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Luger P08 (Parabellum) · Volume 7

Owning One: The Market, C&R Status and the Stocked Luger

What Lugers sell for and why, curio-or-relic status by date and by name, ATF's list of stocked Lugers removed from the National Firearms Act read entry by entry, and Michigan

Figure 1 — A DWM long pistol of 1917 in the Auckland War Memorial Museum, catalogued as from the Battle of the Somme. The tangent sight on the barrel and the stock lug on the heel of the grip are the features…
Figure 1 — A DWM long pistol of 1917 in the Auckland War Memorial Museum, catalogued as from the Battle of the Somme. The tangent sight on the barrel and the stock lug on the heel of the grip are the features that make the stock question below a live one.

What follows is read from the statutes, the regulations and ATF’s published list, with the reasoning shown. It is not legal advice. Where the text does not settle a question, this volume says so and names the authority that can.

7.2 The market in one paragraph

Lugers are among the most collected handguns, and the market is deep, well informed and full of traps. A shooter-grade P08 with mixed numbers or a refinish is an ordinary collector’s pistol; an all-original, all-matching example of a scarce variant is a different object, priced in multiples of it. Every price below is dated and sourced, because Luger prices move and because an estimate is not a sale.

7.3 Prices, dated and sourced

Dealer sales, 2025–26. One American specialist dealer, Legacy Collectibles of Pennsylvania, keeps its sold listings online with dated descriptions. Read on 19 October 2026:1

Table 1 — Prices, dated and sourced

PistolCondition as describedSold priceDescription dated
DWM LP08, 1917Refinished, “all matching”, un-numbered magazine$1,8954 Nov 2025
DWM LP08, 1916About 96–97 % original, matching grips, mismatched magazine$2,9501 Aug 2025
DWM LP08, 1917About 96 % original, all matching, mismatched magazine$3,09526 Sep 2025
DWM LP08, 1917, with stock97 %, bore 9/10$5,250Not read
Mauser 1941, “42” code toggleAbout 85 %; toggle link “paired” from another pistol (dealer’s finding)$2,49515 Aug 2025
Mauser 1941, “42” code93–94 %, matching magazine$3,25011 Apr 2017
Mauser 1941, “42” code97–98 %, all matching, magazine “force-matched”$3,95031 Mar 2026

Auction estimates. Rock Island Auction Company’s lot pages show estimates publicly and realized prices only to registered users, so only estimates are given here:2

Table 2 — Prices, dated and sourced

LotEstimate
Mauser “K” date S/42 (1934), with 1934 holster (auction 80, lot 3485)$8,500–13,000
Mauser S/42 “K” rig with two matching magazines (December 2024, auction 4093, lot 3382)$30,000–45,000
Mauser “G” date S/42 (1935), with 1939 holster (auction 86, lot 1537)$2,250–3,500
Krieghoff “S” code Luftwaffe pistol (auction 73, lot 1696)$3,000–4,500

The extremes. The .45 Luger of the 1907 trials is the most expensive Luger: a 2010 auction press release says it sold for $1,000,000 in 1989, a price guide says one “sold in the late ’80s for $430,000”, and the 2010 result was not found (Volume 1).34 A new-made replica of it was offered from $6,975 in 2018 (Volume 8).5

7.4 What drives the price

The descriptions above, and the collectors’ reference compiled on the Luger Forum, agree on the factors:61

  1. Matching numbers. The serial and the numbered small parts (Volume 5). One mismatched part costs money; a replaced serial-numbered part costs more.
  2. Original finish. A refinished pistol sells at a fraction of an original one; the refinished 1917 long pistol above sold for $1,895 against $3,095 for a 96 % original one of the same year and maker.
  3. The variant’s rarity. Navy, early commercial, American Eagle, K-date, “42” code and Krieghoff pistols carry premiums; wartime Erfurts and Mauser byf pistols are the commonest.
  4. The magazine, holster, stock and papers. A matching magazine adds; a matching rig (pistol, magazines, holster) adds more; an original stock on a long pistol adds the most, and also changes the law (below).
  5. Honesty of the history. A “paired” toggle or a “force-matched” magazine, both found by one dealer in its own stock in 2025–26, are the reason to buy from people who say so.

