Oh it would be wonderful to shoot it with no fear.

The age is not the issue. Made about 1911, I have many older guns that I regularly shoot without second thought. It's just that dang mainspring.

Here's what Gortz and Sturgess say about the issue:

". . . they should be regarded only as non-firing collector pieces, as must all Borchardt pistols in virtually any condition.
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The leaf main springs and extractors of Borchardt pistols and Old Model Parabellums are now all more than 100 years old, and the mainsprings have been subjected to continuous stress while assembled in the action for that period. They will consequently have taken a permanent set as well as being prone to age crystallisation and brittleness, which will inevitably lead to fracture on firing sooner or later."
Gortz, Joachim and Sturgess, Geoffrey, The Borchardt and Luger Automatic Pistols, Vol. III, page 1617.

You must appreciate the fact that it was the weakness and relative unreliability of the leaf mainspring of the Old Model that led to its re-design into the New Model that eventually became the reliable and ubiquitous P.08.

Old Model guts:

New Model guts:

Thanks for all the comments on this wonderful piece. Please keep the discussion going.

Curl