What would be a good price shootable .22 luger?

[ronz]

It’s in poor but working condition
Another option would be to get 7.62 I saw rebarreled about how much would a rebarrelling cost?
the barrel is completely shot and has already had an improper attempt at restoring it almost everything was reblued for $600 so I really don’t think I would get it but still curious about what it would cost to make it shootable
also how bad would it hurt the value rebarelling one if it’s in good original condition but has a bad bore?

[Scorch]

22 Luger? Erma or Stoeger? Either way, parts are hard to come by. Maybe $150-$200 if they are in working condition, but no more than that.

9mm barrels for Lugers are available from Numrich. You will spend about $300-$400 to get it rebarreled, and it will ruin any collector's value, but it sounds like it's already a shooter or project gun. Either way, $600 is a bit steep since it needs work, you should pass if you can't get it pretty cheap.

[mapsjanhere]

7.62? Are we talking Mauser or Luger? A shooter grade luger shouldn't be more than $500, spare parts included.

[carguychris]

Dear OP: I think we're pretty confused by the initial post. At least I know I'm confused.

Shooter-grade Lugers seem more expensive in my neck of the woods than mapsjanhere's. That said, for $600, I would expect it to be complete and shootable with a halfway decent bore, but non-matching and probably ugly as sin. An older, poorly-done reblue would qualify. I would, however, expect it to be the real thing in an original chambering.

The original Luger cartridges were (a) 7.65 Parabellum aka .30 Luger or 7.65x21mm, or (b) 9mm Parabellum aka 9mm Luger, 9x19mm, or $9.47 at Wal-Mart. Any other small caliber is a conversion. I've heard of .22LR Luger conversions, but I don't think I would touch one today.

The .22LR Ermas and Stoegers* are not Lugers, they are clever knockoffs designed to look and kinda function like the real thing; they don't use a true locked-breech Borschardt-Luger toggle-link action, they're blowback, just with a toggle instead of a bolt. IMHO NO Erma or Stoeger is worth $600 unless it's LNIB, and perhaps not even then; most of them fall in the $200-$300 range, and you can often pick up Exc to LNIB examples on GB for <$500.

*FOOTNOTE: I'm talking about the postwar .22LR pistols made in the USA by Stoeger, NOT the genuine Lugers made by DWM and imported by Stoeger in the 20s and 30s, often with an American Eagle chamber mark.

[James K]

Interestingly enough, those .22 Stoeger Lugers ARE genuine Lugers, at least legally in this country. Back in the days of the German imports, Stoeger trademarked the name "Luger", so they became the ONLY U.S. company that can legally use that name on a gun. Even Mauser, when they resumed production of the pistol in the 1970's, had to use the name Parabellum; they could not call it a Luger even though they are the corporate descendant of the original manufacturer.

Jim

[cslinger]

My philosophy on life, not knowing if you are talking about a pedestrian Erma or something unique.

Guns are made to be shot.
Wine bottled to be drank.
Toys made to be played with.
Cars made to be driven.

Life is too short to spend it looking at the Ferrari 250GT, put some wear on that clutch and make Enzo smile.

[ronz]

It was a 30 cal (so 30 luger) but I switched it to 7.62 been reading too many mauser posts and have been getting some 7.62x25’s so just switched it newbe mistake
Everything goes real high here if it would have been shootable I would have snatched it up and thought I got the deal of the century from what I have seen them priced at around here but knew enough that it was a bad deal by the time I got it working I read a few really old posts about rebarelling them
but prices can change fast
So think I have a much better idea of what would be an ok deal now
So a decent shooter grade under $600 and with a bad barrel or .22 remake $200-$300 original .22 good cond $300 -$400 but would probably only get one myself if it was closer to $300
$400 is just too close to the price of a real shooter for me
I just need to be patient and hope I have the money when I run across deal
prices seem to be pretty stable on them

[gyvel]

A 7.65 Luger in near mint condition can still be found on places like Gunbroker (if you're patient) for around $1000.00-$1100.00, so $600 for a reblued POS is a rip-off.

[gyvel]

As an afterthought, all the .22 "Lugers" are made of cheap die cast Zamak pot metal. There are much better .22s available on the market for the same or even a little less money, unless you absolutely have to have something that looks like an original Luger pistol.

[mapsjanhere]

Well, NM isn't known for big spenders, $500 was what I could get for a Russian capture, nice looking but mix and force match, reblued, at the last gun show. As that was what I paid for it a couple years earlier, no loss, but it didn't make me rich either.
A decent 7.65 Para I might pay $600 for as there are much less around (so it might just be a barrel mismatched with a regular frame).

[Winchester_73]

Here is a pic of a rare factory engraved 22 luger...

These would naturally be at the upper end of the price spectrum.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=486180

[ronz]

Wouldn’t mind a 22 lookalike it’s cheap to shoot and would be good enough until I found a good deal on a real one and seeing the prices seem stable
I’m going to concentrate on what is going cheap now and sell off some non c&r”s to get some old toys
I personally would love that custom luger it would keep me busy for quite a while trying to make it look good again

[gyvel]

If you find one, ronz, let me know. I have some extra mags I'll sell ya.

[James K]

If you just like and want the feel of the Luger but in .22 LR, the answer is simple - buy a Ruger Standard Model. It will look a bit and feel a lot like the Luger but will be reliable and be fun to shoot.

There are only two (AFAIK) .22 pistols that use the toggle link action, except the Luger conversion kit (and one of those will really cost money!); those are the Stoeger Luger and the Erma pistol. I have shot and worked on both and can't really recommend either. They were made for no other reason than to make a toggle link pistol that resembled the famous P.08. They were not reliable and had many problems, some of which, to be truthful, were caused by owner attempts at disassembly.

Jim

[gyvel]

There are only two (AFAIK) .22 pistols that use the toggle link action, except the Luger conversion kit

I have one of those kits (post war) and it is far from reliable. It seems to always "short chamber" the round, whereby some pressure on the toggle is required to fully seat the round, almost as if it is forcing the bullet into the rifling.

I have considered (but have yet to act on) getting a chambering reamer and lengthening the chamber by one or two thousandths to see if it makes a difference. Any thoughts?

[James K]

I would do a chamber cast first to see what the chamber actually looks like before going in with a reamer or just pull an unfired round and see if the bullet has rifling marks. The Luger (and imitators) action is not always reliable in seating the round in part because cocking the firing pin takes away energy right at the critical closing point (unlike a hammer gun, where hammer cocking is done on the rearward stroke).

Jim

[44 AMP]

I have a couple, and they both are, and are not "Lugers". Luger written on the gun, legal rights to the Luger name, a toggle action (yes, its blowback), and a general resemblance to the P.08. But other than the toggle, mechanically quite different from the Pistole Parabellum. But it IS a Luger, technically, anyway.

They are not top of the line guns, being framed with cheap alloy, but they are not total junk, either. They are fun, even though the sights are not the best for precision (like the real Luger in that regard).

$200 in good shape is what they are going for lately around here, may be different other places.

The Erma is long out of production, there are NO parts available, and it is also mostly a cheap alloy. $400 price on the last one I saw, and I passed on it.

$600 for a worn out barrel "shooter" Luger is high, but all Lugers have had price jumps lately. Mostly due to the dollar's purchasing power dropping, not due to any change in the supply.

[ronz]

Think I’m going to hold out until I find a real luger with a decent price
Glad I asked because I probably would have overpaid for a 22
and had buyer’s remorse about getting safe queen

[gyvel]

I would do a chamber cast first to see what the chamber actually looks

Sounds like a good idea, Jim. I think I still have some casting material laying around my bench.