Old German Luger

[bigwilly11189]

I have a guy at work who's mother passed away and with it came his father's gun collection which he's not a fan of. He mentioned that he has a WWII German Luger that his father brought back (as well as a knife with a swachtika [spelling?] on it) that is "missing a spring". I asked what spring? Recoil? Trigger? Does anyone know if the military or someone made them remove springs from Lugers and other handguns brought back stateside? Any idea what it would be worth? I have not seen it yet but I told him to take pictures. I've seen some on gunbroker in excess of $1k. Thanks.

 

[jonnyc]

Lugers really vary in price, pics and/or a better description are needed.

 

[rcmodel]

The luger has a recoil spring down the back of the grip and an L-shape recoil lever to transfer motion from up & down to back & forth. From there, it has an S-shaped coupling link that connects the toggle to the lever.

It is possible to assemble one wrong without the link hooked to the lever properly.

http://www.e-gunparts.com/productschem.asp?chrMasterModel=3230zP-08

Or maybe you meant the knife is missing a spring?
The WWII German gravity knife has a flat spring that operates the latch and they are very often found with broken springs.

rc

 

[beeenbag]

these guns aren't for the average person to work on. I had a tough time when i first broke mine down just to clean it. Its pretty tricky. I would probably take it to a smith to let them figure out the problem, and im not positive but I dont think they were even "allowed" to bring them back so anything brought back was probably under the table.

 

[jonnyc]

Are you kidding? Thousands of legal "bringbacks" came here after WWII. Lots of weapons still circulate with their official "bringback" papers.

 

[Nicodemus38]

according to americas number one collector of lugers. the basic shootable luger has a price tag of at least 500 dollars. Although in my area the only private sale of a luger ive seen in 8 years has a price of 1500 in the local classified section.

 

[SaxonPig]

Crappy, mismatched P08 (Luger) in shootable condition starts at $500.

Nice, garden variety Luger with matching numbers and decent finish, $1,000 - $1,500 or more.

Rare models, exceptional condition, values can go to the moon.

 

[jonnyc]

Ah...but good luck finding one of those $500 shooter Lugers that is actually complete and will shoot two rounds in a row without requiring another $100-200 in parts and service.

 

[2RCO]

About a year ago a local dealer had a Luger for $400 and let me tell you that a $400 Luger isn't a pretty sight. I don't think it had been cleaned or oiled since it left Germany and was Heavily pitted everywhere.

Real world prices for a decent shooter seem to be $650+

 

[RON in PA]

Recently a friend of mine acquired a WW1 era 1918 DWM P08 and showed it to me. It wasn't working properly when I cycled the action so I field stripped it and sure enough the link wasn't connected to the recoil spring. It's working fine now.

This will make you envious, he only paid $600 for the gun, all matching and pristine condition.

 

[rondog]

My brother Dave has a Luger that his father-in-law took off a dead German in the war. Still has the same ammo in the magazine that was in it. I know exactly NOTHING else about it, I've only seen it once. Could be the most common kind, could be a rare one, no telling. Dave considers it priceless, and I don't blame him.

 

[mbopp]

A friend of mine's dad brought one back from WWII, no papers. When his son got his permit he went through 9 yards of BS to get it registered in NY. But it's legal now.

 

[unspellable]

Shooter grade Lugers

There is a pervasive urban myth that Lugers require "hot" ammo. (They don't) As a consequence, the uncaring, driven by the unknowing, have spent the last 60 years tinkering with the recoil springs on the theory that the Luger needs a weaker spring for American commercial ammo. If you open up 7 shooter grade Lugers, you will find 8 different recoil spings, meeting 9 different specs, none of which match the original spec. Fortunately, collector grade Lugers have usually been spared this nonsense.

As Georg Luger said, "The springs have to be right."

I have a collection of out of spec recoil springs if anybody needs a spare.

 

[bigwilly11189]

I will definitely be back as soon as he lets me see the Luger. I'm hoping the "spring" he says is missing is the recoil spring which obviously can be easily replaced. When I field strip it I'll have a better idea and I will post pictures.

The dagger I saw today, and it was beautiful! I found a German Edged Weapons site that had it valued from 1500 to 2000! It was similar to an SS one but I noticed the symbol at the top was slightly different and I matched it to an SA issued and it lowered the value by a 2k. Not sure how or if he will sell that, but I hope I can get a good price on the Luger, but I think he'll want more than I'm willing to pay at this point in my life. It will be a privilege just to hold onto a piece of history though.

 

[78CJ5]

I have my fathers Luger & holster he brought back from WWII. It was lost for 40+ yeas and turned up after my grandfather died. My father will be 90 this july. And I am very blessed to still have both my parents who live with me and my wife.To me the Luger feels real smooth when firing it is a well balanced pistol. I have not fired it in years.