My first Luger!!

[Don M]

Hello to all:

I'm a new member, a new Luger owner, a gun novice and new to chat rooms. I'm also amazed at how quickly I've become obsessed with this subject.

I recently inherited the rig pictured below from an uncle who was a US infantyman in Europe in 1944-45 and brought it back with him. He never shared any further information about how he got it.

<a href="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/luger_3299q.jpg" target="_fullview"><img src="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/luger_3299q.jpg" width="400" alt="Click for fullsize image" /></a>

[Photo thumbnailed by admin-JS, click on the photo to see it full size.]

I recently took the gun to to a collectors' gun shop in Houston. An apparently knowledgeable employee told me he thought the gun was produced in about 1926-28, initially as a .30-cal commercial model, rebarreled with a 9-mm barrel, and issued to the Police School in Muenster. It obviously subsequently ended up in military service. The holster is military issue dated 1937. He estimated the value of the gun at about US$850 and the entire rig at about US$1000.

I plan to submit another posting with more detailed descriptions and photos but would like to ask a couple of basic questions first:
1. Which forum would be most appropriate for this topic?
2. I'd like to clean the gun first. Is Varsol a suitable sovent for an accumulation of over 50 years of congealed oil?

Thanks in advance for your help. I look forward to sharing more information about my new obsession and hearing members' opinions about its origins and value.

Best regards,
Don