Feeding Issue
 

I took a friend shooting so she could try out her late Granddad's bring home Luger. It's an early (1913) Erfurt. The magazine seems period correct but has a different serial number, which is not unusual for military firearms. (I'm certainly no expert). I'm a Luger noobie, but experienced shooter/enthusiast for many decades. The magazine was loaded and has probably been so for decades, as the rounds were tarnished. The Luger (I had previously stripped and cleaned it) fired off the entire mag with no issues. I reloaded it with a mag of Aguila 115 gr. ammo. It would not feed at all. The top round nose dived below the feed ramp. I tried a single round in the mag and that fed just fine into the chamber. I loaded the mag fully and the Luger went through all the rounds with no nose diving or issues. Past experience has taught me that many if not most feeding issues are magazine related. I suggested new magazine springs. She only has the one magazine, so I could not positively say it's a magazine issue, but it seems very likely. Internet research indicates that there are square and non-square mag springs. Any way of knowing that without taking the mag apart? I don't have access to it and wanted to get her the springs as a surprise. Any thoughts from the Luger brain trust? What is the best source for new mag springs? I am sure that there is more than one modern maker. I will check Youtube for videos on swapping out the springs. TIA.

The magazine is not "period correct", it should have a wood base, not aluminum (which is most likely from the 1920's )

Thanks for the clarification. I freely admit my minimal knowledge of Luger minutia. Is there a clue as to the type of mag spring it takes?

Order yourself a Mac-gar brand magazine.
They are readily available in nickel or blue.

That very old magazines spring is probably a little tired.
Leaving magazines full for long periods of time reduces the spring strength, too.
I leave all of them empty for storage.

Make sure you are using FMJ 115gr Target loads like Winchester or PPU.

I'll second getting a Mec-Gar magazine. About $35 shipped as opposed to $100-$200 for a period-correct wood bottom mag that might also have age-related issues.

Here's where to go...
https://gunmagwarehouse.com/mec-gar-...fault_products

OP, you got great advice from the replies above.

I'd also warn you not to try to replace the springs in your original mag. Unless you are very skilled or lucky, you are likely to cosmetically damage or perhaps ruin your original mag in the process. These mags are not your typical vintage mag that are generally friendly for mag spring replacement. There's a member on the forum named "G.T." that can replace the spring for you. He has fixed many for folks and he did a fine job on a mag for me.

So, just get a Mec-Gar mag and store your non-period correct, original mag. Lastly, I trust you properly cleaned and lubed your Erfurt before taking it to the range.

Thanks to all who responded. The Luger was carefully cleaned and lubed before use. I will pass along the Mec Gar info to my friend.

A potential problem here is the choice of ammunition. Not all brands work well, there is an issue with modern-spec 9x19mm overall length. Winchester white-box and Magtek are both brands I know work well.

--Dwight

This is also true of reloading empty cases from certain brands. Even though they pass the double test of using a cartridge headspace gage, as well as manually dropping them into a clean P.08 chamber, some case brands just don't want to feed. In particular I have had problems with PMC and Aguila cases.

Reloading problems are exacerbated if using even once-fired brass from a Glock due to its oversize chamber. Also, using .356" bullets gives more problems than using .355" bullets because some cases are just too thick to allow .356" bullets to seat without bulging then neck to the point that the reload will not fully enter the chamber.

You would think that .001" would not make that much difference but sometimes it does. The good news is that if the reloads won't go into a Luger chamber you can always fire them in a Glock with impunity (I might have crossed a line of some sort here).

It seems to me that each Luger when not using the original 9mm ammo is it's own "animal". I say that as Velodog455 can't use PMC ammo or fired cases to reload, and all of my 9mm Lugers love PMC ammo and I usually keep 1-2 cases of it in stock. I also have reloaded thousands of PMC brass with no problems in MY Lugers.

One just needs to try different ammo and see what YOUR Luger likes and will function correctly with.

Das eagle und Goose
 

Hope you can stand another new guy. I have a P.O8 with byf and (I think) serial # 7124. It is covered with the number 34 which seems to be for keeping all the parts for this gun together. There is a number 41 over the breech.
My questions are about 2 markings:
One is a tiny Germen eagle and swastika on the barrel - near the chamber end. The barrel is shart.
The second is from the magazine which has the number 4249 on its butt. It looks like a tiny goose and it is just below the number.

https://forum.lugerforum.com/images/attach/jpg.gif
20241028_195716.jpg

Welcome to the forum. Lots of knowledgeable people here.

You will have a much better chance of getting answers to your questions if you start a new thread rather than adding on to a much older one.

How do I do that? I find navigation here challenging, as in trouble sending email photos to the post.
Thanks

Welcome Rigby560u

You need to explore the forum a little longer and figure out how it works.

Try downloading the FAQs from the menu bar

Then start in the New Collectors.
section.