Loose P08 Safety Catch
 

What is best way to tighten a loose safety catch? I took a 9mm shooter to the range today and on several occasions while firing the pistol the safety catch dropped into place and had to be released to continue to fire.

Aldo35

The thumb safety lever is relatively soft and can be bent to tighten it up (but you can break it if you bend it too far). I lay the thin part of the lever over a small diameter drill bit and use firm hand pressure on either side of the bit to put a tiny amount of arch in the lever. Take it slow, you may have to repeat the process a couple of times but it will correct your problem quite nicely

Before bending anything I would remove it and clean it and the hole in the frame thoroughly. My Model 1900 safety had a buildup of hard crud holding the lever away from the frame just enough that the normal spring action wouldn't hold it. Driving out the retaining pin and cleaning the encrusted crud off did the trick. :)

Also, there may be a bit of wear on the interface between the lever and its retaining pin. Worst case, a new pin or lever...

My first Luger had a missing safety pin to hold the safety lever in and so it flopped around. If this is your problem, you can easily replace it with a mild piece of wire with the proper diameter. Then order one off of a web site.