Something wrong with the gun?
 

I have an ww2 Melior 7.65mm (.30) that I decided to try yesterday. I'm not an active pistol shooter and just wanted to see how it worked.
After a few rounds I found out that the recoil was very weak, and there was a lot of smoke coming out after each round.. The top of the magazine was black from smoke after just 10 rounds! The ammunition I used is probably as old as the gun, but looked ok to me. I tryed shooting at some wood to check penetration.. is this normal for this calibre?? ..if not.. can it be unsafe to use? (it's mostly a collection item for me, so it's no big deal. just wanted the advice from more experienced shooters about this. It came with a Luger i bought, and both of the guns was taken from the same german officer after the war)

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/bilde19.jpg

Well, I'm not an expert, but it could well be that the ammo is getting weak, the recoil impulse being the reason I'm saying this. Ammo lasts a long time, as I'm sure you know, but a lot of how it lasts is based on storage conditions I'm told.

A side by side comparison with known good ammo seems in order.

Major danger, I think, is possibly getting a bullet stuck in the barrel if underpowered and firing another or several more after it without being aware of the non-exiting bullets.

I spoke to the former Speer tech a few years ago who told me they sectioned one barrel a customer sent in and found so many bullets in the barrel they eventually filled it and stopped the cylinder rotation on his revolver.

Thanks, I tought the penetration power was a "bit" to low.. It's probably the old ammo getting weak then. I will lisen to your advice and stop shooting with this ammo. Maybe someday I will try it again with new ammo:)