Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins
P-38's are certainly great guns, but I'm afraid they just are not for me. I'll keep this one forever, obviously, and I have shot it a great deal. It shoots great and is as reliable as the day is long. It just feels weird in my hand. It's very oddly balanced, very muzzle light, with all of its weight right there in your palm. It feels really whippy and flighty, for lack of a better description.
1911's feel much more natural in my hand. They balance better and "hang" better, with a good deal more muzzle weight. The triggers are far better as well. I don't like double action autos in the least. If I were ever in a serious situation, like the war these both served in, I would feel much better about a 1911 on my hip than a P-38. But, then again, I would feel much better with a '98 Mauser in my hands than a Garand, or even an '03A3 Springfield.
The Luger is certainly the most collectable of the military sidearms of the period. They are just plain cool, to boot. A poor third choice in the hierarchy of the period's fighting handguns, with lots of problems with reliability and durability, but we really don't have to care about that anymore. The cool factor carries the day. Neat stuff...
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The Colt 1911 has surpassed the Luger as a collectable firearm...a Singer WW2 contract 1911A1 sold this last weekeend for $163,000.00 at Rock Island Auctions...
It is true that an original Luger in 45 ACP that was used in the US Army Trials in the early 1900's has gone for over 300K. and had at one time sold for 1M USD. Lugers required a lot of machining and thus were costly and time consuming to mfg. Their reliability when put into the lesss than pristine world of combat also made them a finicky gun under those circumstances.
I see a lot of Lugers, WW1 and WW2 1911's, 11A1's and WW2 P38's for sale. I saw a really nice WW1 US mil 1911 go for $1500 this last weekend. An average P38 goes from $450 to about $900 and Lugers go from $750 to just under $2000 for a run of the mill...Genrally a nice 1911 US miltary will go for $1200 to $2000 for nice condition...If you want super clean let us try 3K for a Union Switch and Signal...Super clean WW1 military..4K to 5K...or for a Remington WW1 UMC in mint codition...11K...For a 2 matching mag and holster Luger in 95% condition $2500 to $3700. A nice Luger Artillery starts at $1800 and goes to $3000, A Navy Luger $4500 to $7000...and we are not talking about any special contract type of stuff either.
I know a guy who can take any Luger and make it so perfect an expert can not tell it has been reworked the same is true of the 1911's...
To tell the truth I see so much of this stuff it bores me...the only thing that still interests me are the pre WW1 commercial and Military Colt 1911's..especially with very low serial numbers.
Here is what to keep your eyeballs scaning for
1. Walther HP P38...whiich is a pre WW2 COMMERCIAL, they had a nice high polish blue where as the militay contract had a rougher or brushed blue finsih.
2. Colt 1911A1's in the 700,000 to 729,000 SN range...these were the interwar years military contract 1911's, with the bulk being made starting in the late 1930's. These are hard to find in great condition as these were used up and beaten to death during WW2..
3 Colt 1911 Commercials with a SN under 4600, as they had the earlier high gloss finish...the pre WW2 commrcials all have a "C" prefix to the SN. Generally any pre WW1 commercial or military is very desirable.
4 Colt 1911A1 PREWAR National Match 45 ACP or Super Match 38 Super...let us just say expensive..