How to restore a chrome 1941 dated Luger, all matching.

[Willi Z.]

Rather than spending the money on the process and then rebluing, my advice is to sell the piece and buy one in the original finish.

I once had a LSR sniper which had a copper plated buttplate (the rare checkered one), done by the vet. That was worth reversing the plating, and since those were not finished, it looked pretty good.

[MikeP]

Good idea to sell it and save for a better one.
There are folks who will tolerate haveing one in their collection as a varient.

Chances are you end up with an expensive boogered up rework worht less than the original nickle.

I recently saw a nice 1914 Erfurt at alocal sale go for over 700-kinda high, but a couple guys wanted it.

Sure, you never know whee it was plated, but that's the game. Buy the gun, not the story.

[Raven26]

I thought I would bring this one back to the top due to the previous comments. Although this pistol is discussed in another thread, it is interesting to see the results. I had it professionally restored a few years ago.

[Raven26]

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[logictox]

Interesting thread. I have one nickel plated I got directly from the vet who owned it and have it in his hand writing the story not only about the acquisition of the gun but also the plating. Seems my vet was stationed in Antwerp after the war in supply. He had two German POWs that worked for him and they took the gun to a local metal shop to have it plated. I also acquired a VIS and a map the vet carried. To me the value is in how it was. Of course I have a fair number of all original lugers including matching mags that are in good condition so I was more concerned with the historic value and not the dollar value. It also helps I have capture paperwork on it.

[Raven26]

Nice grouping. Yes, I agree with you. Knowing the history of your pistol, I too would leave it as is. Thanks for sharing.

[jtb1967]

I'd leave the gun as is and never recommend this process on a nice firearm, but I used acid, a battery charger, some copper wire, and nails to remove plating off a trapdoor trigger guard once. I didn't have a lot to lose if I screwed the job up and it worked well enough to make the rifle look better than it had before.