Luger that belonged to my dad during WWII

[villiers]

Once it´s been cleaned, you could take pictures of the markings (a) on the top to see who the manufacturer was (b) on the front and everywhere numbers are stamped and (c) on the sides to show military acceptance marks. It would then be simple to quote the weapon´s origins.

[Flying10uk]

With a pistol such as this that as this that has been in a fire would not having it reproofed be a sufficient test as to it's safety? With tool steels once hardened and tempered it is surprisingly difficult to bring the metal back to a softness at which it can be machined again. It normally involves placing the part in an oven and bringing up to around 800 degrees centigrade, depending on the type of tool steel involved, and allowing to cool very slowly. If this isn't done the steel will often retain much of it's hardness and be too hard to machine.

[villiers]

`Elf & Safety´ being as is ... I´d never dare to advise firing the thing, ever! (Best never to even look at a firearm!) BUT DWM Lugers manufactured before WWI were made before metallurgy made a qualitative leap forward and I doubt whether the fire would have done that amount of damage. Later Mauser manufactured guns were made to stricter specs and even if the fire had diminished the tempering, the gun should still quite likely be useable. I suspect that rust would be the greater problem.

[WarPig1976]

We don't have proofing laws here. Firearms are only proofed at the time of manufacture by the manufacturer which is really only a function test.