Odd Rear Toggle Pin
 

Yesterday at a local gun show I saw an unusually honest Imperial Luger which had one odd feature: The rear toggle pin was completely in the white.

It appears to have never been blued.

Does anyone know if armory replacements were sometimes in the white?

Luke

1937 Luke, I can't speak for imperials... but the S/42 that my friend brought home from WW2 and that I know has never seen the light of day since then has a toggle pin that was "dirty" but in the white nonetheless... I don't know if this is normal either...

Since most of the early rear toggle axle pins were fire blued and fire bluing is not very durable I would imagine it might be worn off, this part also sometimes rubs inside the frame ears on some pistols during firing. The grip screws usually tarnish a bit after the fire bluing wears off on old pistols. The other thing I see occasionly is where someone has cut the rim off the pin. Now that is odd!

Thanks for your comments.

Since this is an Imperial in which the toggle pin was not numbered, it could be a replacement.

Thor -

This was clearly not a case of wear on the pin; it was uniformly and beautifully white/silver all over. Looked new. One of those unsolvable mysteries !

Luke

Those pins sometimes get lost. And when they do, sometimes folks like me get the honor of making new ones. And sometimes the owner of the gun says "Don't blue it, I'll finish it so it looks right." And sometimes he doesn't.

Jim

Jim,

Can these be turned a beautiful fire blue in a home oven? Do you have a formula?

Luke

Luke... it might be too hot for a home oven...

according to the chart in the Member Gallery, the temperature you are looking for is about 600 degrees fahrenheit...

http://gallery.rennlist.com/lugeralb...rt_1.sized.jpg

Perhaps you know a place that does pottery... they should have a temperature controlled oven that would reach that high?

You might also try it slowly with a propane torch and watch the color as you go and then quench in clean motor oil...make sure you don't overheat it so you don't mess with the temper. That pin takes a pretty good beating when that toggle goes up and down.

Luke, you can send it to me along with that PPK safety that I told you I would do for you! I will do both of them for free. You have been a good client.
<a href="http://members.rennlist.com/lugerman/TPPK3.jpg" target="_fullview"><img src="http://members.rennlist.com/lugerman/TPPK3.jpg" width="400" alt="Click for fullsize image" /></a>

Thor, you are such a good guy. I have been really busy this summer rebuilding my deck . . . alone in the hot sun, and my memory (Not good, at best.) is probably suffering from the baking. Haven't really thought much about guns until recently.

I will plan to do that.

Thanks,
Luke

If you have an electric stove, just lay the item to be blued on one of the "rings" and turn the element on. Have a pair of pliers handy to snatch the part off just as it turns blue, which will be after it turns straw.

You can also use a propane torch, same deal. The polish is important to getting a nice blue.

Jim