7.5 Federal law: a firearm, and a curio or relic

Not an antique. Every Luger was made after 1898 and fires conventional centrefire fixed ammunition that is still made. None is an antique under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(16), and every Luger is a “firearm” under the Gun Control Act. The Borchardt dive, Volume 8 sets out the antique definitions and why the Luger’s predecessor sits differently.

A curio or relic, by date and by name. ATF’s regulation, 27 CFR 478.11, makes firearms “manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date, but not including replicas thereof” curios or relics automatically. ATF’s list adds classifications by name, and for the Luger it is generous:7

  • “Luger, pistol, all models and variations mfd. prior to 1946.”
  • “Luger, Mauser Parabellum, semiautomatic pistol, cal.’s 7.65mm or 9mm Luger, 4” and 6” barrel, Swiss pattern with grip safety and the American Eagle stamped on the receiver; made from 1970 to 1978.”
  • Mauser commemoratives: a “70 Jahre” pistol (the list prints “Kelsoreich Russiand”, evidently Kaiserreich Russland), a “75 Jahre … Konigreich Bulgarian”, a “1900-1975” anniversary pistol, and the “Model 1902 Cartridge Counter, Mauser commercial … mfd. 1982”.

By the 50-year rule alone, any Mauser Parabellum made in 1976 or earlier is now a curio or relic as of 2026. The stainless American Lugers of the 1990s, the Krieghoff edition of 2006 and new replicas are not.

What curio-or-relic status does: it lets a holder of a federal collector’s licence (Type 03) acquire such firearms across state lines and keep the bound record instead of going through a dealer each time. It does not change any state law, and it does not by itself take anything out of the National Firearms Act.

7.6 The stocked Luger: why it is a question at all

Most Lugers made after August 1913 have a lug for a shoulder stock; the long pistol and the Navy pistol were issued with stocks; the carbines had them; and stocks for them were sold commercially from the 1900s to now (Volumes 1 and 2). Fit a stock to a pistol with a barrel under 16 inches and, on the text of the National Firearms Act, the result is a rifle with a barrel under 16 inches: a short-barrelled rifle under 26 U.S.C. § 5845(a)(3) and (c).

The Act’s exits are two. Its own antique definition (§ 5845(g)) does not reach a Luger, which fires fixed ammunition still made. The other is the collector’s-item clause of § 5845(a): the Act does not include “any device … which, although designed as a weapon, the Secretary finds by reason of the date of its manufacture, value, design, and other characteristics is primarily a collector’s item and is not likely to be used as a weapon”. ATF’s list publishes those findings, in its Section III, “Firearms removed from the provisions of the National Firearms Act” and still subject to the Gun Control Act as curios or relics. The Borchardt and Mannlicher dives explain the mechanism; this volume reads the Luger entries.7

Figure 2 — A long pistol's board stock with its leather holster attached, the arrangement ATF's list calls an "artillery-type, detachable wooden shoulder stock": the same DWM 1917 pistol's stock in the Auckla…
Figure 2 — A long pistol's board stock with its leather holster attached, the arrangement ATF's list calls an "artillery-type, detachable wooden shoulder stock": the same DWM 1917 pistol's stock in the Auckland War Memorial Museum, CC BY 4.0.

