Strange Luger Shooting Incident - SOLVED
 

Shot 40+ rounds in my favorite Luger this afternoon without incident.

Then, the next round loaded properly; but when I pulled the trigger nothing happened.

I recycled manually with the same result: The round loaded properly but pulling the trigger did not cause the gun to fire.

At that point I unloaded the gun and carefully inspected it for problems. I noticed that the sear spring was missing ! I searched the ground where I had been firing and found the spring . . . apparently not damaged in any way. I reassembled the gun, but did not fire it again.

I have never had this happen before with any Luger. Can anyone offer a possible explanation and/or resolution for the problem?

Thanks,
Luke

With respect, was the spring properly installed prior to shooting, has it lost its spring tension.

Hi Howard,

;) Yes, I did think about that, and it is certainly a possibility. However, having disassembled and assembled Lugers many, many times I doubt that is the problem.

Having said that, I am sure that if the rolled part of the leaf spring were not properly engaged with the end of the sear bar it could work its way out.

I guess my main reason for this post was to learn if such a malfunction could be dangerous. On the surface I don't see any risk in this event, should it occur again; but I am no expert.

Luke

Luke, from what you have described, the lack of the sear spring may introduce a danger in that the sear engagement may not be as safe (deep) as when the spring is used...

One other potential danger is that the firing pin may follow the breechblock in the closed position causing an unintentional discharge...or perhaps even multiple discharges if the magazine isn't empty...

As dangerous as I have made it sound, I consider these events generally unlikely, but certainly possible.

Just my $0.02 based on years of study of the Luger engineering...

Thanks for your comments, John. It seems like a reasonable hypothesis that "machinegunning" might result from the absence of a leaf spring on the sear bar.

I think in this case the actual mechanical operation allowed the sear to move so far out of the range of the firing pin that it never cocked at all.
However, if the sear were only partially engaged it might, indeed, allow rapid fire or unintentional discharge.

Regards,
Luke

Hi,

If it offers some comfort. I had my Dutch luger go full-auto on me once, after I installed the wrong firing pin. It was an interesting experience but no harm was done to the pistol or the shooter. The paper target got peppered, though. The magazine was empty before you could say 'bang'.

It certainly showed the machine gun heritage of the pistol design :)

Luke, I would carefully inspect both the inside of the sear (trigger bar) and the FP to see if any of the surfaces are rounded or damaged, which may be preventing the proper engagement (cocking). If it is cocking OK, I would guess that your problem lay in the area of the trigger LEVER or disconnector. TH

PS: Your trigger bar spring should have a pronounced bend in it, to firmly hold down the tigger bar, as it engages the FP. TH

Howard wrote:

"With respect, was the spring properly installed prior to shooting, has it lost its spring tension?."

Just to be certain that I had properly installed the sear and its spring, I removed both, inspected them, and reinstalled . . . . being careful to insure that they were properly seated. Then, I fired 35 rounds and noticed that the sear spring had worked its way up over the indentation in the sear bar and was almost out.

Comparison of the sear spring to like parts on other known-good shooter Lugers indicated that this spring had, indeed, lost its tension and was somewhat flatter. Both Tom Heller and Howard (Policeluger) mentioned this possibility. Thanks for the tip.

I replaced the spring with a new-looking part and shot the gun extensively this afternoon with no further incidents. PROBLEM SOLVED.

While I am aware that this is not a very interesting or exciting issue, I feel that, in the interest of other shooters, it would be good if every shooting malfunction could be reported on the forum, especially if a potential safety problem is involved.

Thanks for your comments and support.

Regards,
Luke

Luke, I am always excited when ever I'm right on anything.

Thanks again, Howard.
:cheers:

Luke

Thanks for the posting. We shooters are always in need of advice on how to keep them up and running.