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WWII German Luger

2K views 15 replies 5 participants last post by  soundguy 
#1 ·

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#3 ·
It looks good to me. Is the holster marked on the back with a maker and date? The condition is good but not great. Many late Lugers exist in near new condition due to the fact they were captured and sent to the US in new condition. This is what brings the big dollars. Condition and rare variations. Yours is a very nice used example that would make a nice collector piece and shooter. I have one very similar. It is fun to shoot on occasion. The mismatched magazine is not a real big deal. Most are like this.
 
#6 ·
I have one in a little better condition than the one pictured, I shot it today.

MichaelT, I don't mean to hijack the thread but I have a question that Mikebiker might be able to answer for me. While cleaning mine today, I discovered the front sight blade really loose. What would be a good way to secure the front sight blade without hurting the value of the gun.
 
#7 ·
You can tap out the sight and take a center punch and under the sight where it will not show on the barrel dimple the edge a little on each side to upset the metal and make it a bit tighter fit I would then degrease it and reinstall it with some red loctite. The dimple effect will not hold up forever as too much metal is missing and you are only tightening a very small area. Once red Loctite sets up it is quite strong. This is something you may never take apart so red is good to go. If it is a part that may need to be taken apart again a lesser grade of Loctite should be used.
 
#8 ·
Look hard for a date and any of the small Waffenamt marks, they are the small eagles with the swastika. All German WWII holsters should have one or two. They are the official acceptance marking. It is entirely possible this is a much earlier holster or even a civillian holster. By the way BYF stands for Mauser the actual Manufacturer of the gun.
 
#10 ·
Congratulations on your nice luger. Based on the pictures you've posted it is a byf 42 with walnut grips, meaning that it was made by Mauser, Oberndorf, in 1942. It appears to be matching, except for the magazines. If you take it apart to check the rest of the parts and numbers, be very, very careful taking off the left grip. There is a little piece of wood just to the right of the safety and that often gets broken off when folks aren't careful. As best I can determine, yours was originally issued with black bottom fxo magazines. According to Davis, they manufactured about 89,000 of this version. He also says it is "uncommon," but I'm skeptical about that so I'm not too sure I would trust his other figures. His book is also several years old now. For example, he lists a value of $2000.oo in very good condition. If you go to Simpson Ltd.'s website, you can find a few similar ones for $1950, but you can also find one in 85% condition (i.e. very good) with a holster similar to your holster but with the black bottom mags for $3250.00. Now before you get too excited about that figure, I have as much concern about Simpson's figures as I do Davis'. Simpson has a select group of clients who are willing to pay extremely high prices. They also accept items on consignment from these same customers which means that can't always control the price listed for an item. Given all of those reservations, I would not be surprised to see it sell at auction for $2500-$2750. Hope this helps. Best of luck!
 
#12 ·
You would most likely come out ahead by listing it yourself on ********* with plenty of good pictures. The others will take a good chunk in commission fees. Since the holster does not appear to match you may want to list it separately. Most people want a matching holster so it would add to the price but not by as much as you could get selling by itself. Luger holsters sell for 150 to 350 all the time on ebay.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Yes, you can list it on GB, but there are several considerations to keep in mind. First, if you have never sold or bought anything on GB, you have no record which means many buyers will be reluctant to bid serious money. It's not uncommon to see items from folks with no record receive few bids and/or sell for less than they should because of this problem. Second, there are scammers galore on GB. There are lots of things that can go wrong and without an established record, some folks will try to take advantage of a "newbie." Third, you have to give GB your credit card number to sell with them. Lots of folks don't like to give out their cc info. these days. Fourth, if you sell it on GB, you're going to have to send it to the winner. That means more costs. Either you send it yourself to an FFL which means you pay FedEx or UPS rates, or you pay a local FFL to send it for you. Yes, you can pass on the cost to the buyer, but there are costs in both time and money. Fifth, if you set a healthy reserve and if someone meets that reserve and buys it, there is still the possibility that the bidder will be unhappy with it an return it. GB requires you offer a return privilege. Some folks simply ignore it, but it's there and represents the potential for a problem. Remember those scammers I mentioned, well some folks bid on stuff, win it and then either complain about it until the seller returns part of their money or they return it with parts missing and/or damaged. In some cases, the scammer just returns a piece of junk and then demands a refund, claiming that the item was not as represented. Sixth, I might have left out something, so go the web and look up consumer comments about GB. I'm sure that you'll be impressed. Now that you know about what a great place GB is, sure, go ahead and list it there. Personally, as the victim of more than my share of scammers on GB, I will never buy or sell anything there.

