I have always wanted a Luger. As a young child I had an artillery model cap gun. The first handgun I ever fired at about age 10 was a Luger one of our neighbors brought back from WWII. I remember as a child, I read an article in Gun World magazine about a guy that worked on a farm all summer to buy a handgun; he got an artillery model Luger and potted groundhogs with it off the tractor. I cut out the pictures and hung them on my bedroom wall. About five years ago, I was back home visiting my parents and I went over to that neighbor's house and asked him about that Luger I shot as a kid. He told me that in the first few days after the war ended, his unit was assigned the task of driving around to round up nazi officers who were trying to make their way back home. I guess they had to be registered or something after the war as former nazi officers. Appearently the officers were also permitted to keep their sidearms (this obviously was back in the day when the concept of honor was still alive). So, he picked up an officer who had his Luger. He asked the officer if he could have it. The officer told him, no, he wanted it. Bill told him, that was his right, and he wouldn't take it from him, but before he got done with this registration process, someone would probably take it away from him. The officer thought about it and said that since he asked him politely and didn't try to manhandle him, he would give it to him. So, Bill had the whole thing; holster, spare mag, cleaning rod and whatever else they carried excluding the belt which would have been nice. But, Bill had an additional surprise when I asked him if I could see the Luger again. He went down to the basement and returned with two Lugers. The one I had previously fired and an artillary model also complete with the holster and all the stuff (no belt or stock or snail drum) He said that one of his friends was down on his luck and Bill bought it from him.
About two years ago now, Bill died. He never had any kids and I was kind of hoping his widow would give them to me or let me have first crack at buying them. The last time I was there she said that she didn't know what she was going to do with Bill's stuff and didn't want to deal with it yet. I will make sure I pay here full market value for them if I get the chance even though I am sure she isn't hurting for money and probably doesn't care about selling them.
I have no idea why after all the hundreds of guns I have bought over the years, I never bought a Luger. I guess I have just never seen one in front of me at a realistic price. Although from reading those links, the price has gone up considerably in the last couple years.
