Grip screw slot width
 

Hello All,
Are all slots on grip screws supposed to be the same width, or are they different widths for different models,years,variations? I have a M1906 30 cal. luger with one wide and one thin slot. Without giving an exact measurement,
I'll say that all my household screwdrivers did not fit the thin slot and did fit the wide one. Which is correct?
Thanks for any input,
Mike C.

Hi Neighbor,
I have never seen a Luger with grips screws that are different from any other Luger. But I will be the first to say, I have not seen all the variations, but I have seen many. I have a medicine bottle with several grips screws and they all look alike.

Mike

Hi Mike,
I wonder every time I see "south Louisiana" how far we are from each other. I'm in Lafayette and would love to show you my extensive collection of lugers;all three of em. I've got about thirty more in the works though.
So now you know I have six grip screws. It's hard to tell by looking but some slots are wider than others. I used one screwdriver to test it and it doesn't fit the same on some and not at all on others. They seem to be in good shape, not mint though. Maybe it's just from years of using tapered tip screwdrivers instead of a staight tip that fits.
Thanks for the info. Hope to meet you soon.
Mike C.

As with all Luger parts, (and most other firearm parts for that matter) the screws used for the grips were made to a standard...

If you have grip screws where the slot size vary, then at some point in their life, the slots were modified by some owner by being cleaned up with a "swiss" file to eliminate the burrs caused by using the wrong size screwdriver...

Here is an extract from the 1913 military blueprints that details the slot to be 10mm long and 1.1mm wide... 1.7mm deep. The slot is NOT tapered, but straightwalled.

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

Anyone desiring a complete set of these blueprints on CD, the domestic price is $25.00 including first class postage and packaging, and the international price is $27.00 for international air mail. Ordering instructions are at the top of the FOR SALE forum. These blueprints are a must have for any serious student of the Luger Pistol.

John, I accept your idea of standard military specs, but over the years various countries and commerical manufacturers have produced luger parts to keep their lugers in service. I too have observed many grip screws with "improved" slots, but have also observed screw of various diameters: some larger and some small than the mil spec. TH

Mike C,
I live 20 miles from Lafayette. No doubt we should share our Luger interest. Email me @bayoucellar@aol.com and we can exchange phone numbers.

Mike

So now we gotta call you guys "Loosyana Mike-Mike"?? ;)

Out of my company in boot camp. There were about 25 Cajuns and about 15 or 20 Red Bones The rest were Texans with the exception of me from Oregon, a Washingtonian and a guy from South Carolina. I'll have to say, It was a different experience. The 3 odd men out, just sat back and watched.

I wasn't aware of the Red Bone vs Cajun rivalry. In fact, had never heard of Red Bones before boot camp.

Back to the grip screws for a moment, I have seen a comparison of different grip screw profiles relating to different variations, but I can't track it down now.

I have had Lugers with varying width grip screw slots, on guns which are otherwise completely original and unmessed-with--there is every reason to believe that the screws were original to the guns.

The screws vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, Imperial to later, and military to commercial.

--Dwight

I have run across three different width of slots in Luger grip screws. The widest ones were on new after market screws. I believe the early commercial Lugers had narrower slots than the later military ones. There were apparantly two different threads also. I have two sets of dies & taps for recutting grip screw threads, one is 4.5mm x .8, the other is 3/16in x 32tpi english threads. Most of the ones I have seen were the english threads, I have seen maybe two or three in the metric thread.

Uh oh, I think I started something.
Thanks everybody.
The few screws that I have don't seem altered at all. If they were filed, the blueing would be gone from those areas. I have 3 different slot sizes on my 3 guns. What's the chances they were reblued?
Dwight, please keep looking. I would be willing to bet that all DWM screws match, all Erfurt match... but not necessarily each other. Also screws would certainly be a portion of leftover parts used on "put together" guns.
Maybe I'll write a book. We'd all be screwed.
thanks for all the input,
Mike C.

PS. Mike B, I'll trade you my improved (GL) inscribed screw for one of your ole
thin slot screws that you have in that medicine bottle. Check your email.

Hugh, The grip screw with the metric thread are either M29 Swiss or 1970s Mauser Parabellums. TH

Seeing John's 1913 military blueprint makes me wonder if at some point someone decided that a wider slot was better for whatever reason (maybe because it fit more screwdrivers)and just went unnoticed, or should it have been an official change with documentation?
Lugerdoc would you be so kind as to share whatever else you know about the different variations?
Thanks again
Mike C.

Hugh: I know enough about thread design to think that the .8tpi pitch designation you have indicated might be wrong. The Whitworth set you have I have - The 4.5 mm x .8tpi sounds a bit strange? .8 threads per inch? Can you clarify this for me. I do not think this is possble unless that is .8 thread per mm??? Which inevitably converted would be 20 tpi which I think is correct. Let me know. SAM Buscemi

Hugh: I know enough about thread design to think that the .8tpi pitch designation you have indicated might be wrong. The Whitworth set you have I have - The 4.5 mm x .8tpi sounds a bit strange? .8 threads per inch? Can you clarify this for me. I do not think this is possble unless that is .8 thread per mm??? Which inevitably converted would be 20 tpi which I think is correct. Let me know. SAM Buscemi

Sam,
You are correct, my error, it is marked: M 4.5x.8