7.7 ATF’s list, entry by entry

Section III of the list contains thirteen entries for Parabellum pistols (ten headed “Luger”, one “Finnish” and two “Mauser”), and Section IV one more. They are quoted here verbatim and grouped. The words that set the conditions are in bold; the Section heading applies to all of them.7

Army long pistols

  1. “Luger, German Model 1914 Artillery model pistols, mfd. by DWM or Erfurt, having chambers dated 1914-1918, bearing Imperial German military proofmarks & accompanied by original, German mfd., artillery-type, detachable wooden shoulder stocks.”
  2. “Luger, 1920 Commercial Artillery Model, pistols mfd. by DWM or Erfurt, having undated chambers, commercial proofmarks, and bearing the inscription ‘Germany’ or ‘Made in Germany’ on the receiver and accompanied by original, German mfd., artillery-type, detachable wooden shoulder stocks.”
  3. “Luger, Artillery Model, pistols having chamber dates of 1914 through 1918 or 1920, having German Weimar Navy markings consisting of the letter M over an anchor and a German Navy property number accompanied by original Artillery Luger flat board stocks, bearing German Weimar Navy markings of the letter M over an anchor with or without Navy property numbers.”

Navy pistols

  1. “Luger, DWM, original models 1904, 1906, 1908, 1914, and 1920, Naval pistols, cal.’s 9mm Parabellum or 7.65mm, in both the Commercial and Naval military varieties; in both altered and unaltered barrel lengths in the Model 1904 and in both altered and unaltered safety markings in the Model 1906; with original board-type detachable shoulder stocks bearing brass or iron discs, with or without markings, or, if without brass or iron discs, being of the Navy flat board-type. This exemption applies only to the listed Naval Luger pistols if mated to the Naval Luger stock and will not apply if the Naval Luger pistol is mated to the Artillery stock. The Naval stock has an overall dimension of 12-3/4”, a rear width of 4-5/8”, a front width of 1-1/2”, a rear thickness of 9/16”, and a front thickness of 1-3/16”.” (The list prints “l-3/16”.)

Commercial and export

  1. “Luger, DWM Pistol, Model 1900, 1902, or 1906, cal.’s 7.65 Luger or 9mm Parabellum, having the American Eagle chamber crest, and barrel lengths of either 4” or 4-3/4”, with original detachable Ideal shoulder stocks and Ideal frame grips.”
  2. “Luger, DWM Stoeger, Model 1920 and 1923, semiautomatic pistols … in barrel lengths of 8, 10, 12, and 12-1/2” … together w/original commercial flat board stocks of the artillery type, which bear no S/Ns or military proof marks, but may incorporate a ‘Germany’ marking.”
  3. “Finnish, m/23 Deutches Waffen Munitionsfabriken (DWM)-manufactured Luger pistols with 95cm or 120cm barrels [sic], cal.’s 7.65mm or 9mm, accompanied by a German- or Finnish-manufactured wooden board shoulder stock.”
  4. “Luger, Persian (Iranian) Artillery model, pistols, as mfd. by Mauser prior to 1945, accompanied by the original artillery type, detachable wooden shoulder stock, bearing a S/N in Farsi characters stamped into the wood on the left side.”
  5. “Mauser, commercial Luger Artillery Model semiautomatic pistols, cal. 9mm, Mauser banner marked, produced under contract for the Royal Thai Police accompanied by original, German mfd., detachable wooden shoulder stocks.”
  6. “Luger, semiautomatic pistol, certain variations with Benke-Thiemann folding shoulder stock.”

Carbines

  1. “Luger, Model 1902, Pistol-Carbine, cal. 7.65mm Luger, with original commercial type shoulder stock and forearm and 11-3/4” barrel.”
  2. “Luger, DWM pistol-carbine, Model 1920, cal.’s 7.65mm or 9mm, with accompanying original commercial type shoulder stock, with or without forearm piece, having barrel lengths of 11-3/4” to less than 16”.”

Post-war Mauser

  1. “Mauser Parabellum 75th Year Commemorative Karabiner, manufactured in 1979, with accompanying shoulder stock.” (Section III.)
  2. “Luger, Mauser commercial manufacture, semiautomatic pistol, 75 Jahre, Parabellum-Pistole, Mod. Karabiner, Commemorative, cal. 9mm, accompanied by a carbine type shoulder stock.” (Section IV, “NFA firearms classified as curios or relics, still subject to” the NFA.)

Five things follow from the words.

