1936
 

Please any suggestions on 1936 Luger, last round in magazine not chambering? If I put 8 rounds in or 3 round in, still last round not chambering. I bought 2 new Mec-gar mags and same problem with both. Is that a mag spring issue? Thanks

Please define not chambering.

You mean:

a) holdopen engages and locks the bolt open with one round on magazine.

b) it happens the same thing as in Alvin's picture.

c) the bolt closes on an empty chamber leaving the last round on the magazine.

d) some other type of malfunction - please describe.

I moved your posting to a new posting, since its a different gun.

MORE info is better than too little.

Thank you for your help. Yes, the hold open engages and locks bolt back leaving last round in the magazine. This happens when loading 3 or 7 rounds in magazine, last round stays in mag. Happens with both brand new Mecgar mags. I have 36 lb. recoil spring, factory Winchester white box 9mm. Thank you again.

Normally, a small leaf spring on the front of the hold open keeps it down in the frame and clear of the recoiling bolt.

In order for the holdopen to be pushed up and interfere with the breech block (holding it open) the magazine load button has to push the hold open up.

It would be unusual for the magazine to push this up a round early. My best guess without seeing pictures is that the leaf spring is either deformed, improperly installed or broken, allowing the hold open to bounce up while firing.

Hi,

This problem could be from a weak hold open leaf spring. I think that GT has replacements, so you might want to try replacing yours.

Remembering that DWM (later Mauser) only gave the German Army a one year parts and labor warranty, these pistols certainly have held up well.

Sieger

Plus one on a weak or even broken holdopen spring as the most probable cause.

I suggest field strip the pistol, remove the grips, load the pistol with 2 snap caps (dummy rounds) and carefully scrape off the first one with your finger on the open frame, while closely observing the action of the hold open. The hold open may be binding (not retracting fully), the hold open spring may be bad, or perhaps there is some other issue that can be discovered with this test. All that said, hold open issues are often mag issues and not all mags (even MecGars) are created equal. Recently I had to try four different MecGars to finally find one the one that would correctly operate the hold-open on a Mauser shooter. In my case, older MecGars would not operate the hold open but a new one did; the new ones seem to push the hold-open up a tiny bit more. Perhaps you try an older one? Again, G.T. might be able to help.

Depending on what you find, another option to improve magazine performance is to send it to G.T. and ask him to install a stronger aftermarket spring. While I don't think the mag spring is the problem, part of fixing Lugers esp. magazine related issues is simply trying many different things until one works.

Replace the Mag spring, then troubleshoot the problem. G.T. is highly recommended for Mag work, he's worked on a bunch of mine and is a total "stand up guy"!

Thank you to all for your recommendations and expertise regarding my "last round not chambering" problem. I will start checking all these possibilities and post later when problem identified. Who is G.T. please? I assume he works on Lugers? Thanks all, you guys are great and I'm glad to have this forum as a resource. Andrew

Good news I think. I closely watched the rounds come out of mag and there was no lift at all of the hold open latch with last round in mag. I also pushed up on mag to see if it lifts the latch given the little bit of play up and down that is present in mag well(with the last round still in mag), and still no lifting at all. Pulling the last round out engages latch and it lifts/pushes up properly to hold slide open. I hope I understood the directions and tested this hold open latch properly. It appears to me that it functions properly. I hope a new mag spring does the trick. Thanks for the help. To be continued...

You will find G.T. Here:

http://forum.lugerforum.com/member.php?u=20