Another option is the on-line auction site Gunauction.com. It is smaller than GB and has all of the same problems for the person who is listing something themselves for the first time. But… there are a couple of dealers there such as a fellow known as "Jack the Dog" who take items and list them for folks. He does all the work, for a commission of course. The advantage is that he has such a good reputation that folks are willing to bid higher with him than they would if the same item were listed with another seller. There are a couple of other sellers there who provide the same service and produce very good results. I have purchased things from this site but never sold anything there or used any of the dealers offering their sales expertise. Check out this website, especially Jackthedogs listings and watch what happens. In fact, there is another seller who currently has a luger listed very similar to yours for $2700. I think this is the third or fourth time he has listed it without any bidders.

Yet another option is the large auction houses. I have sold and purchased items through several of the large auction houses that have speciality gun auctions. In all of my dealings with them, I've only had one problem and that was admittedly my fault. Which one you choose, in large part, depends on two things: 1). where you are geographically because one of these firms may be close to you; and 2) which one will charge the lowest commission while providing the widest exposure. The ones that I have used, in no particular order, are: Cowan's Auctions, Poulin Antique Auctions, Heritage Auction, Rock Island Auction, Little John's Auction, Carol Watson's Orange Coast Auctions, J.C. Devine Auctions, and Amoskeag Auctions. Several of these companies post their items on Proxibid.com. That offers the nation-wide exposure to buyers but leaves them to deal with the headaches. In fact, there are several lugers currently listed on Proxibid. Check out each of the companies and see if one is close to you. Best of luck!
 
#14 ·
Wow, I have been extremely lucky. I have been a "member" of ********* since 1999 when they first started up. I probably only have a couple of hundred transactions (buy and sell) but I have never had a problem of any kind.

I do agree about being a new seller and people not wanting to bid on an item because they are afraid of scams. I have heard of many, but I personally have not had that problem! I haven't bought or sold anything there in over a year but I wouldn't hesitate a second on listing something there.
 
#16 ·
I too have been with GB for years. I have had a single issue with a seller. I bid and won an auction for a nfa weapon, the seller listed it as fully xferable on a form 4, after winning, I spent the next 2 weeks fed exing documents back and forth getting my chief Leo to do my background signoff, etc, the I get a call from the seller that he now believes it wad a dealer sample and was not xferable, then he wanted me to pay the gun broker commission fee he was charged fir the completed suction! I wrot GB and told them the deal about the seller changing his story. Gb released me from the auction, deleted the auction and booted the seller ( who had a few thousand feedback I might add.. I feel he was trying to scam me imho). Any GB took care of it fast!
 
#15 ·
I personally have a couple of thousand ********* feedbacks and I have had no problems to speak of. I do the online work for a local shop and the same thing goes for them. Yeah you get a few non payers but I have not run across a scammer. The same goes for eBay where I am just shy of 20,000 feedbacks. A few problems but nothing to loose sleep over. No matter where you go you will find the occasional nut case. I seriously think the people with all the trouble are in part responsible for some or most of it. The shop I work with has sold many guns well over 2000.00 and some as high as 20,000. The higher dollar guns are listed on Gunsamerica.

SCK you did not mention how much these places charge. ********* is well under 5% on a high dollar item.
 
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