  • Every entry requires the stock to be original (or, for the Navy, of the Navy type; for the Stoeger, commercial). None covers a reproduction stock.
  • The P08 is not on the list. No entry covers a standard four-inch P08, even one with a stock lug, with any stock. The army entries are confined to long pistols (“Artillery model”).
  • Nothing covers a Mauser or Krieghoff long pistol for the German services, apart from the Persian and Thai export contracts.
  • The Navy entry is mated to its stock. A Navy pistol with an artillery stock is expressly excluded, and the list gives the Navy stock’s dimensions so the two can be told apart.
  • Two entries are garbled or conflicting. “95cm or 120cm barrels” for the Finnish m/23 can only mean 9.5 cm and 12 cm, or similar; it is quoted as printed. And the 1979 Mauser carbine appears in Section III (removed from the NFA) and, as “75 Jahre … Mod. Karabiner”, in Section IV (still subject to it). Whether these are the same item is not clear from the list. An owner of one should ask ATF before relying on either entry.

A last point concerns the third entry. It describes the Weimar Navy long pistols as having “chamber dates of 1914 through 1918 or 1920”. The Luger collectors hold that the “1920” over a wartime date is a Reichswehr property stamp applied in 1920–21, not a date (Volume 2).6 Read literally, ATF’s entry is satisfied either way; it is noted because it shows the list was written from the pistols’ markings, not their history.

7.8 Eight cases

The analysis is this dive’s, from the text above. It is not legal advice, and a written classification from ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division settles any case that matters.

  1. A wartime DWM or Erfurt LP08, chamber dated 1914–1918, Imperial proofs, with its original German stock. Entry 1: removed from the NFA; a curio or relic under the Gun Control Act.
  2. The same pistol with a reproduction stock. Entry 1 requires an original stock. Attached, the combination is on the text an unregistered short-barrelled rifle.
  3. The same pistol and a reproduction stock owned together, not attached. The Supreme Court in United States v. Thompson/Center Arms Co. (1992) held that a pistol and a kit that could also be assembled into a lawful long-barrelled rifle had not been “made” into a short-barrelled rifle; a Luger stock has no lawful use except to make one. The Borchardt dive sets out why how far the decision protects such a pair is not established. Keep them apart, or do not keep the stock.
  4. A standard four-inch P08 with a stock lug, and an original LP08 stock. No entry covers it. Attached, a short-barrelled rifle on the text, though every part is original.
  5. A Navy pistol with an artillery stock. Expressly excluded by entry 4.
  6. A Mauser or Krieghoff long pistol of the 1930s and 1940s with a stock. Not listed, except the Persian and Thai contracts.
  7. A Persian long pistol with its Farsi-numbered stock. Entry 8: removed.
  8. Any stock on a post-war or new Luger. Making a short-barrelled rifle. From 1 January 2026, Public Law 119-21 made the making tax $0 for short-barrelled rifles; the application and approval under 26 U.S.C. § 5822 remain mandatory (Borchardt dive, Volume 8).

The pistol alone is never the problem. Every Luger without a stock is a Gun Control Act pistol, a curio or relic if made before 1946 or more than 50 years ago.

7.9 Michigan

A Luger is not an antique in Michigan by any reading (it is not one federally either), so the Borchardt dive’s question about Michigan’s narrower antique definition does not arise. It is a pistol under Michigan law: MCL 28.421 defines a pistol as “a loaded or unloaded firearm that is 26 inches or less in length”, and MCL 28.422(1) forbids anyone to “purchase, carry, possess, or transport a pistol in this state without first having obtained a license for the pistol”, subject to the concealed-pistol-licence exemption and the sales-record rules that the Borchardt dive, Volume 8 quotes and that apply to a Luger in the same way.

