Old Stovepipe
 

Have a 1937 Mauser S/42 that has chronically stovepiped with round nose full metal jacket or plated bullets. All the usual suspects were tried to no avail. Finally a load was asembeled using Hodgon's Longshot powder and Hornady 147 gr. XTP TRUNCATED CONE bullets. Out of three magazines only one failure to feed (no stovepipes). Once the powder charge was slightly increased no more failures to feed. The load itself was based on the Federal offering. Not saying this is a cure all for stovepipeing but it has worked in my case and hope it might help others.

Greg B.

Hi Greg,
I had a similar problem with stovepiping with my 1938 s/42 and with help of the folks here I found switching my ammo to Winchester White Box fixed the problem for me. However, recently my niece's husband sent me a February 2020 copy of "WWII History" and there's a great article under Ordnance called "History's Most Famous Pistol" about the history of the Luger you might find interesting. In it it mentions the Luger works well with cartridges of higher pressure.

I've used Berry's 115 grain truncated cone bullets with great success in my Lugers. I use 5.7 grains of CFE Pistol powder and an OAL of 1.100". They also make a 124 grain bullet if you prefer it.

If you load one round of the "problem" ammo, which gave stove pipe jams; will the toggle lock back/open on the empty magazine when fired.

Stovepipes usually mean underpowered ammo, or too strong a mainspring.