s/42 1937 Luger

[MikeP]

Holster 2 mags and tool.

$800. is thievery.

Holster, tool and one mag going for at least $400.

Pistol around a Grand, even as a shooter.

Find the matching plate and that much for sure.

[james m]

I sold 2 lugers unmatching in the past year in the $600 range. I sold another one that was all matching but had been nickled for $700. In this case to make it operable a sipeplate will be required at a cost of around $100. I've also seen other "problem" Lugers sell on the Luger forum in this price range. Unmatched Luger magazines can be purchased readily in the $100 range.
Additionally due to the nature under which this pistol was photographed it difficult to tell its actual condition but it looks like there's active rust in several areas.
Jim

[Stepdale]

I'll check in a day or two to see if he has the plate, though I'm not getting my hopes up.

Yes, there is definitely active rust which I couldn't quite catch in the photos. And yes, it did get rain on it and the holster despite my best efforts to hurry and to try to look at it under shelter. The seller had it in his trunk when it was open and the rain came on quick while we were looking at the helmet he had. It was obvious the pistol had been kept in the holster, probably since the war, and that along with storage/cleaning conditions has caused some issue. It will probably look much better after a cleaning, but there's definitely some permanent loss to the finish.
Dale

[N.C. Wyeth]

Wow - look at that sear bar . . . is it just me, or does it look unusually nasty in these photos? I'm with Jim on this one - for the missing sideplate and being in less-than-optimal condition - the gun itself is closer to a $600 "shooter" for me. Perhaps a little more than that, considering the extra magazine and holster - and maybe even another [sizeable?] "bump" up in price - if you manage to find the matching sideplate. Finding that sideplate would be a tremendous help. Of course, you should break it down and do a thorough inspection - what you see inside may change your mind, altogether. Likely not that bad - and something you clean up, modestly . . . but you won't know until you look. Missing sideplate of not, buy it and shoot it [after you replace the sideplate, of course ] - this one would make a lot of fun.

[Stepdale]

I picked up the Luger and a police helmet his father brought back today. Unfortunately he has no idea where the side plate is, though he's probably moving soon so he will look through everything as he packs up and call me if he finds it. The tool is marked s/42. I plan to let a friend of mine who knows firearms much better than I take it apart and clean it. Despite a few finish issues, with a cleaning I think it would be in the good plus range if it had the plate. But he said it was last fired over 40 years ago and sat in storage since, so no clue when the plate disappeared. A shame, but I think it will still make a nice shooter.
Dale

[james m]

[QUOTE=Stepdale;7208728]I picked up the Luger and a police helmet his father brought back today. Unfortunately he has no idea where the side plate is, though he's probably moving soon so he will look through everything as he packs up and call me if he finds it. The tool is marked s/42. I plan to let a friend of mine who knows firearms much better than I take it apart and clean it. Despite a few finish issues, with a cleaning I think it would be in the good plus range if it had the plate. But he said it was last fired over 40 years ago and sat in storage since, so no clue when the plate disappeared. A shame, but I think it will still make a nice shooter.
Dale[/QUOTE

If you want to get it back into at least shootable condition you can probably find a non matching side plate on either Gunbroker or even Ebay. However I would make sure that whoever takes this pistol down for cleaning be qualified to determine if it's in serviceable condition. Springs for example could be a problem after all these years.
Feel free to ask more questions if the need arises.
Good luck!
Jim

[Stepdale]

Thanks Jim. My friend is a retired police officer and avid pistol collector who also worked in a gun shop, so I trust him completely. He's extremely detailed about firearms and i have no doubt that he won't fire it without being sure it's safe. I'm not sure if I'll keep it or not. I'm not a firearms collector, though it would be nice to have a vet bringback where everything matches. I may end up keeping this one as, aside from the plate, it appears the pistol and the holster were probably always together.
Dale

[ValhallaMilitaria]

Without the original side plate this is now in the shooter category and I'd put it in the $800 range.
IMO; It would be lower except for what appears to be a pretty nice holster.
Jim

I was going to say 1000 so we're close on this one James. This one is very rough to say the least. 800 it is.

[tmca05]

That is an black plastic FXO mag, found on many Mauser BYF's to include the so called Black Widow.
It is also a nice 1938 brown, not black holster.
You have an easy $500-600 right there without the gun.
The grips show little wear which is good. If cleaned correctly, it still could turn out pretty nice.
You basically have a 1 in 99 chance of finding a sideplate with the same numbers. Of course then the condition would have to match the rest of the gun.

[tmca05]

Hey, i just noticed the double decal police helmet in the back ground. I hope you got that to

[Johnny Peppers]

You basically have a 1 in 99 chance of finding a sideplate with the same numbers. Of course then the condition would have to match the rest of the gun.

Also on the 1937 S/42 P.08 the inside of the side plate as the first two digits of the serial number.

[Stepdale]

Oh man, I see firearms are far more complicated than the medals and badges I mostly collect! I haven't really collected them over the years because I moved so much in the military that I couldn't keep them without running afoul of the various state and international laws of the places where we were stationed. But I'll bnuy them when I run into them for the right price, though I'll certainly post them here before shelling out the bucks.

I did get the police helmet as well, posted in the helmet forum.
Thanks,
Dale