A stocked Luger in Michigan adds MCL 750.224b, the short-barrelled rifle statute, quoted in full in the AR Pistol .300 BLK dive, Volume 4. Subsection (1) forbids a short-barrelled rifle, as a five-year felony; subsection (3) exempts one “lawfully made, manufactured, transferred, or possessed under federal law”. The Mannlicher dive reads that as protecting a carbine removed from the NFA by ATF’s listing, and the same reading applies to the listed Lugers. A stocked Luger that is an unregistered short-barrelled rifle on the federal text (cases 2 to 6) has no federal lawfulness to borrow, and is a felony in Michigan too. Subsection (4) then applies the pistol licensing sections to a lawful short-barrelled rifle 26 inches or less in overall length.

Michigan’s safe-storage law, MCL 28.429, applies to any firearm.

7.10 A checklist before buying

  1. Unload and inspect the pistol, then identify it from the five places in Volume 5: toggle, chamber, proofs, serials, small parts.
  2. Check every number under a glass, and look for witness marks and halos around stampings.
  3. Check the finish for signs of refinishing, and the barrel for signs of replacement and new “period” proofs.
  4. Have the bore and chamber checked, and establish the calibre before buying ammunition (Volume 3).
  5. If a stock comes with it, read the ATF entry that applies, word for word, against the pistol and the stock in hand, before taking possession of both.
  6. Get the provenance in writing, and treat “capture papers” as a claim to be checked.

7.11 What this volume could not settle

  • Realized prices at the major auction houses, which are behind logins.
  • Whether the two 1979 Mauser carbine entries (Sections III and IV) are the same item.
  • ATF’s reading of “certain variations” in the Benke-Thiemann entry.
  • Whether a P08 owner holding an original LP08 stock is in constructive possession of a short-barrelled rifle, which no ruling found addresses.
  • The Michigan State Police’s position on a listed stocked Luger, which was not found on the state’s pages.

References

Footnotes

  1. Legacy Collectibles (Pennsylvania), sold-item pages, consulted 2026-10-19: https://legacy-collectibles.com/1917-dwm-lp-08-artillery-luger/39230; https://legacy-collectibles.com/sold-excellent-1916-dwm-lp-08-artillery-luger/; https://legacy-collectibles.com/excellent-1917-dwm-lp-08-artillery-luger/38694 (also listing the stocked 1917 pistol); https://legacy-collectibles.com/sold-1941-mauser-luger-41-42-code/; https://legacy-collectibles.com/scarce-1941-42-code-mauser-luger-matching-mag; https://legacy-collectibles.com/minty-scarce-nazi-mauser-luger-41-42-code/41926. ↩ ↩2

  2. Rock Island Auction Company lot pages, consulted 2026-10-19: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/80/3485/mauser-k-date-s42-code-p08-luger; https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4093/3382/mauser-s42k-p08-luger-rig-two-matching-mags (auction 4093, December 2024); https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/1537/mauser-g-date-s42-code-luger; https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/73/1696/krieghoff-s-code-luftwaffe-contract-luger-pistol. ↩

  3. Greg Martin Auctions, “Greg Martin Auctions Proudly Presents ‘The Million Dollar Luger’”, Newswire, 1 March 2010, https://www.newswire.com/news/greg-martin-auctions-proudly-presents-the-million-dollar-luger-166480, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩

  4. “1906 U.S. Army Test Luger .45 Caliber”, Gun Digest gun values, https://gunvalues.gundigest.com/lugers/7611/1906-u-s-army-test-luger-45-caliber/, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩

  5. Patrick Sweeney, “A Luger in .45 ACP”, Guns & Ammo, 25 April 2018, as reproduced at https://lugerman.com/?p=709, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩

  6. Luger FAQs, last updated 1 August 2019, Luger Forum and Jan Still Luger Forum, Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/20190801lugerfaqs, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩2

  7. ATF, Firearms Curios or Relics List, January 1972 through April 2025 (ATF P 5300.11), https://www.atf.gov/media/19856/download, consulted 2026-10-19 from a copy saved for this hub. Section II (Luger entries), Section III (the thirteen Parabellum entries quoted), Section IV. Statutory text: 26 U.S.C. § 5845(a), (c), (g); 27 CFR 478.11, as quoted in the Borchardt C-93 dive, Volume 8. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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