BROKEN Hold Open Latch

[mrerick]

Hi Miguel and welcome to the forum. I hope that we can be of some help with resolving the problem.

Your photography is outstanding. In fact, it's some of the finest I've seen.

I expect that you came up against our file size limitation when uploading them, which is why you chose PDF format, which allows larger files. This is not necessary, and uses quite a bit of space (about 3 3/4 MB).

I've attached your photos to this post. To upload them, I resized them to 1024 pixels horizontal and applied 50% Jpeg compression. The total size is about 400Kb.

On Ammo suggestions, we always recommend standard velocity 115gn ball (full metal jacket) ammunition. Your GECO ammo might have been "NATO" power, which is loaded for machine guns and is too high a velocity.

It's possible that your recoil spring needs replacement. Check to see how hard the receiver is hitting the back of the frame by putting some masking tape there and looking for compression marks. There are several levels of coil count and thickness of the spring which yield different levels of resistance. Look at our FAQ document for details.

As Gerben mentioned, you can shoot the gun without the hold open. Just be sure to remove the broken part and it's spring before loading and firing the gun. Of course, it will close after the last cartridge is fired.

The replacement hold-open part and spring will probably require some hand fitting.

Can anyone with a metallurgy background comment on this part failure? It looks from the photos like the heat treating may have been uneven (note the fire blue color which fades before the right angle that failed).

Marc

[deltafox]

Originally Posted by mrerick

Your photography is outstanding. In fact, it's some of the finest I've seen.
...
On Ammo suggestions, we always recommend standard velocity 115gn ball (full metal jacket) ammunition. Your GECO ammo might have been "NATO" power, which is loaded for machine guns and is too high a velocity.

It's possible that your recoil spring needs replacement. Check to see how hard the receiver is hitting the back of the frame by putting some masking tape there and looking for compression marks. There are several levels of coil count and thickness of the spring which yield different levels of resistance. Look at our FAQ document for details.

Marc

Thanks Marc, I used a Macro lens and a 21 Mpix camera, as a photo enthusiast it's my duty to make detailed photos

I used the Geco 124 gr because they are the available on the market, now I see that they are used for IPSC and maybe they are too strong for my old P08. Now I am seraching for the Winchester 115ge, 363 m/s velocity.

Anyway, I don't understand how a strong ammo can break the hold open, because if the ammo is strong and the recoil spring is old and weak, the velocity of the breech going to the front, to hit the hold open couldn't be bigger than with a weak ammo and /or a strong recoil spring, don't you think?

If my logic is correct, the break has no relation with the ammo nor the weak spring but maybe weak or defective HO

[kurusu]

Originally Posted by deltafox

Thanks Marc, I used a Macro lens and a 21 Mpix camera, as a photo enthusiast it's my duty to make detailed photos

I used the Geco 124 gr because they are the available on the market, now I see that they are used for IPSC and maybe they are too strong for my old P08. Now I am seraching for the Winchester 115ge, 363 m/s velocity.

Anyway, I don't understand how a strong ammo can break the hold open, because if the ammo is strong and the recoil spring is old and weak, the velocity of the breech going to the front, to hit the hold open couldn't be bigger than with a weak ammo and /or a strong recoil spring, don't you think?

If my logic is correct, the break has no relation with the ammo nor the weak spring but maybe weak or defective HO

In some 20 odd years I've seen some 4 holdopen fail. So they do break. I've used Geco ammo and I don't think they are too stong. At least not compared to our old INDEP ammo.

I genereally remove the holdopen when shooting matches, just to be on the safe side.

About selling my #24.