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My P08 is FINALLY done!

waltherlover

waltherlover

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Some of you may remember me posting that I had acquired a 1918 Erfurt P08 some months ago (maybe six). It's all matching, including the magazine.

Well, it was pitted and rusted and I kinda screwed up trying to reblue it myself. So - I took it to a professional and had it refinished, including some metal work. It took almost four months - this particular gunsmith has a huge backlog.

The results are fantastic. The pictures do not do the bluing justice, it has to be seen to be believed. It looks perfect on the outside, and the inside, with the exception of the bottom of the slide (see below).

There was some pitting and rust in the usual spots (grip metal, inside the magazine well) - all of that is perfect now. The only rough stuff that didn't get redone was the roughness on the slide - it was felt that it would interfere with the proper operation of the gun.

Anyway, I have some before pictures and a pile of after pictures. I'm also curious if anyone wants to venture a guess on the estimated value? I know that having a gun refinished can diminish the value, but it really looks amazing. As I said, the pictures don't do it justice.

If there are any other pictures you'd like to see - close-ups, etc - let me know.

Before Pictures:
2011-10-08_15-49-26_568.jpg 2011-10-08_15-49-09_58.jpg 2011-10-08_15-46-40_769.jpg 2011-10-08_15-46-01_190.jpg 2011-10-08_15-45-49_280.jpg
 
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Nope.

I took it to a professional and had it refinished, including some metal work.

That was in my original post.
 
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It looks good from what I can see but you'll probably get less for it being reblued than what you could have with the original finish.
 
Yea, but the original finish was junk. It was pit and rust city - which to some collectors is valuable. So I made a decision to have it redone, and it came out spectacular. A friend of mine is into mil surps, and he didn't even realize it was redone. Thinks it's worth $2-2.5K.

I think if I find the right collector that is more interested in a beautiful gun than the actual original blue, I might have another money gun here.
 
waltherlover said:
A friend of mine is into mil surps, and he didn't even realize it was redone. Thinks it's worth $2-2.5K.

I think if I find the right collector that is more interested in a beautiful gun than the actual original blue, I might have another money gun here.
Click to expand...

A serious collector will easily see that she's been buffed/reblued and won't cough up anywhere near $2K.
She's in the shooter grade league and will fetch an appropriate price, whatever that is on the U.S. market.
Over here she'd go for ~ 650 bucks.
 
I think it is a matter of preference and it is your gun so I am glad you like it. My preference would be in the original condition of the before pictures. While the smith did a great job and it looks really good, I do not think it could have been redone better, there is just something about a reblued reworked milsurp that I do not like all that much. I have 40% finish pitted guns that I absolutely love. Like I said it is a matter of preference.

I do not collect Lugers so I can not give you a value estimate other than to say that I would have paid more for it in the before condition than in its current condition.
 
I dont mean to come accross as a punk here but a good Luger collector will pick it apart and know that it was reblued. If it was fully matching, it was worth more in the condition you originally had it in. It would now fetch on the high end of aprox $800 on a good day, on an average day $650-700. I wish you the best of luck on your sale, just do not get your hopes too high.
 
That sounds correct, but keep in mind I had no choice. I had inadvertently removed the bluing on the gun - very long story of a very bad mistake. So at that point, I had the choice of cold bluing it myself or giving it to a professional. After many failed attempts at cold bluing, I handed it over.

Do you not think there might be a collector that would appreciate the fact that even though it's not original that it might still be amazingly beautiful?
 
what would you ask for it then? I do tend to like the original finish even tho it was beat up a bit...something about old guns to me is much more appealing
 
waltherlover said:
That sounds correct, but keep in mind I had no choice. I had inadvertently removed the bluing on the gun - very long story of a very bad mistake. So at that point, I had the choice of cold bluing it myself or giving it to a professional. After many failed attempts at cold bluing, I handed it over.
Click to expand...

I have been there as a collector. Besides my first milsurp, a nice 1917 Swede M96 that I sanded and refinished to make it better, I also once had a really beautiful excellent condition SMLE that I dropped and cracked the stock into 2 pieces. It happens. Don't feel two bad.
waltherlover said:
Do you not think there might be a collector that would appreciate the fact that even though it's not original that it might still be amazingly beautiful?
Click to expand...

You might find some one but not a seasoned collector. For most of us, a re-blue is a no go unless it is very cheap. Chalk it up to a lesson learned.
 
I know it is your gun, and you can do what ever you want with it, but I just have to ask. Why would you take an all matching luger,and f#^k it up? It is like taking a vintage Rolls Royce, and having maaco paint it.[crying]
 
don't worry bro, just put it on GB with some crazy reserve, eventually you'll find a sucker who will buy it for 5gs or more. You just need plenty of pics and don't say anything or reply to no one. Seems like what a lot of people do now.
 
PATRON said:
I know it is your gun, and you can do what ever you want with it, but I just have to ask. Why would you take an all matching luger,and f#^k it up? It is like taking a vintage Rolls Royce, and having maaco paint it.[crying]
Click to expand...

Here's what happened - I was trying to figure out how to remove some of the rust from the gun. So I found an article online that said that if you soaked it in vinegar, it the rust would flake right off. Well, it did, as well as the bluing. I cannot tell you how upset I was when the blue started coming off the gun as I wiped off the rust.

Lesson learned, unfortunately on a very valuable firearm. I know - I should have checked up on that before I did it, but the damage was done.

At that point, I tried doing some cold blue stuff to fix it, to no avail. Eventually I just decided that since it didn't have it's original bluing, I would take it to a professional and have them restore it and clean it up at the same time. Might as well make the best of what I have...
 
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If you would have sent it to this guy http://members.rennlist.com/lugerman/ you could have had the backing of a well known man in the Luger world. His restorations go for good money. He has a super reputation in the business. If you were to take 2 different restored Lugers that were comparable, Thors reputation would sell for more. I wish you the best in your sale.
 
If you've settled on a price then list it in the classifieds. Otherwise its considered an add here with bump after bump that I'll end up locking.

Sent from my Ally using Tapatalk 2
 
There is certainly a market for a reblued Luger like that. If you find someone who just wants a really nice looking "shooter" Luger, and doesn't care that it's been reblued, that is the person who will pay the most for that gun. A collector might offer you $500. The guy who has seen, and thus can't afford an all matching, original finish Luger in beautiful condition, will gladly hand over $850.
 

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