Mauser 1910 safety catch woes
 

I just bought a .25 cal Mauser 1910 to use as a parts pistol, but as many of the hard-to-get parts were already gone I decided to use it as a test mule to make my own parts. Seems like the safety catch spring is a pretty elusive part, so right now I'm trying to figure out how to produce this in a fairly rational way. Once I had a few prototypes made, I realized that the frames on my two 1910s are slightly different and the prototypes would only fit one of them. It's just a matter of how the spring is bent so it's no big deal, but it made me curious about some other differences I found.

If you look at the pictures of the test mule, serial #255379, you'll find these features:

-The seat for the safety bar spring is a milled, curved slot
-The grip strap is straight

Also note the shapes of the milled details on the side of the grip.

On my other 1910, serial #244193, you'll find these features:

-The seat for the safety bar is just a milled recess.
-The thickness of the grip strap varies (the grips are, of course, made to fit this)

If you compare with the "test mule", you'll see that the milled details on the side of the grip are quite different.

I guess these are just two subvariations, but I find it rather odd that they changed the seat for the safety catch spring just enough to cause an interchange problem. I don't know if there is much interest or knowledge in the variations of this pistol, but I was hoping that somebody could shed some light on what I'm looking at here.

Some more pictures... The spring fits nicely in the test mule, and has a nice "snap" to it when you engage the safety. If you put it in the other frame, it will stick out way too far.

Olle, Good luck with your project. Judging from comments on this topic, there is a demand for these. TH

I have noticed that many people are looking for them, but (even if they do exist in some price lists) I have never seen one for sale. I'm almost to the point where I can make reproductions available, but I need some input about these two variations first. My jigs can be adjusted for both versions, so I would like to find a positive way to identify the variations, like "spring A will fit any 1910 with this kind of grip frame" or something of that nature.

Once I have this nailed down, I'm planning to make the barrel retention spring. This seems to be another elusive part, so I'm working with a local machine shop to have some prototypes cut in their water jet. I have been wondering why there's not already reproduction parts for such a common pistol, but after many hours trying to work with spring steel, annealing, bending, re-hardening, tempering etc, I'm starting to understand why nobody wants to fool with it. :rolleyes:

Still no takers... I have found a couple of pictures of similar frames on the net, but I still don't know how common this "stepped frame" variation is or when it was produced. There ought to be someone who knows the finer points of these pistols?

Here is the frame of #272189. Later on, I lost its firing pin.

The safety spring and the mag release took me about two years to find. I found them on a parts gun.

jerry

Alvin,

Not sure if it's just my old eyes, but it seems like your frame is the same variation as mine. Would you mind taking a picture of the safety catch release so I can see what yours looks like?

Olle, I'd like to but that pistol was sold, not in my hands anymore.

I do have another one and the s/n is not far away. Will fetch that one back and if the grip is removable I will take pictures.

Olle, it is a joy to see pictures of your work. There is a site that has an expert on these pistols that I haven't visited for some time. Punch "Mauser" in Google, and you may be able to find it. I'll run that way in a few minutes and see if I can come up with it. Good luck.

Mauser
 

I can't believe it. Hit it the first time. It's MauserGuns.com. As I said, there is a guru on these pistols that I am sure will help you out. Best regards, Barry.

Barry,

Thanks for the link! I looked at the web site, but couldn't find any contact info. Seems like they have a discussion board though, I think I'll just sign up and see if I can find somebody who's into these guns.