Luger locking bolt spring
 

Hello Gentlemen. I am a total newbie when it comes to Lugers, but not to firearms in general. My Dad gave me his 1916 dated Erfurt Military P08 as he is getting too old to shoot or maintain his weapons anymore. I took it out to the pistol range at the gun club and shot it. The locking bolt promptly fell loose after a few shots. Upon closer inspection I see that what is called the locking bolt spring is missing. I found this under an exploded parts diagram of an old model Luger but it was not listed in any of the P08 Luger diagrams. I ordered a new spring online and now am at a loss as to how to get it installed. It catches in the hole in the frame but is apparently meant to be under pressure. I can also see that the tension of the spring itself causes the locking bolt to be held in place, but I cannot get it to go into position. Any suggestions?

Skorper,Take the top cannon off the pistol.. Place the pin untill it lined up with the hole as best it can. With the cannon off you can look directly into the well and be on top of the pin. Take a wood stick, preferably your Wife's cuticle stick and from the top push the pin down untill it lines up . It has a slight curvature. When it is pushed into the hole it will form an arc to keep the locking bolt in place. The short end of the pin should be nicely rounded. This will help guide it into the hole.
If you have bought a repro you are screwed. Throw it away and see if Tom Heller has an original.
Good Luck!
Jerry Burney

OK, thanks for the reply. I have also noticed that the toggle bolt is not locking when pulled back all the way. Could this have something to do with the missing locking bolt spring? Anyway, it seems that I have bought one of those reproduction ones.

This is stolen from Hugh Clarks response to Spencer in Luger Repairs!

Is the toggle catching on the hold open or is it catching on the rear of the cartridge in the mag? I suggest loading one cartridge in the chamber and inserting an empty magazine. Then fire the gun and see if the toggle locks open.
If the toggle doesn't lock open:
This will tell you if the problem is a main spring that is too weak or too strong. If the main spring is to strong, the toggle will not retract far enough and hang up on the top cartridge in the magazine. If it is too weak, the toggle will recoil too fast and "bounce" forward before the top cartridge in the mag has a chance to rise far enough to load and the toggle will hang up on it.

If the toggle locks open, then you probably have a weak hold open spring. You can carefully bend the hold open spring down to strengthen it. If bent too far, however it is subject to breakage.


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I have both locking bolt & HO springs made in Germany. Usually after installing a new LB spring (make sure that it is pressed all the way into the frame so that it is flush at the bottom) it will be difficult to reinstall the TD lever. I usually push lever from the left side and tap down on it inside the frame, until it is low enough to go thru the hole on the right side. This can be a bit tricky the first time you try it. Lugerdoc

Thank you for the information. I ended up taking it to my gunsmith who is a little out of my way but well worth the drive to get to. He has saved me from a couple of jams before.

Upon examination he pronounced that the spring steel in the aftermarket spring was of a good enough quality, but it was a bit oversized, in both the width at the end and in the length overall. All was not lost however. He praised the Luger as a marvel of both precision machining and hand fit craftsmanship, and in this case a little of the latter was in order. It seems that the tightness or tension on the locking bolt spring is adjusted by both the length and width of the spring itself, as the holes are fixed. The German made ones are of course better, but these replacements apparently are made to allow for heavily worn holes and grooves which may be found in these older guns.

Some custom fitting was in order and he merely filed it down to the length and width desired. It is now installed and operating perfectly. He seems to have adjusted the tension on the locking bolt just right.

I didn't get out of there without a lecture on the possible safety implications on this kind of a failure, which is fairly common but can be hazardous.

All hail the old school gunsmiths.

Skorper, Nothing like a good mechanic, Dr. or Gunsmith! Glad you are back up and running...

Jerry Burney