, cloudy, and downright awful. I believe the cost (around 10-12 years ago) was somewhere around $85-$100. I was glad to pay it.

Do consider that nickel and chrome plating does tend to cover up some kinds of imperfections in the metal. In my case, mine had severe rust pitting that was hidden by the chrome job. You won’t know what’s behind that finish until it’s gone.

you’ll need to apply a new blued finish when done, which will require prep and polishing.

If the gun is apart I would definitely install a new set of springs and inspect the magazine base and follower for wear or damage.

friendly advice? Take a hard pass on this one and keep looking. Or consider piecing one together over time. You’ll likely need to do some amount of fitting with files n stuff, but it’s way better than the dumpster fire you’re looking at now.

Check with Mahovsky Metalized. See if they can strip it. While there you can have it hard chromed.

Sovblocgunfan said:

friendly advice? Take a hard pass on this one and keep looking. Or consider piecing one together over time.

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From the photo showing 4 differing partial numbers, the piecing together part has already been done on this one.

I would actually like to see that one in person.
Never have seen a gun plated while assembled.
Or one could pick it up as a project and challenge to restore function while leaving the plating intact.

JT

JT-AR-MG42 said:

From the photo showing 4 differing partial numbers, the piecing together part has already been done on this one.

I would actually like to see that one in person.
Never have seen a gun plated while assembled.
Or one could pick it up as a project and challenge to restore function while leaving the plating intact.

JT

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agreed on the piecing together part, for sure.
I suspect this isn’t nickel at all, but a very poor flash chrome job without all the proper steps taken. There’s supposed to be a layer of copper, then a layer of nickel, and then the chrome on top. But if you take a look at the safety lever and the area behind the lever, you can tell none of that was done. You can also tell the safety lever was in the other position when it went into the tank. The chrome layer is ghostly thin and milky there because the safety lever was in the way. The electrical current applying the chrome wouldn’t have been able to lay down the chrome very well behind the lever (that stuff works on “line of sight”, sorta).

I’d likely be a buyer if I already knew a chrome shop locally that would be willing to remove the chrome.

Very price dependent. If it was silly cheap and I wanted a project I would maybe do it. Or, if I could inspect it first to determine scope of effort I would maybe do it. Given how it was done I would worry about the bore and many mechanical issues. I can see it becoming an $$ project and may well cost you as much, or more, than a functional shooter you could buy and enjoy the next day.

I can see it needing a new barrel if you want a shooter. Add that cost in, finish removal by good people, refinish, springs, possible surprises found (always fun , months of shipping it around (may cost $100 or so to ship it to the removal and finish people each time depending on how you ship).

So, I would pass.

That is a pistol that is nothing more than scrap metal.
I would not put a dime into that mess.
Pass and keep hunting a P'08 will come up that is worth the time and cash.
That mess sure isn't.

Many years ago I stripped the bright chrome off an old parade rifle (U.S. Model 1898 Krag Jorgensen), using Hoppe's No. 9 Copper Solvent. It removed the layer of copper plating that was under the layer of chrome plating, after which I sent the rifle and parts out to be blued once again. I disposed of the Hoppe's by sealing it up in glass bottles and taking them over to a designated site when the county had a paint, gasoline, oil, and chemical waste disposal round-up.

Just from the look of things with this Luger I would say it would probably end up costing you more money to restore it than it would be to find a halfway decent shooter. That is if it even could be restored.

A hard pass on this one my friend.

silicosys4 said:

I've been interested in a shooter grade luger

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I would be extremely suspicious along with @Sovblocgunfan. . .

Sovblocgunfan said:

Do consider that nickel and chrome plating does tend to cover up some kinds of imperfections in the metal.

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The equipment required to nickel plate puts it out of reach of most idiots garage workshops. I think there's an excellent chance that gun was ruined before it was plated.

That was my thought, too. It could have been pretty much junk before plating. Can't picture somebody doing that type of thing to a decent, functioning Luger. That's the best guess I can come up with.

edwardware said:

I would be extremely suspicious along with @Sovblocgunfan. . .

The equipment required to nickel plate puts it out of reach of most idiots garage workshops. I think there's an excellent chance that gun was ruined before it was plated.

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in my particular case, the plating was done by the vet that brought the gun home, and the pitting was already there before plating.

the subject gun is a mess. My bet is somebody tried to dunk this in a caswell’s plating solution and not even in an actual shop.

my first inclination would still be to steer clear.

When it comes to Lugers, you want matching parts even on a shooter. All the parts on the gun were originally hand fitted, that’s why they were serialized — so they’d stay together. Mismatched parts can give you a really lousy trigger.

One other thing to consider is contacting Lugerman.com company. They sell, and offer other services such as restoration of old Lugers.

Maybe for a couple hundred bucks, it would be worth rolling the dice, otherwise pass.

Keep lookin, though, they are fun guns!

If it turned up on my porch, I would invest in some Caswell or Brownells nickel stripper and see if it would take it off.
Unfortunately, Brownells no longer sells the powerful mix that will remove about any plating electrolytically.
Caswell has something called Chrome and Anodizing stripper but it seems optimized for aluminum; maybe it would work on steel.

But pay real money for that gun? No.

From what I understand chrome is reversible, nickel is not. Check to see what yours actually is.

If you buy a "mixmaster" like that one that hasn't been ruined, you can still get them for ~ $1000. Go that route instead of wasting money and time on junk like this one.

Stripping of Plated Finishes | Products Finishing (pfonline.com)

Lots of information here.

They're a tons of shooter Lugers out there so it's worth the wait to get a good one. I got lucky and found a "mismatched" bring back shooter for $600 a couple of years back. The only mismatched part is the side plate. Rumor has it that side plates were often removed before surrender of the pistols. Whatever you get you're going to love it.

silicosys4 said:

Yea, kind of what I figured. It's at $350 right now with a couple days left to go at auction and After fees and shipping would be over $400...a functional shooter isn't a whole lot more than that so at that price I'm gonna pass. Thanks to all for your replies

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smart move. $400+ is an absolutely insane amount of money to set fire to over this pistol.

silicosys4 said:

It's at $350 right now with a couple days left

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That's easily $150 more than my price ceiling for something looking like that.

If this beastie were, oh, $150 or $200, then the couple of hundred in cleaning & parts to get you to "working" only puts you $400-500 out of pocket, or about the bottom floor for working shooters (if beaters).

It might have choked Arti, but it ain't gonna choke Styme.