Help?
 

New to the forum. Got my Luger Fri. Spent Sat learning breakdown proceedure. Ran 100 rds thru today (Sun). She is one fine piece of machinery!
But..........
One of the mags I got with her is malformed somehow and I had 4 or 5 jams before I found the problem. A jam in my darling is a d....d hard thing to clear. The toggle won't stay up by itself, the mag won't release unless the action is closed and the action won't close while there is a jam.
My hand isn't strong enough to hold the action open while clearing the jam.
I'm sure there is a solution but I can't figgeridoudt!
Help?

Hello, i moved the posting here to the new collectors area.

The action on the luger requires a quick yank back to get open. It should stay open on an empty magazine. That is first thing to check or change, as a messed up magazine can cause issues. A nice 'mec-gar" made magazine is a good start, they seem to work in almost all lugers (but not all).


Ed

I think I know what you're referring to. The round rides up high and gets pinched by the breech with the nose on the extractor notch and the rim still in the mag?

When it happens to me I hold the gun in my left hand, thumb web high on the grip and the rest of the hand pulls the toggle back, leaving the other hand free to poke the round back down in the mag so it can be removed.

Muzzle in a safe direction!

Hello and thanks Ed and Ugluk;
Ed, the action does indeed stay open on an empty mag but when she jams the mag isn't empty. It took me about four hours to thoroughly learn the disassembly/assembly sequence in which the insertion and removal of the mag at the proper time is so inportant.
Ugluk, right on. Problem is I'm 80 and I'm not the man I once was and never have been. I'm gonna haveta' devise a non-marring tool to hold the toggle back.
Thanks again to both of you.
Lliam

Good luck with finding the best method for you to solve the problem. I do so hope that I am still shooting my Luger when I am 80 years old!!!

I could not let this go and thought up and discarded all kinds of contraptions to aid you.
Then this came to mind. A loop of rawhide in the belt, and put it around the knurled knobs. Simple is good..
Very little effort required to hold it open with one hand.

Could it work?

Cheers
Conny

Conny:
That's an innovative solution that I'm sure will solve the issue for Lliam. Good catch!

Neil

Conny..A loop of rawhide in the belt, Looks like a great solution! The trouble here is that while an empty magazine will lift the holdopen, a magazine with cartridges in it will not raise the holdopen.
By the way..rawhide is untanned leather. What you are actually using is a leather thong.

The thong sounds like a very simple, straightforward device. The simple is always the best and you can bet your sweet I'll have one when I next go to the range. Rhuff; 60, 80, 100 when it's a beautiful pistol where there's a will there's a way. Thanks for the kind word and If you make it to 8o and want to shoot you will. Jerry leave it to a holstermaker (Lederschmiede) to be a stickler about hide nomenclature. As a matter of fact we all tend to be. When you call a mag a clip and a cartridge a bullet you're asking for miscommunication.

I'm gonna love this forum.

Thanks to all.

Lliam

Jerry,
Thanks for the correction. I must admit that "thong" never occured to me, as I associate that word with the inviting kind of underwear..

True, the holdopen won't work, nor will it be a good way to cycle the action as the toggle will pinch the thong in closing.
Hopefully it will give Lliam a fighting chance to poke the jammed round free and replace the mag with an empty one to lock the pistol open, without a lot of pain in the fingers.

OK guys. I had to go out for awhile this afternoon. I have been told there is more to life than messing with pistols.........but I don't think so. Back now tho. I grabbed a shoulder strap with snaps on both ends from an old camera bag, made a 4" loop of 1/4" braided nylon, clipped it to the shoulder strap, strap over right shoulder and then cross looped the nylon over the toggle grips as in Ugluk's picture, grip the pistol, straighten my arm and zzzt..Bob's your uncle! Works-like-a-charm!

Now. The magazine that gives me the most trouble has the weakest spring. Does that sound about right?

Again, thanks.

Lliam

Magazine Loading Tool
 

Lliam,

Welcome to the forum!

The original Lugers came with a small loading tool that doubles as a screwdriver for removing the firing pin. You can get both original tools and well made reproductions (which are relatively inexpensive, and actually come with some reproduction holsters).

The tool fits against the side of the P-08 magazine with the small loading button, and creates a shelf that makes it easier to compress the magazine spring. It may help you load your magazines.

Marc

Conny..Guys in my generation have words that have been corrupted over the years. Rawhide was a popular TV show wasn't it? Thong...yes..I should have said bootlace! Times..they are a changin. Good idea for holding the toggle back though. It is a problem for most Luger shooters.

With Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates... :thumbup:

The leather lacing on my childhood Ted Williams [Sears Roebuck] baseball glove rotted away and I had to find two different sizes of leather laces to re-lace it...I thought it would be a daunting task, but it turned out to be rather easy...although I had to make a fid, as I could not find one... :D

50+ year old baseball glove...Nicely broken in...Still the best I've ever used... :thumbup:

Let's see how many folks know what a "fid" is.:)

Being ex-Navy, this is a no-brainer but I won't spoil the fun.

Not me, but I can guess Ron and Don :)

Well I do. I always new that the N.Y. Times crossword puzzle wasn't a complete waste of time. Regards

My dad was ex-Coastie; we made our own water-ski tow ropes back in the '50's/'60's... :D

I would splice my comments in here but do not wish to be upbraided......