Toggle. Hold open question.
 

I finally called took a my 1918 dwm luger put today. I bought a new mec gar mag and brought along a older mecgar mag. Qell the new mag worked great. No ftf. Fteject, stovepipes etc. The older mag however would not hold the toggle open after the last round. Is there anything I can look for in the magazine to see what activates the hold open? I did the have two failure to feed with the old mag. The bullet stovepiped and when I pulled the toggle back it just ejected the unfired round. Otherwise Im very happy with my shooter luger. Jim

The hold open is activated by the loading button on the magazine follower when it rises to the highest position when the last round is chambered and fired. Compare the buttons on the two magazines that you have to find out why one isn't working properly. If you remove the right grip you can watch the function operate.

It is possible that the older magazine has an oversize button that rubs the inside of the grip and prevents the button from rising high enough to move the hold open. You can test this by test firing the gun without the right grip installed.

If your magazine requires repairs, I recommend you send it to "GT" who will rebuild it to specs with new springs.

Thank you for the information. I did replace the grips with a set of reprodution wooden grips that needed some fitting. I could feel the grip wanting to lift away from the frame as the magazine was inserted. I may have to do a little more sanding on it. That may explain the failure to feed also. Since I planned on shooting it, i didnt want to beat up the factory grips being that they are almost 100 years old. The factory magazine holds it open too so mayne the button on this one magazine is a little taller. Jim

I pulled the grip off and watched it work. It looks like the older mecgar mag just barely catches the lever to activate the hold open. Not sure how to fix it but I may put a dab of jbweld on the button to see is it works. If it does maybe put a bit of solder on it to help it engage it more positively. Jim

Hi Jim, You could lengthen the slot that the follower rides in with a rat tail file (round). This should allow the follower to rise up high enough to activate the hold-open.
Regards, Norm

Thanks good idea. When I get a chance Ill do that. Jim

I would only do that if the button shaft now touches the top of the slot. You have to be careful in how much you remove, because the length of that slot is what protects the feed lips from the follower when the magazine is empty... Go slow, and don't remove more than is necessary to accomplish the hold open functionality.

Hi John, If the follower button shaft on Jim's magazine does not touch the top of the slot, there's no point lengthening it but there's no harm either. It's not the button shaft that limits the follower's upward movement, it's the two indents on each side of the magazine tube.
Best regards, Norm