42 Luger. To blue or not to blue?

[Matt Weber]

Thanks Hans.

Does anybody have any suggestions on a good professional I could take it to?

Chris,

I'd recommend Ken Carstead out of Chicago. He does excellent work on Lugers, and P38s. His bluing comes out looking exactly like the originals (scary it's so good!), and he is very reasonably priced.

In fact, I have a luger that is at his place right now being re-finished, and it should be back in a week or two. As soon as i get it back, I'll post pics of it up here.

As for the grips, that's a different story. I don't know of anyone personally who does checkering? I'm sure someone here will know though!?

Matt

[juoneen]

It doesnt look like a blue job, could it have had a different finish than bluing?
The only accepted bluing i would ever get, would be by the manufacturer that made the gun originally, and then get a certificate to prove it was a refinished factory second generation job. otherwise its sort of like telling a white lie, still is a lie. I would leave it in as found condition if it was vet purchased. Otherwise , it wont have the actual original wear from being used in battle as this one has. Besides , youll be able to shoot it, and not have to worry about the finish. There is also the question as to how the bore looks. If is has some pitting, a factory new finish will look out of sorts to other collectors if you ever decide to turn it loose down the road. I would rather have it as found. It may be the one on the soldier told about on the history channel the german ss column surrendered to.. that his son went and lost, he said he wanted to kill him for losing the gun a lieutenant general surrendered to him, as losing it means he sold it out the door for a few bucks, and really didnt lose it at all , but just didnt have the cajones to tell his pop the truth, as i feel the kid lied to his dad. We will never know, but all my actually used lugers taken in combat , have holster wear, and any real battfield used guns will never be perfect on the blue. The decision is yours to make, so think about it long, and hard before making this decision. Common sense is a big part of this hobby, and messed with stuff i always pass on, as items messed with , are always priced higher than the items that are just left as is, and still are charged by the aura of the owner , and this charge you will remove to make something old look new. Its great as it is. You have to remember we all here have screwed up stuff in the past, although many will not tell on themselves, but the rule for serious collectors who never change anything they find first hand is: Just keep your hands off of it , and leave it alone.Less is more. That makes the gun more desireable to me, and makes me want to pay more, than if i sense its been monkeyed with. Thats my opinion, and others have the right to their own opinions also. But when the time comes, many who try and restore stuff have it can backfire on them . What if there is a rare luger with a painted surface, and you reblue it not knowing if you would have just left it alone youd actually get more than to blue it perfectly?? Its these things we dont know that come back to haunt us , that have bolo'd our best intentions in the past. What if nazi agents planted in england had special painted lugers, like the britts 303's, like the painted scabbard early ss daggers others reblued, and stripped the paint off of, because they proclaimed themselves experts, and said they were never painted, and thought someone who brought it home did it to the dagger?? Its the most difficult thing in the world to just leave stuff alone. Few have the smarts to not take that plunge. If it had been reblued poorly, and already ruined, then id say dissassemble it , and send it back to the original factory if they are still in business. Its the same with colt, S&W, Ruger etc. A factory papered reblue is still the only accepted bluing. It doesnt matter how good some guy does them, they are still just that. So when you see a perfect luger at a show from now on, you may never look at them so longingly again, as you never know if its straight or an expert american version of the original german blue or not.

[Chris D.]

99.9% of the time, I would fully agree with you. I prefer stuff that has wear and tells a story rather than something restored yesterday. This, however, falls in to that .1% since the lack of finish is not due to wear. The finish was pretty clearly stripped off with some sort of chemical like naval jelly or what have you. So, the originality is already been diminished. There is absolutely ZERO pitting, the bore is in perfect condition and the bolt face looks as if it has been fired VERY minimally. Since the lack of finish is due to some knucklehead trying to strip it rather then wear in the field, I feel the best course would be to bring it back to a condition that matches that of the actual wear, which in this case is nearly no wear whatsoever.

[Chris D.]

Chris,

I'd recommend Ken Carstead out of Chicago. He does excellent work on Lugers, and P38s. His bluing comes out looking exactly like the originals (scary it's so good!), and he is very reasonably priced.

In fact, I have a luger that is at his place right now being re-finished, and it should be back in a week or two. As soon as i get it back, I'll post pics of it up here.

As for the grips, that's a different story. I don't know of anyone personally who does checkering? I'm sure someone here will know though!?

Matt

Awesome Matt, thanks a lot!

As for the grips, I have yet to take them off to see if it is just surface grime or if the oil is totally soaked through. Hopefully it is just on the outside, in which case, I think they will be doable.

[Arran]

For me, a gun like this would be the perfect opportunity to study how to do re-bluing myself...

[Ed Dillon]

Ken Carstead

Anybody have contact info for Ken Carstead?